Cross-cutting issues

GEO-6 identifies three key socioeconomic systems with far-reaching environmental impacts: the food, energy and waste systems (well established). These systems are closely interlinked. The processes of producing, distributing and using both food and energy, and materials in general, generates significant waste. These processes and the waste they generate pollute the environment. They also impact biodiversity and ecosystems. Transformative change in these systems will require policy coherence and synergies implicitly addressing issues related to air and freshwater quality, land and soil degradation, oceans and coast integrity, and biodiversity loss. ﹛Chapter 17, ExecSum, 17.3.2, 17.4.3, 17.5.1﹜

Food

The current food system is inadequately providing nourishment to millions of people in the world, while it is responsible for major diet-related diseases in millions of others (well established). Over 800 million people are undernourished and more than 2 billion suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. Patterns of inequity in access to food correspond to other social inequities, including those based on gender, age, class and the marginalization of racial and ethnic groups. At the same time, 39 per cent of the global adult population (1.9 billion people) is overweight and 13 per cent (650 million people) is obese (World Health Organization [WHO] 2018a). Diet-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer and cardiovascular disease are globally pervasive and, especially in rich countries, associated with overconsumption of saturated fats and processed foods. These diseases are becoming increasingly prevalent in LMICs as animal protein, and products high in fats and sugars, become more widely available and affordable. ﹛4.4.3﹜

Demand for food from land and the sea is growing, with impacts on the planet and human health. Feeding a growing population of 9-10 billion by 2050, in the context of climate change and without making environmental degradation and social problems worse, is a key challenge (well established). Current land and ocean management and food production practices cannot achieve this goal and also prevent the loss of natural capital, preserve ecosystem services, combat climate change, address energy and water security, and promote gender and social equality (established but incomplete). (SDG 12) The proportion of the global population living in low-income food-deficit countries (LIFDCs) rose from 72 per cent in 1965 to 80 per cent in 2005.