Reports – Sustainability

Nutrition policy critical to optimize response to climate, public health crises (2023)

Rifkin, M. (2023). Nutrition policy in the Anthropocene: Addressing chronic disease, climate change, and health care system vulnerabilities. Frontiers in Nutrition, 10, 1118753. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1118753

Note: This article is part of the Research Topic: Nutrition for Humanity in the Anthropocene – for Healthier People on a Healthier Planet.

The effects of unanticipated crises on health care and first-responder systems are reflected in climate-fueled environmental emergencies, to which human resilience is diminished by our chronic disease epidemic. For example, people who depend on specialized medications, like refrigerated insulin for diabetes, will likely face additional challenges in receiving treatment and care during extreme heat, floods, disasters, and other adverse events. These circumstances may be compounded by staff and equipment shortages, lack of access to fresh food, and inadequate healthcare infrastructure in the wake of a disaster. Simply put, our health care and first-response systems struggle to meet the demands of chronic disease without such crises and may be fundamentally unable to adequately function with such crises present.

However, nutrition’s primacy in preventing and controlling chronic disease directly enhances individual and public resilience in the face of existential threats. Highlighting the shared diet-related etiology clearly demonstrates the need for a national policy response to reduce the disease burden and potentiate mitigation of the sequelae of climate risks and capacity limits in our food and health care systems. Accordingly, this article proposes four criteria for nutrition policy in the Anthropocene: objective government nutrition recommendations, healthy dietary patterns, adequate nutrition security, and effective nutrition education. Application of such criteria shows strong potential to improve our resiliency despite the climate and public health crises.

Analysis: U.S. Lags Behind Other G20 Nations at Adding Sustainability Into Dietary Guidelines (2023)

Rifkin, J. (2023). U.S. lags behind other G20 nations at adding sustainability into dietary guidelines. Center for Biological Diversity. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/pdfs/g20-dietary-guidelines-analysis.pdf

The Center for Biological Diversity released an analysis of the dietary guidelines of the G20 countries that found the United States has fallen behind in including sustainability. The analysis found that most G20 nations include sustainability goals and recommendations to reduce meat and/or increase plant-based foods. But the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, also known as the DGA, does not consider dietary impacts on the environment or recommend reduced meat consumption, though animal agriculture is a major driver of climate change and biodiversity loss.

While G20 nations have taken the lead, fewer than half of national dietary guidelines around the world include environmental sustainability. But that number has been rapidly growing over the past 10 years, with an increase in recommendations to reduce meat consumption and an emphasis on plant-based diets. Aligning dietary guidelines with sustainability goals is particularly important in G20 countries, where the current per capita consumption of meat and dairy is higher than the global average.

The Food Planet Prize

The Curt Bergfors Foundation was established on August 30th, 2019, in acknowledgement of the perils that our current food systems pose to the health of people and the planet, and with the conviction that the ways we produce, distribute and consume food must be radically and urgently reformed if future generations — and the planet itself — are to survive and thrive. Immediate action is required.
* The vision is a well-nourished world population on a thriving planet.
* The mission is to drive a rapid transition to a sustainable global food system. They do this through research grants, awards, and information campaigns. Most of their activities are centred around the Food Planet Prize.

Through the foundation and the founding capital that Curt provided (500 million SEK came from his private assets), Curt acknowledged that our current ways of producing, distributing, and consuming food are causing significant damage and that we must urgently and drastically change our modus operandi to save both human and planetary health. The foundation supports the transition to sustainable food systems through research grants, awards, and information campaigns. Its primary tool is The Food Planet Prize. With an annual award of two million USD, it is the world’s most significant environmental endowment.

The Food Planet Prize rewards innovative initiatives that will improve the global food system within a ten-year period while supporting a resilient biosphere and feeding a growing world population. It is Curt’s brainchild and his greatest legacy. He wished to contribute to a better, more bountiful Food Planet and was confident that it could be nursed back to health.

We share this with you as there is a long list of winners and nominees you can gain inspiration from, or partner with, as you work to further Sustainable Food Systems wherever you are.

Or maybe you will apply to win the award yourself!

Winners & nominees

Sustainable School Feeding Network (RAES)

The Sustainable School Feeding Network (RAES) is a strategy of the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation in school feeding, developed by the Government of Brazil, through the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC/MRE) and the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE/MEC), with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The RAES was a response of these Brazilian institutions to the United Nations Decade of Action for Nutrition (2016-2025), promulgated by the UN General Assembly in 2016 following the recommendations of the Second International Conference on Nutrition, held in Rome in 2014. The Decade documents the commitment of world leaders to adopt national policies to eradicate hunger and malnutrition and to transform of food systems in favour of nutritious diets and access to healthy food for all people.

From the “Joint declaration of commitment to advances in school feeding policy in Latin America and the Caribbean”:

* Items listed in bold and italics particularly support Sustainable Food Systems:

Collaboratively define and build a regional school feeding agenda that contributes to the development of the priority themes of the School Feeding Programmes (SFPs) at the national level, especially regarding to:
– Financing national programmes;
– Expanding student coverage;
* Ensuring participatory governance;
* Promoting healthy diets;
* Implementing food and nutrition education (FNE);
– Providing adequate environments for food storage, preparation, and provision;
* Implementing and strengthening of local public procurement from family farming;
* Enhancing SFPs’ role in building more inclusive and resilient agrifood systems to tackle climate change challenges;
– Addressing other themes defined by RAES member countries.

