Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN)(website)

The Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN) is an international NGO on a mission to eliminate diet-related deaths globally. By making nutrition a core part of healthcare and by engaging health professionals in efforts towards healthy and sustainable food environments they are advancing the food transformation needed to mitigate the three largest global health crises: chronic disease, climate change, and pandemic risk.

One in 5 premature deaths globally is due to poor nutrition. The current food system is also fuelling the climate crisis and pandemic risk. At the same time, physicians tend not to use the immense power of nutrition to prevent and treat disease in the first place. Their mission is to address this issue at the source and educate medical students and physicians about how nutrition can be used as an effective tool to treat their patients. Through empowering healthcare professionals with the tools, techniques and know-how to treat their patients differently, PAN enables them to save more lives. The PAN Academy has an online learning platform that makes nutrition education accessible to everyone.

PAN also approaches the bigger global problems of the broken food system by engaging an international community and support network of physicians, dietitians, medical students, and other healthcare workers. Through combined efforts, they can influence policy-makers and change food environments for the good of human and planetary health.

PAN’s influence is expanding and they regularly establish new national branches around the world. By partnering with like-minded international colleagues they can work effectively at a local, national and international scale to maximise impact. They have established branches in various countries in Europe and beyond, and they continue to grow their reach globally. Their national branches are all registered non-profit organisations in their respective countries.

In 2018 PAN signed a joint open letter on the need for a strong proposal on an EU legislative framework for sustainable food systems.

By empowering healthcare professionals with the tools‭, ‬techniques‭, ‬and knowledge to treat their patients differently‭, ‬PAN empowers‭ ‬them to enhance patient care and save lives around the world‭, ‬while also protecting our planet and global resources‭.‬

2025 January

School Meals Coalition. (2021 website)

The School Meals Coalition is a prominent and innovative vehicle for multilateral action and addresses multiple Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) outcomes. The School Meals Coalition is a government-led and partner-supported effort that aims at ensuring that by 2030 every child worldwide can receive a healthy meal in school. Led by Brazil, Finland, and France, the Coalition was one of the most impactful and successful initiatives coming out of the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021.

The Coalition is an example of a new generation of multilateralism; It’s about governments and partners agreeing to join forces and work together to improve the quality, sustainability, and scale of national school meals programmes and complementary interventions. It is about breaking silos and pooling resources – best practices, experience, information, and technical support. Through its multisectoral and holistic approach, the Coalition addresses implementation bottlenecks, strengthens evidence for decision-making, provides opportunities for improved coordination and generates the political will and buy-in needed for change through advocacy.

Besides food provision (SDG 2), school meal programs boost agriculture, create jobs, increase school attendance and learning, and enhance health. They function as in-kind cash transfers, promoting social stability, gender equity, and comprehensive social protection efforts. Additionally, school meals programmes can integrate complementary interventions, including WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), nutrition education, and other routine school health and nutrition services.

School meals represent a powerful, multisectoral tool, which can contribute to achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals, including poverty (SDG1), hunger (SDG2), health (SDG3), education (SDG4), gender equality (SDG5), economic growth (SDG8), reduced inequalities (SDG10), Responsible consumption and production (SDG12), climate action (SDG13) and strengthened partnerships (SDG17).

To achieve this member states have set three objectives:

  1. Restore all national school meal programmes lost to the pandemic by 2023
  2. Reach the 73 million most vulnerable children who were not reached even prior to the pandemic by 2030
  3. Improve the quality and efficiency of school health and nutrition programmes globally by 2030

2025 January

Planet-friendly school meals: opportunities to improve children’s health and leverage change in food systems (2024)

Pastorino, S., et al. (2024, November 18). Planet-friendly school meals: Opportunities to improve children’s health and leverage change in food systems. The Lancet Planetary Healthhttps://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00302-4

Planet-friendly school meals, defined as programmes delivering equitable and healthy foods for children, produced in ways that do not pollute or overexploit natural resources and protect biodiversity, are a platform to tackle many food system challenges.

Multiple stakeholder collaborations are required to move towards planet-friendly school meals. This entails changes directed at two sets of policies as outlined in the Planet-friendly school meals conceptual framework (figure): those making immediate changes to school meal programmes; and those developing demand-driven planet-friendly procurement policies that promote ecological farming and develop sustainable regional food systems.

School meals, mostly state-funded, reach 418 million children every day worldwide offering an opportunity to improve diet quality, and ultimately nutrition and health, and act as a catalyst for food systems transformation contributing to meeting global climate, food, and biodiversity goals.

