[Link]((https://www.thelancet.com/commissions/EAT) Authors: Stockholm Resilience Center Subject: Food Systems | Planetary Boundaries |
Key Passages
Food production is the largest cause of global environmental change. Agriculture occupies about 40% of global land,13 and food production is responsible for up to 30% of global greenhouse-gas emissions14 and 70% of freshwater use Reaching the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to well below 2°C, aiming for 1·5°C, is not possible by only decarbonising the global energy system. Transitioning to food systems that can provide negative emissions (ie, function as a major carbon sink instead of a major carbon source) and protecting carbon sinks in natural ecosystems are both required to reach this goal.
Opportunities
Nutrients Recycling and Redistribution
Closing nutrient loops and using nitrogen and phosphorus efficiently is one opportunity for increasing food production without releasing more reactive nitrogen and phosphorus into the biosphere. This strategy includes applying the right type and quantity of fertiliser, at the right time, and in the right place. The strategy also involves efforts to recover nutrients (ie, recycling) in usable forms from places in the food system where they concentrate, such as sewage treatment plants, food processing plants, compost operations, and livestock production facilities. Another opportunity arises from redistribution of nitrogen and phosphorus use to close yield gaps. On a global scale, application of nitrogen and phosphorus fertiliser is highly unevenly distributed, ranging from nitrogen and phosphorus inputs insufficient to close yield gaps to excessive surplus application in many developed and rapidly growing economies.185 Many developed nations apply nitrogen in excess, with rates of nitrogen application exceeding those needed
Change in Diets
Although food production practices have an important role, many studies highlight that a dietary change towards increased adoption of plant-based diets has high mitigation potential, which is probably needed to limit global warming to a less than 2°C increase.
*Reduce Subsidies and marketing of Harmful stuff
Subsidies on fertilisers, water, fuels, electricity, and pesticides should be critically reviewed, with some authorities arguing for their removal, and environmental and societal health costs of food supply and consumption should be fully reflected in pricing by introducing taxes. As a result, food prices might increase. Therefore, where appropriate, social protection or safety nets (eg, increasing income through cash transfers) can be established to protect vulnerable populations, particularly children and women, while keeping trade open. Third, renewed efforts by governments, industry, and society are required to restrict advertising and marketing of unhealthy, unsustainable foods, and to support positive discrimination of healthy diets from sustainable food systems
Regenerative Agriculture Practices
incorporating farm organic wastes into soil, low or no tillage, nitrogen-fixing cover plants, replacement of annuals with perennial crops and pastures, agroforestry, establishing buffer strips, and keeping some farmland with natural vegetation.