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10 - A critical panorama of methods used to assess food sustainability
- Edited by Catherine Esnouf, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, Marie Russel, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, Nicolas Bricas, Centre de Co-opération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), Paris
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- Book:
- Food System Sustainability
- Published online:
- 05 April 2013
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- 25 April 2013, pp 198-232
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Summary
The duALIne project chose to examine the methods used to assess food sustainability in a chapter of its own, separate from the sectorial approaches presented previously, so that this examination could be as open as possible. This chapter focuses in particular on the specific issues posed by food vis-à-vis the methods currently used to measure sustainability. Under this approach, this chapter looks firstly at the complexity of food systems, then how the associated challenges of sustainability could be structured and finally presents some methods and indicators and the research questions they raise.
Introduction
Measuring performance has become a widespread activity in modern societies. It is the benchmark by which political and economic choices are regularly backed and/or justified. Performance indicators, whatever their objective, have seen exponential development, as have the operators who construct them. Assessing the performance of food systems through the prism of sustainable development is still a recent concern that requires in-depth reflection, both in terms of its scope and of the issue(s) to be assessed on the one hand, and regarding the choices of the sustainable challenges targeted or the assessment methods to be used on the other.
9 - Elements for a foresight debate on food sustainability
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- By Tévécia Ronzon, Sandrine Paillard, Philippe Chemineau, Christine Aubry, Nicolas Bricas, Paul Colonna, Catherine Esnouf, Stéphane Fournier, Hervé Guyomard, Pascale Hébel, Jean Hirschler, Claudine Joly, Céline Laisney, Bernard Maire, Jean-Louis Lambert, Sophie Le Perchec, Charles Pernin, Jean-Luc Pujol, Barbara Redlingshöfer, Vincent Réquillart, Marie Russel, Bruno Vindel
- Edited by Catherine Esnouf, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, Marie Russel, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, Nicolas Bricas, Centre de Co-opération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), Paris
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- Book:
- Food System Sustainability
- Published online:
- 05 April 2013
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- 25 April 2013, pp 176-197
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Summary
Regional and global food systems are constantly evolving, thus the contextual elements presented in Chapter 1 are likely to evolve, and food systems will be transformed. Because it is impossible to predict the food systems of tomorrow, we have adopted a foresight approach in order to try and understand possible future changes. Our approach, which is presented in the first part of this chapter, has therefore mainly been based on identifying the main drivers of the transformation of food systems. This work was the fruit of collective discussions by a multidisciplinary group made up of some 15 experts. The plurality of their views and their areas of competence allowed them to analyse the potential impacts of the different evolutions identified relative to the sustainability of food systems in terms of their nutritional, economic, social, cultural, environmental and territorial dimensions. This step of the analysis also enabled us to highlight a certain number of points at issue, which are presented in the second part of the chapter; this does not end with a presentation of different scenarios (as might have been expected), but concludes with the three transversal messages arising from debate by this workshop: issues linked to inequalities of access to food, territorial dynamics and the governance of food systems.
Food systems evolving under the effects of various factors
Through the identification of factors underlying the transformation of food systems, it appears clearly that some trends have already been identified (see, in particular, Chapter 1 on the context and the challenges of food systems, and the retrospective analysis described in Chapter 2). Nevertheless, these trends involve a certain number of questions and uncertainties, notably regarding the nature and degree of their potential effects. These uncertainties thus open the way to contrasting scenarios for food systems throughout the world (see Figure 9.1).
7 - Losses and wastage
- Edited by Catherine Esnouf, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, Marie Russel, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, Nicolas Bricas, Centre de Co-opération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), Paris
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- Book:
- Food System Sustainability
- Published online:
- 05 April 2013
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- 25 April 2013, pp 136-157
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Summary
It is necessary to recognise and understand losses and wastage in order to enable their reduction and recovery.
Introduction
The importance of food losses and wastage in the context of sustainability and the lack of understanding of their extent, the mechanisms at play and the role of different stakeholders are such that we have devoted an entire chapter to this subject of crucial importance to the sustainability of food systems.
In this chapter we will define the losses and wastage that affect products intended directly for human consumption, in both Northern and Southern countries, without specifying the food systems in which they occur. By analysing recovery options of these lost or wasted products, this chapter will fuel the debate referred to in Chapter 4 on the interlocking character of food, energy and chemical systems and on the circular economy of agricultural biomass.
Losses and wastage are not linked to stakeholders’ carelessness. In Northern countries, they are the visible result of socioeconomic changes to food systems at a planetary level (globalisation of markets, industrialisation of processing, etc.), and of changes in value systems (leisure time versus food preparation time) (Soyeux, 2010).
The growth of the world’s population, the perception of the finite supply of arable land, the affirmation of the right to food and rises in the cost of agricultural products are all drivers that place human food consumption at the forefront of political and social concerns.