FOODPathS

FOODPathS is a project funded by the European Commission (EC) that aims to offer a concrete pathway and necessary tools for establishing an appropriate operational environment for the future European Partnership for Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) for People, Planet & Climate, to be launched in 2024. The SFS Partnership aims for the transformation of national, EU and global food systems, making them safe, sustainable, healthy, resilient and trusted – for everyone and within planetary boundaries. It will bring policymakers, businesses, researchers and civil society to coordinate, align and leverage European and national efforts to future-proof food systems through an integrated and transdisciplinary approach.

Foodtech Living Labs Platform – This serves as a central hub of collaboration and innovation for Europe’s foodtech sector. It comes as a result of the mapping and reviewing of living labs across Europe, identifying successful models that can be scaled and adapted elsewhere. It is designed to connect national and regional Food Systems Living Labs from across Europe, facilitating the exchange of knowledge, insights, and successful practices. Visit the site to use an Interactive Map to explore living labs across Europe.

Network of Universities – This network of university-driven local food ecosystems motivates institutions, staff, and students to foster Food 2030-inspired food system transitions. FOODPathS is: Mapping European universities and research centres that can act as Sustainable Food System actors in this new-to-build network and review food systems education and lifelong learning programs. Contributing to improved Food System education and training programs by helping to fill skills and knowledge gaps. Writing a food systems sustainability charter to foster improved Food System education and training programs across Member States. Organising activities such as demo events, hackathons co-organised with young professional networks, visualisations of success stories of SFS education and Living Labs, food festivals for education, student competitions, and opportunities to link incubators and public school programs.

Map of funders – Their network spans multiple European countries to co-develop and deliver best practices, solutions, and synergies with the greatest potential for impact. They listen to and work with partners across the food system continuum, who share their commitment of achieving a future with a resilient, flexible food system that is safe, affordable, and nutritious.

Partnership Inclusivity – FOODPathS is committed to including all the farm-to-fork voices in building an inclusive and transparent SSFS Partnership.

If you are interested in keeping up to date on progress you can:

Join the Sustainable Food System Network that brings together actors across the food system (around the globe) to break silos and offer opportunities for dialogue.

Follow on LinkedIn for news on food & health EU-research projects funded by Horizon Europe Research & Innovation Programmes. Managed by EUFIC.

Center for Ecoliteracy

The Center for Ecoliteracy in California, USA, advances the teaching and modeling of sustainable practices in K–12 schools. We build partnerships and the capacity of K–12 schools to support healthy, sustainable school communities and food systems change in schools. The Center for Ecoliteracy leads systems change initiatives, publishes original books and resources, facilitates conferences and professional development, and provides strategic consulting. We work at multiple levels of scale, with local, regional, state, and national programs.

Our California Food for California Kids® initiative builds the capacity of public school districts to provide students with fresh, locally-grown food and reinforce connections between the classroom, cafeteria, and garden. With a network of over 100 public school districts across the state, California Food for California Kids advances practical solutions that transform school food systems and how students learn about the food they eat.

In 2021, the Center for Ecoliteracy successfully advocated for California to become the first state to adopt universal school meals as a co-sponsor of the Free School Meals for All Act and a core member of the School Meals for All coalition. We are proud to be part of California’s leadership in transforming school food and recognizing the important role of school nutrition professionals.

AUDA NEPAD Guidelines for the Design and Implementation of Home-Grown School Feeding Programmes in Africa (2022)

The Guidelines for the Design and Implementation of African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) Home Grown School Feeding Programmes in Africa is the result of a collaborative effort supported by the African Union Commission for Education, Science, Technology and Innovations (AUC-ESTI) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Home Grown School Feeding has been recognized by African leaders for its contribution to human resources and capital development in the continent and for having an important role in inclusive development, health, rural development, gender equality and inclusive education, particularly for the poor and socially marginalised communities.

These HGSF guidelines are meant to provide general direction or guidance to African Union Member States who wish to establish HGSF programmes or review existing school feeding programmes to link them more directly with smallholder farmers and other role players in the school food value chain, while addressing the nutrition component more adequately.

The five school feeding quality standards form the organizational structure of these guidelines, namely,
i) policy and legal framework,
ii) financial capacity and stable funding,
iii) institutional capacity for implementation and coordination,
iv) design and implementation,
v) and community participation.

The mandate of AUDA-NEPAD is to:
a) Coordinate and Execute priority regional and continental projects to promote regional integration towards the accelerated realisation of Agenda 2063; and
b) Strengthen capacity of African Union Member States and regional bodies, advance knowledge-based advisory support, undertake the full range of resource mobilisation and serve as the continent’s technical interface with all Africa’s development stakeholders and development partners.

