'Sustainable Food' is healthier for People and the Planet...
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People:
There are nearly a billion people in the world overweight - about the same number as those who go hungry. The WHO calls this "the double burden".
'Sustainable' food takes into account environmental, health and social concerns. Is ‘cheap’ food good for health and the environment.?
Two Definitions & Principles
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 courtesy: www.sln.org.uk/geography/ |
Planet:
Farming & Food production together make up about 1/5th of UK & World Greenhouse Gases (Stern Report & others)
Other concerns include:
energy use, (ca 10 calories used to produce one food calorie),
water (20 Niles flown out of Africa)
biodiversity(few crop strains instead of diverse range), and
land needed...The UK 'Food Footprint' is 5X the size of the UK.(What, Why, Who, How)
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What does "sustainable food" mean?
"Sustainable" food means different things to each of us, as we seek to balance emerging food issues about various health, environmental and social concerns. When producing food, we need to use less finite resources like oil, and emit less greenhouse gases (Environmental), treat those in food chain better (Social), and make money for further investment (Economic). Sustainable food encouarges debates and dilemmas such as food miles or local, organic v GM, ethical & fair trade, land & labour, climate change & carbon labelling, cheap v quality (assured), health & environment, biodiversity v monoculture, veggie & animal welfare? On this site, we try to deal with these dilemmas at all levels, from consumer choice to government policy, but mainly at the level of your organisation.
How does sustainable food relate with "Food Security"?
Food Security is, according to FAO, "when everybody has access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences" (more definitions). Recent food prices may just a blip or the signal of long term issues. Food is certainly rising up the political agenda (eg EFRA Committee). Some say that "Food security " should be secured at all odds - that productivity overrides evnvironmental matters. Others say security means nothing unless it is also sustainable. And then there is nutrition...
The world bank says: “The relationship between agriculture and human nutrition is far more complex than …the economic relationship between food supply and food demand”. Food is not a commodity like others, says Bill Clinton) - it cannot be left to the whims of the markets. After all, food is a matter of life or death, and what sort of life we live.
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