Food Systems

and

Planetary Boundaries

John Ingram

GECAFS Executive Officer

Environmental Change Institute

University of Oxford

What are the interactions between

„Food‟ and „Planetary Boundaries‟?

?

=> Need to unpack notion of „food security‟

Food security…

... exists when all people, at all times, have physical

and economic access to sufficient, safe, and

nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food

preferences for an active and healthy life.

(UN-FAO World Food Summit 1996)

… is more than food production

… is underpinned by food systems

Food Security, i.e. stability over time for:

FOOD UTILISATION

FOOD ACCESS

•Affordability•Allocation•Preference

•Nutritional Value•Social Value•Food Safety

FOOD AVAILABILITY

•Production•Distribution•Exchange

EnvironmentalWelfare

• Ecosystem stocks & flows

• Ecosystem services• Planetary

Boundaries

Social Welfare• Income• Employment • Wealth• Social capital• Political capital• Human capital

Food System OUTCOMES Contributing to:

Food System ACTIVITIES

Producing food: natural resources, inputs, markets, …

Processing & packaging food: raw materials, standards, storage requirement, …

Distributing & retailing food: transport, marketing, advertising, …

Consuming food: acquisition, preparation, customs, …

GECAFS Food System Concept... exists when all people, at all times, have physical

and economic access to sufficient, safe, and

nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food

preferences for an active and healthy life.

(World Food Summit 1996)

Food System

ACTIVITIESProducing food

Processing & Packaging food

Distributing & Retailing food

Consuming food

?

So what are the contributions of

Food Systems to crossing

Planetary Boundaries?

Producing food

Extensification:

land cover change

Pressure on many

(?all) Planetary

Boundaries

Source: EarthTrends, 2008; using data from the the Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT)

Agriculture

13%

70% of arable GHG emissions connected with N fertilizer (manufacture, use):

CO2 & N2O

We also know that agriculture contributes

significantly to GHG emissions.

Sources of agricultural GHGsexcluding land use change Mt CO2-eq

Source: Cool farming: Climate impacts of agriculture and mitigation potential, Greenpeace, 2008

What other Food System „Activities‟

affect Planetary Boundaries?

from Edwards et al., Institute for

Agriculture and Trade Policy, 2009

Food Processing

Common characteristics of wastes from the

industry

• Large amounts of organic materials such as proteins,

carbohydrates, and lipids

• Large amounts of suspended solids depending on

the source

• High biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and/or

chemical oxygen demand (COD)

• High N concentration

• High suspended oil or grease contents

• High variations in pH

Most have higher levels than municipal sewageKroyer, 1995

Dupont & Renzetti, Can J Ag Econ, 1998

Food processing plants are responsible for 4.7% of total manufacturing intake

but account for 5.2% of total consumption

Water use in Canadian food processing

Water use Mm3/yr % of all

industrial use

Intake 347.2 4.7

Discharge 320.1 4.7

Consumption 27.1 5.2

Processing Food

Packaging Food

Packaging:

some environmental issues

• Litter

• Use of raw materials for packaging

• Ease and convenience of packaging

disposal

• Adverse consequences of careless

disposal of packaging

• Feasibility of recycling or reuse

• Energy content

Guardian 1 February 2009

Refrigerant

leakage

accounts for

30% of

super-

markets’

direct GHG

emissions

(Environment

Investigation

Agency, 2010)

Food retailing

The Co-operative Group Sustainability Report 2008/09

But the retail industry is “tidying up”Net GHG emissions connected with premises, transport

and refrigerants

Consuming Food

Breakdown (%) of energy use in commercial

kitchens in the US (broadly similar in the UK)

Space heating

Water heating

Cooking

Ventilation

Office equipment

Refridgeration

Other

Cooling

Lighting

19

23

19

Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, 2009

Consuming Food

Environmental and operational CO2 usage (kgCO2) per meal served

Facility Environment Operational Combined

Primary School 0.07 0.11 0.18

Fast food outlet 0.19 0.29 0.48

Ministry of Defence:

- junior ranks’ mess

- officers’ mess

0.43

0.76

0.64

1.13

1.07

1.89

Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, 2009

Example

contributions

of FSAs to PBs

Producing

food

Processing

& Packaging

food

Distributing

& Retailing

food

Consuming

food

Climate

change

N cycle

P cycle

Fresh water

use

Land use

change

Biodiversity

loss

Atmos.

aerosols

Chemical

pollution

Example

contributions

of FSAs to PBs

Producing

food

Processing

& Packaging

food

Distributing

& Retailing

food

Consuming

food

Climate

change

GHGs;

albedo, dust

Energy Transport and

refrig.

emissions

GHGs from

cooking

N cycle Eutrophicn,

GHGs

Effluent NOx from

transport

Waste

P cycle P reserves Detergents Waste

Fresh water

use

Irrigation Washing,

heating, cooling

Cooking,

cleaning

Land use

change

Intensificn,

soil degdn

Paper/card Transport &

retail

infrastructure

Biodiversity

loss

Deforestation,

soils, fishing

[Aluminium] Invasives Consumer

choices

Atmos.

aerosols

Shipping

Chemical

pollution

Pesticides Effluent Transport

emissions

Cooking,

cleaning

But „Food Security‟ is the BIG ISSUE

?