FAO Global Roadmap for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) without Breaching the 1.5°C Threshold (2023 Dec)

Don’t have time for the whole report?
**Read the Brief!**

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) developed the Global Roadmap for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) without Breaching the 1.5°C Threshold aimed at eliminating hunger and all forms of malnutrition without exceeding the 1.5°C threshold set by the Paris Agreement. The roadmap outlines a comprehensive strategy spanning the next three years that encompasses a diverse portfolio of solutions across ten distinct domains of action.

It challenges the prevailing narrative that increasing production is synonymous with higher emissions and environmental degradation. Instead, it emphasizes the opportunity within agrifood systems to enhance production efficiency while aligning with climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience objectives.

The roadmap identifies 120 actions and key milestones within ten domains, supported by evidence gathered by FAO over several years. These domains include clean energy, crops, fisheries and aquaculture, food loss and waste, forests and wetlands, healthy diets, livestock, soil and water, and data and inclusive policies — the latter two identified as overall systemic enablers.

Concerning food and nutrition, it sets a path to eliminate chronic undernourishment by 2030 and ensure access to healthy diets for all by 2050. Additional milestones include halving per capita global food waste by 2030 and updating Food-based dietary guidelines (FBSG) by countries to provide context-appropriate quantitative recommendations on dietary patterns.

The roadmap also emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between agrifood systems transformation and climate actions, urging the mobilization of climate finance for implementation.

Highlighting a just transition at its core, the roadmap envisions transforming agrifood systems from a net emitter to a carbon sink. It calls for alternative production methods, adjusted consumption patterns, refined forestry management, and innovative technologies such as carbon capture.

Advocating for global resource optimization beyond crop production, the plan suggests rebalancing consumption patterns and promoting healthy diets for all. It stresses that adaptability to specific contexts is crucial, cautioning against one-size-fits-all solutions.

The process, unveiled at the United Nations Climate Conference COP28 as a concrete package of solutions, will undergo extensive fine-tuning and elaboration over the next three years. COP29 will delve into regional adaptation and financial options, while COP30 will outline concrete investment and policy packages at the country level.

The text above was extracted from an FAO press release.

Regenerative Aquatic Foods (RAF) Roadmap (2023)

Citation: Food + Planet, CGIAR & GAIN. Regenerative Aquatic Foods Roadmap (Rockefeller Foundation, 2023); https://go.nature.com/3T9Tx7a

During a convening at the Bellagio Center in July 2023, a group of experts co-created the RAF Roadmap, aligning closely with the SDGs. The experts, with backgrounds in nutrition, environmental conservation, aquaculture, policy development economics and community practices, recognized the need for a universal cross-organizational effort to advance regenerative aquatic foods, emphasizing sustainability and equitable food systems.

It was agreed that RAFs are aquatic foods from systems that enhance ecosystems, rather than deplete, and also offer restorative benefits, fostering positive relationships between people and nature. A four-dimensional (4D) framework of sustainable food systems (Fig. 1) was employed to identify the diverse benefits of RAF across nutrition, planetary, socio-cultural, and economic dimensions.

This roadmap identifies strategic areas essential for upscaling RAF production sustainably:

Consumption:
- integrate RAFs into diets by creating appealing products, gaining endorsements from food champions, including RAFs in dietary guidelines and food composition tables, and supporting efforts in consumer education.
Community-based practices:
- enable local and Indigenous communities to steward and benefit from RAF resources, enhanc-ing food sovereignty and sustainable management.
Ecosystem services:
- monetize services such as carbon cycling, species recov-ery and nutrient reduction to promote economic systems that value ecological restoration and conservation.
Capital investment:
- encourage innova-tive, environmentally friendly production methods through sufficient funding and effective financial mechanisms.
Technology and innovation:
- utilize advanced technologies (for example, environmental monitoring and forecast-ing technology, and native species breed-ing programs) to optimize production and participatory incentive structures designed by local communities to ensure sustainability.

The Rockefeller Foundation and the Bellagio Center provided the facilities and funding to host this historic convening. Support (monetary and in-kind) were also provide by GAIN, The Nature Conservancy, Builders Initiative, and Food + Planet.

This text was adpated from: Vogliano, C., Kennedy, G., Thilsted, S., Mbuya, M. N. N., Battista, W., Sadoff, C., White, G., Kim, J. K., Pucher, J., Koome, K., D’Cruz, G., Geagan, K., Chang, K., Sumaila, U. R., Palmer, S., & Alleway, H. (2024). Regenerative aquatic foods can be a win–win for human and planetary health. Nature Food, 5, 718–719. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-01043-5.

Austrian Dietary Guidelines (2024)

The 2024 Austrian Dietary guidelines were developed by the Competence Center for Climate and Health of Austria GmbH (GÖG) together with the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) and the Austrian Society for Nutrition (ÖGE). Both health and climate aspects were taken into account.

Visit the link to also download the brochure “Healthy eating, good for the climate” (in German) or it can be accessed or ordered via the brochure service of the Ministry of Social Affairs. The brochure contains healthy and climate-friendly recipes based on the plate model. It was developed by three universities of applied sciences for dietology on behalf of the Ministry of Health.