The Environment-Food nexus: towards a systemic approach to support sustainable development

Food systems face growing environmental pressures from various internal as external sources, affecting quantity, quality, efficiency and stability of the production. Moreover, also food systems put a high burden on the environment via land use and degradation, water and energy consumption, pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as diverse direct and indirect changes to biological compositions and related ecosystem services. A major challenge towards more sustainable food systems is the multitude of involved actors in a wide diversity of food production-consumption chains, spanning from local to global scales. A system thinking approach that provides an overview seems essential as a basis for the generation of impactful policy instruments that are founded by a combination of qualitative and quantitative tools based and relevant data and systems’ constraints.

The scoping report based on scientific and policy evidence will aim to frame the overall question of the current challenges related to the Environment-Food nexus, particularly by addressing:

1) Environmental pressures on and by food systems by exploring and identifying the various environmental aspects affecting and affected by food systems, including both internal and external factors, and their implications for improved quantity, quality, efficiency and stability of the food production while reducing and minimizing environmental impacts of these food production systems.

2) The generation of a systemic approach for Food-Enviroment systems by delving into the qualitative and quantitative tools that can be employed to comprehensively understand the intricate network of interconnections, synergies, and trade-offs between food and environment systems.

3) Strategies for Sustainable Food-Environment Systems by focusing on concept assessment and integration as a basis for the development of comprehensive strategies at local and global levels with a particular emphasis on steering the multitude of involved actors in a wide diversity of food production-consumption chains.

To facilitate the exchange of views, we are here inviting a selected group of diverse specialists from government organizations, academia, industry, NGOs and further stakeholders internationally to participate in an online Round Table, on 21 of November 2023 at 1–3 pm CET.

Invitation

Date: 21 November
Time: 1–3 pm CET

We would like to invite you to this specialist Round Table, and hope that you will be able to join!

During this Round Table we will address questions such as:

Why is it critical to identify the unsustainable interactions between Environment-Food systems?

Which are the issues (or divergent views) regarding the Environment-Food nexus?

What are the relevant policy options and

Who are the relevant stakeholders?

How do we envisage the path(s) for addressing the challenges related to the Environment-Food nexus?

Please register before 15 November 2023.
As base for the discussion, we will send the draft of the scoping study together with the link to the virtual meeting a few days before the meeting.