2025 January

Good Practices in School Gardens and School Meals: Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean (2024)

As part of food and nutrition education actions and a component of Sustainable Schools, the Programme encourages school garden initiatives, considering their potential to transform food habits of current and future generations, training students to be aware of the impacts of food production on the environment and on agri-food systems. In addition, with the greater impact of climate change, this educational tool becomes even more relevant as it can offer concrete contributions to the mitigation of climate effects.

Since 2009, the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation Programme for School Meals, an alliance between the National Fund for Education Development (FNDE), the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), has been developing activities to strengthen and institutionalise school meal programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

About 2 billion people in the world are overweight or obese due to a poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. Around 133.4 million Latin Americans and Caribbeans do not have access to a healthy diet. In addition, this region has the highest healthy food costs (LAC Food and Nutrition Security Overview, 2023).

Given this scenario, the cooperation has promoted actions aimed at offering healthy and adequate menus, public procurement from smallholder farming, improvement of school infrastructure and food and nutrition education actions such as school gardens, exchanges of experiences, training and technical visits between 26 LAC countries, within the framework of the Sustainable School Feeding Network (RAES).

2025 January

Global Roots (website)

Global Roots promotes regenerative, equitable, and nutritious plant-based food systems by modeling agricultural conservation projects, partnering with organizations around the world to implement whole systems change, and providing on-the-ground education programs. They are based in the USA* and the Dominican Republic** in partnership with the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and are exploring other expansion areas. By recognizing the overlap between nutrition for personal and planetary health, we can drastically improve global health standards while simultaneously reducing agricultural land use requirements paving the way for increased conservation.

Objectives:

  • Expand the practice of agriculture as a form of conservation, life-enhancement, and regeneration to areas around the world.
  • Provide education opportunities on how to transition consolidated, top-down food systems to community-owned land trusts and regenerative land practices.
  • Demonstrate through model programs how transitioning inefficiently used farmland from speculative markets to locally-owned land initiatives increases healthy food options, employment opportunities, and resilient communities of health.
  • Increase peer-to-peer networking and coalition building through the Whole-Communities platform.
  • Provide technical support to promote regenerative, equitable, and nutritious plant-based food systems.

* The Brightside Farm and Nursery in the USA is the home of Global Roots. The farm is located outside of Chapel Hill, North Carolina in growing zone 8a and covers an area of 2.5 acres hosting the nursery, mixed vegetable production, and orchard. Operations of the farm and nursery are governed by the Global Roots staff and board of directors.

** The RAICES Institute education center is located in the Dominican Republic in the province of Las Hermanas Mirabal, north of Salcedo in the village of La Cumbre. The center is owned and operated by RAICES Global with program support from Global Roots and the T. Colin Campbell center for Nutrition Studies. The center hosts education programs and aims to establish plant-based communal food hubs.

2025 January

Untapped opportunities: Climate financing for food systems transformation (2022)

Global Alliance for the Future of Food. (2022). Untapped opportunities: Climate financing for food systems transformation. https://futureoffood.org/insights/untapped-opportunities-climate-financing-for-food-systems-transformation

Growing, processing and transporting food accounts for one-third of all global greenhouse gas emissions, but just 3% of public climate finance goes to food systems. Untapped Opportunities: Climate Financing for Food Systems Transformation presents the case for food systems as a climate solution and priority, with recommendations for action.

This includes the need to align public financial flows to food systems with climate ambition and action plans, and channelling public climate finance into food systems to support policies, programs, and projects that deliver on climate goals and a host of co-benefits for biodiversity, health, and food system resilience.

Despite the potential for climate mitigation and adaptation, food systems are consistently underestimated and underfunded. This report is designed to inform policy development and implementation, climate advocacy, and climate finance structures, with clear recommendations and opportunities for directing climate finance to food systems as a climate solution.

Translated versions of the report are available in Español and Français.

2025 January

Serving hope: rethinking school meal programs in Latin America (2024)

López, D. S., Gamba, M., & Uriza-Pinzón, J. (2024). Serving hope: Rethinking school meal programs in Latin America. The Lancet Regional Health – Americas36, Article 100818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2024.100818

Fig. 1 School meal programs in Latin America.

This article is a commentary providing a good overview and links to improving school meals programs, including issues to foster and educate on Sustainable Food Systems.

