Three Levers for Food System Transformation in Support of Nature
3rd February, 2021
https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/02/food-system-impacts-biodiversity-loss
Report author:
Professor Tim Benton
Research Director, Emerging Risks; Director, Energy, Environment and Resources Programme
This paper explores the role of the global food system as the principal driver of accelerating biodiversity loss. It explains how food production is degrading or destroying natural habitats and contributing to species extinction. The paper outlines the challenges and trade-offs involved in redesigning food systems to restore biodiversity and/or prevent further biodiversity loss, and presents recommendations for action.
Our food system has been shaped over past decades by the ‘cheaper food’ paradigm. Policies and economic structures have aimed to produce ever more food at ever lower cost. Intensified agricultural production degrades soils and ecosystems, driving down the productive capacity of land and necessitating even more intensive food production to keep pace with demand. Growing global consumption of cheaper calories and resource-intensive foods aggravates these pressures
The paper introduces three ‘levers’ for reducing pressures on land and creating a more sustainable food system.
- The first is to change dietary patterns to reduce food demand and encourage more plant-based diets.
- The second is to protect and set aside land for nature, whether through re-establishing native ecosystems on spared farmland or integrating pockets of natural habitat into farmland.
- The third is to shift to more sustainable farming.
All three levers will be needed for food system redesign to succeed.
Our recommendations for action are based around a series of major summits and conferences on food systems, climate, biological diversity, nutrition and related areas scheduled in 2021. These offer a unique opportunity for a ‘food systems approach’ to become embedded in international policy processes.
… we need to farm in a more nature-friendly, biodiversity-supporting way, limiting the use of inputs and replacing monoculture with polyculture farming practices
