Summary Food system resilience: Towards a joint understanding and implications for policy - Food security weblog.wur.eu
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One Line
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of the global food system and highlighted the importance of resilient and sustainable systems with inclusive governance.
Slides
Slide Presentation (12 slides)
Key Points
- The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the importance of building resilient food systems.
- Resilient food systems are necessary to ensure food and nutrition security for all.
- Building resilience involves ensuring agency, creating buffers, stimulating connectivity, and enhancing diversity throughout the food system.
- Governance plays a crucial role in food system resilience and addressing issues of power imbalances and economic inequality.
- Food system resilience requires transformation of the entire system and inclusive governance.
Summaries
20 word summary
COVID-19 revealed the vulnerability of the global food system, emphasizing the need for resilient and sustainable systems with inclusive governance.
61 word summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of the global food system, highlighting the importance of understanding and enhancing food system resilience. Resilient food systems possess key properties: Agency, Buffers, Connectivity, and Diversity. Implementing these properties improves response capacity and requires system-wide transformation. Inclusive governance is crucial for building resilient and sustainable food systems that address social inequality and environmental concerns.
135 word summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of the global food system, emphasizing the need for a shared understanding of food system resilience among policymakers and stakeholders. Four key messages have been identified: resilience is crucial for desired outcomes, resilient food systems possess four key properties (Agency, Buffers, Connectivity, and Diversity), implementing these properties enhances response capacity, and building resilience requires system-wide transformation. However, it is important to go beyond ensuring food and nutrition security, as actions to increase production can have negative environmental impacts and benefits and losses are often unevenly distributed. Governance plays a critical role in food system resilience, as inadequate agency, buffering capacity, connectivity, or diversity can lead to failure. Inclusive governance is necessary to guide transformation toward more resilient and sustainable food systems that address social inequality and environmental concerns.
422 word summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of the global food system, highlighting the need for a shared understanding of food system resilience among policymakers and stakeholders. To achieve stable food and nutrition security for all, four key messages have been identified: resilience is essential for desired outcomes, resilient food systems possess four key properties (Agency, Buffers, Connectivity, and Diversity), implementing these properties enhances response capacity, and building resilience requires system-wide transformation. Anticipating, preventing, absorbing, and adapting to shocks and stressors is crucial for achieving desired outcomes.
Food system resilience is defined as the ability to deliver desired outcomes in the face of shocks and stressors. However, enhancing resilience should go beyond ensuring food and nutrition security since actions taken to increase production can have negative environmental impacts. Additionally, benefits and losses within food systems are often unevenly distributed. Therefore, a common conceptual understanding of resilience is necessary to address these interactions and trade-offs. The four properties (Agency, Buffers, Connectivity, and Diversity) define the response capacity of resilient food systems.
Governance plays a critical role in food system resilience. Inadequate agency, buffering capacity, connectivity, or diversity often lead to the failure of food systems to deliver expected outcomes. Governance encompasses the rules, authorities, and institutions that coordinate and manage food systems. Political and economic imbalances can hinder equitable access to food and unevenly distribute the impacts of shocks and stressors. Concentration of power in large corporations can also negatively impact the overall resilience of food systems. Inclusive governance is necessary to guide transformation toward more resilient and sustainable food systems.
While food systems have provided economic opportunities and increased food availability, they have also contributed to global warming, waste problems, pollution, and social inequality. Building resilience is crucial not only for withstanding shocks and stressors but also for maintaining progress towards desired outcomes. Certain groups within society may still be vulnerable even in resilient systems. As future shocks and stressors are anticipated, higher levels of resilience will help food systems absorb their effects without compromising essential contributions. Inclusive and independent institutions are needed to create transparency and align interests among actors in food systems.
In conclusion, a shared understanding of food system resilience is vital for policymakers and stakeholders. Building resilience requires addressing the complex interdependencies within food systems and recognizing the four key properties that define response capacity. Governance plays a central role in ensuring equitable access to food and managing the impacts of shocks and stressors. Inclusive governance is necessary to guide transformation toward sustainable, inclusive, and resilient food systems.
467 word summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of the global food system, despite its apparent resilience. In order to ensure stable food and nutrition security for all, there needs to be a joint understanding of food system resilience among policy makers and stakeholders. Four key messages have been identified: building resilience is necessary for desired outcomes, four key properties define resilient food systems (Agency, Buffers, Connectivity, and Diversity), implementing these properties enhances response capacity, and building resilience requires system-wide transformation. Anticipating, preventing, absorbing, and adapting to shocks and stressors is crucial for delivering desired outcomes. Food system resilience involves complex interdependencies across natural, political, economic, social, and cultural aspects of life. It is important to have a common understanding of resilience to avoid confusion and miscommunication between stakeholders.
Food system resilience is defined as the capacity to deliver desired outcomes in the face of shocks and stressors. Enhancing resilience goes beyond ensuring food and nutrition security, as actions taken to increase production may have negative environmental impacts. Moreover, the distribution of benefits and losses within food systems is often unequal. A common conceptual understanding of resilience is necessary to address these interactions and trade-offs. Four properties (Agency, Buffers, Connectivity, and Diversity) define the response capacity of resilient food systems.
Governance plays a crucial role in food system resilience. Many food systems fail to deliver expected outcomes due to a lack of agency, buffering capacity, connectivity, or diversity. Governance encompasses the rules, authorities, and institutions that coordinate and manage food systems. Political and economic imbalances can prevent equitable access to food and unevenly distribute the impacts of shocks and stressors. Concentration of power in big corporations can negatively impact the overall resilience of food systems. Inclusive governance is necessary to direct transformation towards more resilient and sustainable food systems.
Food systems have contributed to economic opportunities and increased availability of food, but they also contribute to global warming, waste problems, pollution, and social inequality. Building resilience is important not only for withstanding shocks and stressors, but also for maintaining progress towards desired outcomes. Specific groups in society may still be vulnerable even if a system is resilient. As more shocks and stressors are anticipated in the future, higher levels of resilience will help food systems absorb their effects without compromising essential contributions. Inclusive and independent institutions are needed to create transparency and align interests among actors in food systems.
In conclusion, a joint understanding of food system resilience is crucial for policy makers and stakeholders. Building resilience involves addressing the complex interdependencies within food systems and recognizing the four key properties that define response capacity. Governance plays a central role in ensuring equitable access to food and managing the impacts of shocks and stressors. Inclusive governance is necessary to direct transformation towards sustainable, inclusive, and resilient food systems.