Snippets from the Article: “To bolster the effectiveness of school food programs in LAC it’s imperative to adopt innovative strategies. The above involves integrating nutritional education into the school curriculum, establishing sustainable school farms with local products, and incorporating gastronomy into SMP to enhance menu acceptance and reduce food waste. Community involvement ensures cultural relevance and supports local farmers, while technological solutions aid in addressing socioeconomic disparities, infrastructure, and logistics, facilitating better monitoring and data-driven decision-making. Moreover, long-term initiatives for enhancing school food programs should focus on aligning policies, raising awareness, capacity building, and conducting research and evaluation.”

“Fulfilling Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targeting hunger mitigation and universal food access within the framework of SMPs is crucial for global well-being. Enhancing quality and coverage in SMP across LAC is essential, requiring concerted efforts to improve nutrition, promote sustainable development, and advance global health.”

2025 January

LM1 Part 1: What is Sustainability? (1 hour)

Sustainability has many definitions that vary by discipline and culture. We provide here a few concepts that may help you.

Commonly, we think of achieving sustainability as human development that balances environment, society and the economy in a way that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Netukulimk is the Mi’kmaw (First Nations, Canada) concept for “the use of the natural bounty provided by the Creator for the self-support and well-being of the individual and the community at large.” In this case, community refers to the interconnectedness of all things—land, animals, water, human beings, plants, customs, laws. For Mi’kmaw, this understanding comes out of wejisqalia’timk, which means literally “we sprouted from the earth” and this speaks to the generations and generations of Mi’kmaw who have lived in Mi’kma’ki.  Sable, T. & Francis, B., 2012, p. 17.

These definitions are helpful to envision sustainability, but it becomes much more complex when we begin to dig into the details of how to achieve that.

Below are three videos (4-10 minutes) that help explain sustainability using natural science. The videos are from Sustainability Illustrated (where you will find many more!). The links here are for the English videos but are also available in French. Please, have a look at each one. There is some repetition, but that is good for learning!

1.1 Watch (~25 minutes)

Video 2: Four Principles of Sustainability (6:23). This video goes deeper into the principles introduced in video 1.
Video 3: Five Principles of Social Sustainability (8:37). This video explores the 4th principle related to social sustainability introduced in Video 1

1.2 Reflect (~20 minutes)

After watching the 3 videos above, reflect on the following questions. Remember that there are no “correct” answers to these questions, and your responses will likely change over time as you learn about sustainability.

1 – Describe sustainability. Use words appropriate as if you are explaining it to a colleague at work.

2 – What makes something (an action, a thing, a process) sustainable, or not sustainable?

3 – Describe the four principles of sustainability. Use words appropriate as if you are explaining it to a colleague at work.

4 – Describe the five principles of social sustainability. Use words appropriate as if you are explaining it to a colleague at work.

1.3 Keep Learning (optional)

1 – Discuss with colleagues about what sustainability means to them.

2 – If you enjoyed learning about sustainability using this lens and want a much more in-depth exploration, you could look at other resources and other ways of understanding sustainability before moving on:

  • Check out our list of Sustainability Courses. Most listed are free, but certificates and longer university courses often have fees attached, which we try to identify clearly in the links.
  • Have you heard of the” Triple Bottom Line?” watch this 4-minute video to understand how this framework can be helpful in expanding your ability to talk to others about sustainability.

Continue to Part 2. What are food systems? (1.5 hours)

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updated 2024 December

LM1 Part 2: What are Food Systems? (1.5 hours)

Food systems are complex and dynamic systems. In the Glossary you will find this definition used by Canadian Dietitians: “Food systems are complex, non-linear, systems… that embrace all the elements (environment, people, inputs, processes, infrastructure, institutions, markets, and trade) and activities …[of] production, processing, distribution, marketing, preparation, and consumption of food and the outputs of these activities, including socio-economic and environmental outcomes.”

Food systems are inseparable from the environment on which they depend, and the people who shape them. For example, Andean peoples, the Indigenous inhabitants of the Central Andes in South America, consider food systems to be deeply interconnected with their environment and cultural identity. Their agricultural practices, which have evolved over millennia, include paying tribute to Pachamama (Mother Earth), emphasizing sustainable land use and the relationship between the land, environment, and their culture. (Read more about Pachamama Day on the Cusco Peru website). Similarly, the Sámi, a group of people Indigenous to what is now called Europe, consider food and food systems as interconnected with broader cultural and geographic contexts. Tervo, et al. (2022) emphasize that … “…traditional Sami food and livelihoods relate to the natural environment and are part of their way of life; they are interlinked with the Sami people’s identity and dignity…”

Thinking of food systems as complex systems is very helpful in the context of sustainability.

