EN
ES
REPORT
May 2015
The New Science of Sustainable Food Systems
Overcoming barriers to food systems reform
This page is automatically translated from the English original using DeepL and may contain errors.
IPES-Food was one of the early pioneers of food systems as a unit of analysis. Our very first report called for thinkers and policy-makers to look at food as an interconnected system – looking holistically at food production, processing, distribution, consumption, and disposal, and their effects on economies, health, societies and the environment. This lens has become widely used today.
As greater attention is placed on food systems challenges, this report makes the case for reaching beyond the traditional bounds of the scientific community. IPES-Food emphasizes the following principles for the analysis of food systems:
- Food systems analysis must be holistic, systemic, and transdisciplinary;
- Analysis of food systems must be power-sensitive;
- Comprehensive environmental, social, cultural and economic sustainability must serve as the benchmark for food systems reform;
- New indicators of progress must be developed to capture the benefits of these new food systems.
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