Food Security, i.e. stability over time for:

FOOD UTILISATION

FOOD ACCESS

•Affordability•Allocation•Preference

•Nutritional Value•Social Value•Food Safety

FOOD AVAILABILITY

•Production•Distribution•Exchange

How do changes in Planetary Boundaries

affect Food Security?

Climate change will undermine food

production in many parts of the world…

Reduction in

wheat yields

0 - 5%

5 -10%

10 -15%

15 - 20%

> 20%

Wheat yields decline by 2030

Australia exports 15 Mt/yr (~ 19% of world exports)

Weather-induced price spikes affect

affordability

Consequences of the

2008 Food Price Crisis

… Meanwhile in Cumbria, families say they are running out of food

as many are unable to reach shops after six bridges collapsed.

London Evening Standard 23 November 2009

Extreme weather events also disrupt food

distribution

DRIVER

Interactions

Socioeconomic

DRIVERSChanges in:

Demographics, Economics,

Socio-political context,

Cultural context

Science & Technology

GEC DRIVERSChanges in:

Land cover & soils, Atmospheric

Comp., Climate variability & means,

Water availability & quality,

Nutrient availability & cycling,

Biodiversity, Sea currents

& salinity, Sea level

„Natural‟

DRIVERS

e.g. Volcanoes

Solar cycles

Environmental feedbacks

e.g. water quality, GHGs

Socioeconomic feedbacks

e.g. livelihoods, social cohesion

Food System ACTIVITIESProducing food

Processing & Packaging food

Distributing & Retailing food

Consuming food

Food System OUTCOMESContributing to:

Social

Welfare

Environ

WelfareFood

UtilisationFood

Access

Food

Availability

Food Security

Bringing it all togetherNeed to consider FS:PB interactions

in context of drivers and feedbacks

So what do we do about it?

Adapt to inevitable change

Mitigate further change

Adaptation means

“doing things differently”

Producing food

Processing & packaging food

Distributing & retailing food

Consuming food

=> adapt

our Food

System

“Activities”

Adaptation: Improved agriculture, livestock,

horticulture, aquaculture, fisheries, … • Stress-tolerant

varieties

• Wider range of food

stuffs

• Novel food producing

systems

• Improve water mgmt

• Insurance for

producers

• …

• Opened 2008

• > 4,000,000 samples

• -18 oC

• “Climate change proof”

Adaptation: Preserving crop varieties for

the future

Adaptation: Improving food storage

~ 15-25% losses to pests

and damp in store

Adaptation: Considering novel foods?

100139 144 151

100

204

327

375

1980 1990 2000 2005

Mitigation: improving N-use efficiency?

China grain production and fertilizer

consumption (1980 = 100)

Grain Fertilizer

Considerable food production achievement

BUT inefficient use (quantity, timing)

• At a C/N ratio of 12 in soil organic matter (SOM),

1 tonne of stored C requires 83 kg N/ha

• At approximately $0.85/kg N applied, N cost of 1

tonne SOM is $71/ha

• Current price of C on European market is

<$25…

Mitigation: Sequestering more Carbon?

N Cost of Carbon Sequestration

Ken Cassman, pers comm

Mitigation: Reducing food miles?

Adaptation/Mitigation:

Accepting less

choice?

Tesco Oxford has

25,000 different food

lines…

What about us as individuals?

Adaptation/Mitigation: Modifying our diets?

=> One of the biggest, most immediate impacts!

Consume less red meat and diary:

Eat poultry in place of red meat and consume

plant-based food rather than dairy two days per

week

105

Waste less food:

Reduce consumer food waste by 25%

65

Behavioural Change and Personal Action

CO2 emissions

Emissions reductions (MtCO2e) achievable if

adopted by 100% of the US population

Xue & Landis, Environ. Sci. Technol. 2010

Eutrophication potential reductions

Cost reductions

Behavioural Change and Personal Action

Eutrophication

Shifting consumption patterns from high nitrogen profile foods

to low nitrogen profile foods.

The same caloric contents are maintained.

Reducing food loss

• May occur anywhere

along the supply

chain, from farm to

final consumer

• Difficult to measure

• Globally, 15-50% of

food is lost post-

harvest

• Often unnoticed until

too late

• Every household in the UK wastes between £250 and

£400 of food per year

• Avoidable waste of cereal-based food in the UK and USA

could lift 224 million people out of hunger

• Producing and distributing edible food that goes to waste

accounts for around 5% of all UK GHG emissions

Food Ethics Council, 2009

Reducing food waste

Alleviating food insecurity by reducing food

waste is much cheaper and more

environmentally-sound than just increasing

food production!

Thank you!

?