2.1. Watch (4 minutes)

Start by watching the short video below to explore the concept of food systems.

Note that although waste is listed as a stage of the food system, food loss & waste happens at several stages of the food system.

Produced by No Line Communications What is a Food System? (youtube.com)

2.2. Read (1 hour)

In this section, we encourage you to read the Building Block “What are Food Systems” published online by TABLE. It is about 6 pages of content and should take less than an hour to read.

At the end of the document, you will find many “recommend resources” and “references” that you can explore. Note that a few of the links are outdated as of 2024, but many are still good.

What are Food Systems a Building Block from TABLE

2.3. Reflect (20 minutes)

After reading, reflect on the following questions.

1 – Describe a food system. Use words appropriate as if you were explaining it to a colleague at work.

2 – Why is it helpful to think of food systems as complex systems?

3 – Based on the videos and readings, how would you personally define a food system?

4 – Using the “Nourish Food System Map” from the reading as a guide, what roles do you have in the food system as an individual, and as a nutrition and dietetics professional?

2.4. Keep Learning (optional)

If you enjoyed learning about food systems as complex systems, you can check out the courses and readings:

  • The Indigenous Food Systems Network: This website includes various videos, stories, and tools related to Indigenous food sovereignty and sustainable food practices.

Continue to Part 3: Why are Food Systems and Diets Currently not Sustainable? (1 hour)

Return to the Learning Modules’ Main Page

We welcome any & all feedback!
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This Toolkit is made to be used & shared - feel free!
Please cite the authors of the resources (and the ICDA SFS Toolkit if you can).


Feedback? Questions? Ideas? Contact the ICDA SFS Coordinator:
ICDAsfs.coordinator@acadiau.ca

updated 2024 December

LM1 Part 3: Why are food systems and diets currently not sustainable? (1 hour)

There are many food systems, and they could be thought of as subsystems to the larger complex system that you learned about in the previous section. Some aspects of food systems are more sustainable, and some are less sustainable. However, the overall outcomes (widespread malnutrition, food insecurity, and negative impacts) of food systems are not sustainable.

3.1. Watch (4 minutes)

Watch this short video from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). It provides a very simple and visual outline of the social and environmental challenges that make our food systems unsustainable.

Why do we need to change our food system? (UNEP’s YouTube) (4 minutes)

3.2. Read (30 minutes)

You can explore the 9 ways food systems are failing humanity through the link to the UNEP or by reading below.

In the 1950s, the “Green Revolution” promoted synthetic seeds, fertilisers, and pesticides that prioritised quantity over quality, leading to widespread environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, human health issues, and deepening social inequality (see UNEP news article for details). In preparation for the landmark United Nations Food Systems Summit in September 2021 UNEP provided the following 9 things to know about the global food system.

  1. The global food system is not quite the bargain it seems.

The low retail cost of industrialized food can obscure its very high environmental price tag. According to some estimates, conventional agriculture – which produces greenhouse gas emissions, pollutes air and water, and destroys wildlife – costs the environment about $3 trillion every year (link to trucost.com). Externalized costs, such as the funds required to purify contaminated drinking water or to treat diseases related to poor nutrition, are also unaccounted for by the industry, meaning that communities and taxpayers may be picking up the tab without realizing it.

  1. The global food system can facilitate the spread of viruses from animals to humans.

While their genetic diversity provides animals with natural disease resistance, intensive livestock farming can produce genetic similarities within flocks and herds. This makes animals more susceptible to pathogens, and when they are kept in close proximity, viruses can then spread easily among them. Intensive livestock farming can also serve as a bridge for pathogens, allowing them to jump from wild animals to farm animals and then to humans.

  1. The global food system has been linked to zoonotic diseases.

Clearing forests to make space for agriculture and moving farms nearer to urban centres can destroy the natural buffers that protect humans from viruses circulating among wildlife. According to a United Nations Environment Programme assessment, climate change and the rising demand for animal protein are also affecting the emergence of what are known as zoonotic diseases – pathogens that can jump from animals to people and vice versa.

  1. The global food system fosters antimicrobial resistance.

In addition to preventing and treating disease, antimicrobials are commonly used to accelerate livestock growth. Over time, microorganisms develop resistance, making antimicrobials less effective as medicine. In fact, about 700,000 people die of resistant infections every year.  By 2050, those diseases may cause more deaths than cancer. According to the World Health Organization, antimicrobial resistance “threatens the achievements of modern medicine” and may precipitate “a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries can kill.”

