Assessing Sustainable Food and Nutrition Security of the EU Food System—An Integrated Approach

Monika Zurek, Aniek Hebinck, Adrian Leip, Joost Vervoort, Marijke Kuiper, Maria Garrone, Petr Havlík, Thomas Heckelei, Sara Hornborg, John Ingram, Anneleen Kuijsten, Lindsay Shutes, Johanna M. Geleijnse, Ida Terluin, Pieter Van ’t Veer, Jo Wijnands, Andrea Zimmermann and Thom Achterbosch
Additional contact information
Monika Zurek: Environmental change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
Aniek Hebinck: Environmental change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
Adrian Leip: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, I-21027 Ispra (VA), Italy
Joost Vervoort: Environmental change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
Marijke Kuiper: Wageningen Economic Research, 2595 BM The Hague, The Netherlands
Maria Garrone: LICOS—Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven University, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Petr Havlík: Ecosystems Services and Management Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Sara Hornborg: Agrifood and Bioscience, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, 40229 Gothenburg, Sweden
John Ingram: Environmental change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
Anneleen Kuijsten: Division of Human Nutrition and Health, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Johanna M. Geleijnse: Division of Human Nutrition and Health, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Ida Terluin: Wageningen Economic Research, 2595 BM The Hague, The Netherlands
Pieter Van ’t Veer: Division of Human Nutrition and Health, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Jo Wijnands: Wageningen Economic Research, 2595 BM The Hague, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: Steering the EU food system towards a sustainability transformation requires a vast and actionable knowledge base available to a range of public and private actors. Few have captured this complexity by assessing food systems from a multi-dimensional and multi-level perspective, which would include (1) nutrition and diet, environmental and economic outcomes together with social equity dimensions and (2) system interactions across country, EU and global scales. This paper addresses this gap in food systems research and science communication by providing an integrated analytical approach and new ways to communicate this complexity outside science. Based on a transdisciplinary science approach with continuous stakeholder input, the EU Horizon2020 project ‘Metrics, Models and Foresight for European SUStainable Food And Nutrition Security’ (SUSFANS) developed a five-step process: Creating a participatory space; designing a conceptual framework of the EU food system; developing food system performance metrics; designing a modelling toolbox and developing a visualization tool. The Sustainable Food and Nutrition-Visualizer, designed to communicate complex policy change-impacts and trade-off questions, enables an informed debate about trade-offs associated with options for change among food system actors as well as in the policy making arena. The discussion highlights points for further research related to indicator development, reach of assessment models, participatory processes and obstacles in science communication.

Keywords: food systems; metrics; interdisciplinarity; sustainable food and nutrition security; food system assessment; participatory approach; SUSFANS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:4271-:d:183839

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