Sustainable food systems: Concept and framework

This document presents the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)‘s conceptual framework for sustainable food systems. It outlines the key elements, principles, and approaches necessary to address the complex challenges in achieving food security and nutrition. This resource is intended for policymakers, development practitioners, and researchers seeking a holistic understanding of sustainable food systems. It offers practical guidance for designing and implementing effective interventions.

Key Insights

What is a Sustainable Food System?

A sustainable food system (SFS) is defined as one that “delivers food security and nutrition for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised.” This definition encompasses three key dimensions:

• Economic sustainability: The system is profitable throughout.
• Social sustainability: It has broad-based benefits for society.
• Environmental sustainability: It has a positive or neutral impact on the natural environment.

Why Take a Food Systems Approach?

The document emphasizes the need for a holistic and coordinated approach to address the complex challenges facing food systems today. Traditional, production-focused approaches often neglect other critical areas and may inadvertently create new problems. A food systems approach considers all elements, their relationships, and related effects, allowing for a broader framing and analysis of issues.

Limitations of Current Approaches

Traditional approaches to food security often focus on increasing the supply of food, which can neglect other critical aspects of the system. Other approaches, such as value chain (VC) development and market systems approaches, have gained momentum but may still be too narrow in scope. VC development tends to overlook the interdependencies of different VCs, while market systems approaches can be constrained to one market.

Thinking Holistically

A food systems approach considers the food system in its totality, encompassing all elements, relationships, and related effects. This approach broadens the framing and analysis of particular issues, considering all relevant causal variables and social, environmental, and economic impacts. By thinking holistically, development practitioners and policymakers can promote multi-stakeholder collaboration and policy coordination to jointly address future challenges.

How is the Food System Structured?

The food system wheel framework is centered around FAO’s main goals: poverty reduction, food security, and nutrition. These goals are embedded in the broader performance of the system, which is assessed across three dimensions of sustainability: economic, social, and environmental. The performance of the system is determined by the behavior of diverse actors, which in turn takes place within the structure of the system. This structure consists of a core system, societal elements, and natural elements.

What is Sustainable Food System Development?

In sustainable food system development, sustainability is examined holistically, requiring the generation of positive value across the three dimensions simultaneously: economic, social, and environmental. Any proposed measures or initiatives should be assessed against all dimensions of sustainability to avoid undesirable impacts. This holistic vision allows for the identification of potential synergies and trade-offs, ensuring that the net overall impact is positive.

Theory of Change: Structure-Conduct-Performance

The theory of change behind SFS development derives from the structure-conduct-performance (S-C-P) paradigm. The structure of the food system is dynamic and driven by complex trends, generating incentives for actors and influencing their capacities. The overall performance of the food system is the result of the intertwined conduct of all actors. A development organization’s goal is to understand how the structure generates incentives and orients actors toward behavior that leads to observed system performance, facilitating positive feedback loops that improve sustainability performance.

The Development Paradigm

Sustainable food systems (SFS), as engines of growth, create value-added that has five components: salaries to workers, a return on assets (profits) to entrepreneurs and asset owners, tax revenues to the government, benefits to consumers, and impacts on the socio-cultural and natural environment. These are set in motion by four feedback loops that relate to economic, social and environmental sustainability, and directly impact poverty, hunger and nutrition.

Practical Implications for FAO’s Work

Taking a holistic view of the food system and adopting a food systems approach has practical implications for development strategies and plans. This includes measuring performance across all sustainability dimensions, analyzing the interlinked root causes of underperformance, and improving overall system performance by targeting structural elements and fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Key Statistics & Data

• A sustainable food system needs to generate positive value along three dimensions simultaneously: economic, social and environmental.
• The food system wheel framework is centred around FAO’s main goals, which include poverty reduction, food security and nutrition.

Methodology

This document presents a conceptual framework and does not detail a specific research methodology. It synthesizes existing knowledge and best practices related to sustainable food systems, drawing on FAO’s experience and expertise in the field. The document emphasizes systems thinking and a holistic approach to understanding and addressing complex challenges in food security and nutrition.

Implications and Conclusions

The document concludes that a holistic, systems-based approach is essential for achieving sustainable food systems. This approach requires integrating actions across multiple sectors and scales, considering the interdependencies between economic, social, and environmental dimensions. By adopting a food systems approach, policymakers and practitioners can better address the root causes of food insecurity and malnutrition, promoting more equitable and sustainable outcomes. This will facilitate multi-stakeholder collaboration and policy coordination at different levels to promote a more balanced relationship and jointly address future challenges.