How Transforming Food Systems Could Unlock a $12 Trillion Global Windfall

By Agnes KalibataNEW YORK, Sep 23 2021 (IPS) With the world still counting the social and economic costs of the Covid-19 pandemic, amid a fresh “code red” on the climate crisis, food may not seem like the most pressing threat to humanity. Yet transforming entire food systems around the world offers the solution to the $12 trillion challenge many have not yet realised we are facing. The existential threats that appear to be looming on the horizon are in fact already silently costing the world in poor health, environmental losses and stifled economic growth, a toll that could reach $16 trillion by 2050. Rethinking the whole food systems value chain from the way food is produced to how it is marketed and sold, and how waste is processed, has the potential not only to save these hidden costs but to safeguard the very sustainability of people and planet. The caveat is that this transformation at every point in the process, from sowing and harvesting to cooking and composting, will not be easy or straightforward. Choices made at the farm and business level to the technologies we advance in science and policies we make in governance come with trade-offs and risks. But the rewards on offer – on every front and for every country worldwide – go beyond dollar figures to tangible improvements for lives, livelihoods and the natural world. To start with, improving the productivity and efficiency of food systems can support a strong and equitable economic recovery from the pandemic...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Climate Change Editors' Choice Featured Food and Agriculture Food Security and Nutrition Global Headlines Health IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news