scholarly journals Changing Route: Common Action on Food Systems Transformation in the Mediterranean

New Medit ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Ridolfi ◽  
Sandro Dernini ◽  
Jamie Morrison ◽  
Árni M. Mathiesen ◽  
Roberto Capone
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Agenda 2030 ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Food Security And Nutrition ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Systems Transformation ◽  
Union For The Mediterranean ◽  
Common Action

The Coronavirus pandemic has revealed the fragility of our food systems, affecting all dimensions of food security and nutrition across the world. It has highlighted how deeply our world is interconnected and the importance of better recognising and understanding the interconnections that are intrinsic to these systems and their key role in pursuit of the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda. There is now, more than ever, a stronger need for a “route change” towards a common action on food systems transformation. Dialogues among all stakeholders to redesign the future of tomorrow’s food systems are needed to trigger collective, multi-stakeholder actions on the ground, at local, regional and global level, towards more sustainable food systems, linking sustainable food production to more healthy and sustainable food consumption. In this context CIHEAM, FAO, and the Union for the Mediterranean Secretariat (UfMS) initiated in 2019, a joint collaborative effort for the establishment of a multi-stakeholder platform on Sustainable Food Systems in the Mediterranean to accelerate the shift towards the Agenda 2030 in the Mediterranean region, with the Mediterranean diet acting as a driver.

scholarly journals Sustainability of Food Systems in the Mediterranean Region

New Medit ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Policy Governance ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Governance Practice ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Union For The Mediterranean

Despite the recurring discourse on food systems and their sustainability in the Mediterranean region, compre-hensive studies are hard to find. Therefore, this article provides an overview on the challenges and perspectives of food systems in the Mediterranean. In particular, the paper addresses the main challenges (environmental, economic, socio-cultural and nutrition-health) facing Mediterranean food systems; analyses the multifaceted relations between sustainable food systems (SFS) and sustainable diets by exploring the example of the Medi-terranean diet; and briefly presents the relevance of the innovation for Mediterranean food systems. The paper highlights the urgency of action to move towards sustainable and resilient food systems in the Mediterranean area. This is particularly relevant in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. For that, there is a need for shared policy, governance, practice and research agenda. In this respect, the contribution of CIHEAM results fundamental. The paper concludes by highlighting the disruptive potential of the SFS-Med Platform – under co-development by CIHEAM, FAO and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) – to foster food systems trans-formation towards sustainability and accelerate the achievement of SDGs in the region.

Multi-Stakeholder and Multilevel Food Governance

2020 ◽  
pp. 60-72
Author(s):  
Sérgio Pedro
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Central Element ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Food Governance ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Global And Local

The contemporary food system, in its global and local dimensions, is a central element of the debate on the sustainability of the planet, a debate that increasingly involves more stakeholders and areas of knowledge in the search for answers to the multiple questions related to the attainment of more sustainable patterns for food and agriculture. The present chapter analyses the participative multi-stakeholder and multilevel model of food governance of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), in which stakeholders from different societal and expertise sectors participate in equal manners in the process of co-construction of institutional, technical, and financing measures for the functioning of a given food system. The present chapter has the main goal of sharing and critically analysing the CPLP´s institutional context for the promotion of sustainable food systems as an example of an integrated methodological approach to support the creation of coordinated public policies and institutional conditions to implement a transition to more sustainable food systems and diets.

scholarly journals UN Food Systems Summit 2021: Dismantling Democracy and Resetting Corporate Control of Food Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Canfield ◽  
Molly D. Anderson ◽  
Philip McMichael
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Food Governance ◽  
United Nations Food ◽  
Systems Transformation ◽  
High Level ◽  
Global Food