  1. The global food system’s use of pesticides may be sickening people.

Large volumes of chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used to increase agricultural yields and humans may be exposed to these potentially-toxic pesticides through the food they consume, resulting in adverse health effects. Some pesticides have been proven to act as endocrine disruptors, potentially affecting reproductive functions, increasing the incidence of breast cancer, causing abnormal growth patterns and developmental delays in children, and altering immune function.

  1. The global food system contaminates water and soil and affects human health.

Agriculture plays a major role in pollution, releasing large volumes of manure, chemicals, antibiotics, and growth hormones into water sources. This poses risks to both aquatic ecosystems and human health. In fact, agriculture’s most common chemical contaminant, nitrate, can cause “blue baby syndrome”, which can kill infants.

  1. The global food system has been blamed for epidemics of obesity and chronic disease. 

Industrial agriculture produces mainly commodity crops, which are then used in a wide variety of inexpensive, calorie-dense, and widely available foods. Consequently, 60 per cent of all dietary energy is derived from just 3 cereal crops – rice, maize and wheat. Although it has effectively lowered the proportion of people suffering from hunger, this calorie-based approach fails to meet nutritional recommendations, such as those for the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and pulses. The popularity of processed, packaged, and prepared foods has increased in almost all communities. Worldwide, obesity is also on the rise and many suffer from preventable diseases often related to diet, like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and some cancers.

Some 60 per cent of all dietary energy is derived from just 3 cereal crops – rice, maize and wheat. Photo by Johny Gorend/Unsplash

  1. The global food system is an inefficient use of land.

In spite of an insufficient global supply of pulses, fruits, and vegetables, livestock farming is ever more ubiquitous, perpetuating a self-sustaining cycle of supply and demand. Between 1970 and 2011, livestock increased from 7.3 billion to 24.2 billion units worldwide, with about 60 per cent of all agricultural land used for grazing. Meanwhile, while there may be fewer people in the world who are undernourished, there are many more people who are now malnourished.

Intensive livestock farming can also serve as a bridge for pathogens, allowing them to jump from wild animals to farm animals and then to humans. Photo by Nighthawk Shoots/Unsplash

  1. The global food system entrenches inequality.

Although small farms make up 72 per cent of all farms, they occupy just 8 per cent of all agricultural land.  In contrast, large farms – which account for only 1 per cent of the world’s farms – occupy 65 per cent of agricultural land.  This gives large farms disproportionate control, and there is little incentive to develop technologies that could benefit resource-poor small-hold farmers, including those in developing countries. At the other end of the food supply chain, food that is affordable to the poor may be energy-dense but is often nutrient-poor. Micronutrient deficiencies may impair cognitive development, lower resistance to disease, increase risks during childbirth and, ultimately, affect economic productivity. The poor are effectively disadvantaged both as producers and consumers.

3.3. Reflect (20 minutes)

After watching the video and reading this chapter, reflect on the following questions.

  1. Describe how climate change is impacting food systems, and how food systems are impacting climate change.
  2. Describe how food systems and human diets are impacting, and are impacted by 2-3 other environmental challenges (e.g., biodiversity).
  3. Describe how food systems and human diets are impacting social sustainability. If needed, review the “Five Principles of Sustainability” video above. For example, how do they impact human health and inequality?
  4. With natural resources under pressure, how can individual consumers and communities contribute to preserving these resources through their food choices?
  5. Try and think of two ways that the challenges you described above (in questions 1-3) are directly impacting your community.

3.4. Keep Learning (optional)

If you want to keep exploring the ways that food systems are unsustainable, we recommend you read Foodsource Chapter 1: Overview of Food System Challenges. It is about 25 pages and takes about 1-hour to read.

You can also filter for “Personal Knowledge Development” in the Existing Resources Database.

Or, you can begin with the following resources in this Toolkit:

Continue to Part 4: What is a healthy and sustainable diet? (30 minutes)

Return to the Learning Modules’ Main Page

We welcome any & all feedback!
Our goal is to make this the best we can for those who use it.

This Toolkit is made to be used & shared - feel free!
Please cite the authors of the resources (and the ICDA SFS Toolkit if you can).


Feedback? Questions? Ideas? Contact the ICDA SFS Coordinator:
ICDAsfs.coordinator@acadiau.ca

updated 2024 December