Food systems are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a historic global commitment to eradicate poverty and hunger while ensuring healthy, prosperous and fulfilling lives. The food we grow, produce, consume, trade, transport, store and sell is the essential connecting thread between people, prosperity, and planet. We therefore need ‘resource-smart’ food systems. Food systems crucially depend on natural resources: land, soil, water, terrestrial and marine biodiversity, minerals (essential nutrients for crops and animals) and fossil fuels. The use of these natural resources goes beyond primary food production, e.g. fresh water for processing and biomass for packaging or cooking. If we want ensure all people have safe and nutritious food, in appropriate amounts, these natural resources need to be managed sustainably and used efficiently, while reducing environmental impacts. The food sector is globally the dominant user of a number of natural resources, particularly land, biodiversity, fresh water, nitrogen and phosphorus. Food systems, and food production in particular, are also a major driver of a number of environmental impacts, such as the loss of biodiversity, soil degradation, water depletion and greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the people who directly or indirectly manage our food systems are also the largest group of natural resource managers in the world and could become critical agents of change in the transformation of current consumption and production systems.
-Food_systems_and_natural_resources-2016Food_Systems_and_Natural_Resources.pdf.pdf (9 MB)