This article analyzes the development and organization of the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), which is being convened by UN Secretary General António Guterres in late 2021. Although few people will dispute that global food systems need transformation, it has become clear that the Summit is instead an effort by a powerful alliance of multinational corporations, philanthropies, and export-oriented countries to subvert multilateral institutions of food governance and capture the global narrative of “food systems transformation.” This article places the upcoming Summit in the context of previous world food summits and analyzes concerns that have been voiced by many within civil society. It elaborates how the current structure and forms of participant recruitment and public engagement lack basic transparency and accountability, fail to address significant conflicts of interest, and ignore human rights. As the COVID-19 pandemic illuminates the structural vulnerabilities of the neoliberal model of food systems and the consequences of climate change for food production, a high-level commitment to equitable and sustainable food systems is needed now more than ever. However, the authors suggest that the UNFSS instead seems to follow a trajectory in which efforts to govern global food systems in the public interest has been subverted to maintain colonial and corporate forms of control.

scholarly journals Healthy and Sustainable Diets and Food Systems: the Key to Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2?

Food Ethics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Fanzo
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Sustainable Diets ◽  
Global Goal ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Food Security And Nutrition

Abstract The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are considered a unifying global goal setting agenda that every country is meant to achieve. One of those goals, SDG2, promises to ensure food security and nutrition within sustainable food systems. However, achieving that goal is riddled with uncertainty because of the way in which the world currently produces and consumes foods. The global trends of diets and the food systems that produce those diets suggest that they are neither healthy nor sustainable, which has implications for achieving SDG2. This paper characterizes the current state of global diets and food systems, the concept of “healthy and sustainable diets,” and the ethical considerations to achieving healthy and sustainable diets for sustainable development.

scholarly journals Sustainable food systems and healthy diets: the case of mediterranean diet

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-118
Author(s):  
Anka Trajkovska Petkoska ◽  
Anita Trajkovska-Broach
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Diet ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Virgin Olive Oil ◽  
Extra Virgin Olive Oil ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
Healthy Diets ◽  
The Mediterranean

Abstract Sustainability should be an imperative in everyone’s lifestyle in order to achieve an equilibrium between humans and ecosystem for the wellbeing of current and future generations. Sustainable food systems and healthy diets are main key-players to achieve sustainable planet and lifestyle and at the same time to be in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda of 17 global goals set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 to achieve better and sustainable future for all). Such food systems offer not only a way towards ending the hunger, but also enable healthy nations and less environmental pollution. A good representative of a sustainable food system is the Mediterranean diet that is affordable and accessible even in the regions far from the Mediterranean basin. Raw or minimally cooked plant-based food products flavoured by different herbs and spices are the foundation of this diet packed with powerful nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, enriched with healthy fats from extra virgin olive oil. The Mediterranean lifestyle provides many health and wellbeing benefits for humans. Authors believe that adhering to it leads to healthy nations and a sustainable world with less hunger.

scholarly journals Sustainable Food Systems and the Mediterranean Diet

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliot M Berry
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Mediterranean Diet ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Stakeholder Involvement ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
The Mediterranean

During the past decade, the concept of sustainability has been added to the factors involved in food security. This has led to a more comprehensive and holistic approach to sustainable food systems which considers drivers—environment, geopolitics, demographics, policy regulations, socio-cultural-economic factors, science and technology and infrastructure. The outcomes, similarly, involve many dimensions—environment, food security and nutrition, health and socio-cultural-economic aspects. This article discusses the Mediterranean diet in the context of sustainable food systems and shows (as in all parts of the world) that there is food insecurity in every country as monitored by the Global Nutrition Index. Three recent, major reports published in 2019 suggest what measures need to be taken to improve sustainable food systems. All environmental analyses agree on the need to promote more plant-based diets—achieved practically by using “more forks than knives”. The Mediterranean Diet pattern is a case study for a sustainable diet. It has the best scientific evidence for being healthy, together with economic and socio-cultural benefits. A major challenge is that it is not consumed by the majority of the population in the Mediterranean region, and any solution must involve equity—the socially just allocation of resources. The task now is implementation with multi-stakeholder involvement, in the knowledge that “a well fed nation is a healthy nation is a sustainable and productive nation”.

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