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Just 4 months ago, we asked for your help to find solutions that could fix the broken food system we all depend on. We’re thrilled to report that we received 381 nominations from 57 countries spanning all 6 (inhabited) continents. Thank you for joining our global search for the Food Planet game-changers!

Many nominated initiatives apply proven nature-based solutions like agroecology and regenerative agriculture while others are working on novel methods. From using electric waves against weeds to exploiting overlooked species like duckweeds and black soldier flies, here’s a snapshot of our 2021 catch:

Supply chain: Which sectors do nominated initiatives operate in?

Although most nominated initiatives focus on primary food production and agriculture in particular, all parts of the value chain are strongly represented. Many of these good practices and innovations demonstrate possible opportunities to build better food systems.

Tools and means: How do they take action?

We called for groundbreaking innovations with the potential to sustainably transform the current food system and you delivered! Innovation is undoubtably a red thread among most of the projects you submitted. For instance, nearly 30% of the nominated game-changers leverage modern technology to solve some of the pressing food system problems. Another 13% explore new avenues through radical scientific approaches, such as a Space Farming Center that experiments with more resilient crops and efficient harvesting techniques.

Foodstuffs: Which products are most popular?

Against the backdrop of COVID-19 accelerating hunger in low-income countries, crop performance continues to lead the race for food security. With many projects dedicated to cultured meat and fish, alternative proteins are the second most encountered foodstuffs, further confirming the focus on innovation.

In addition, few nominees directly produce meat and dairy products. Some, however, disrupt the animal feed sector with products and supplements made of seaweed, water lentils, or black soldier fly larvae to provide alternatives to soy which is driving deforestation worldwide.

Challenges: Which issues do they address?

Deforestation only represents a small portion of issues addressed. In line with the climate emergency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions was the number one priority for 18% of our nominees. The use of clean electricity to kill weeds and foster healthy soils able to capture carbon caught our editors´ eyes. Food waste came in a close second.

Food Planet Prize – Next steps

In light of the high quality of nominations we received this year, we have good reason to be optimistic that we will succeed in transitioning to a sustainable global food system, hopefully during this decade.

The Food Planet Prize Jury will now carefully assess the shortlisted nominations. Jury members will narrow down the secretariat’s selection, with a particular eye on the most scalable and impactful solutions. Further documentation of the selected initiatives will then follow.

We will present the finalists and their initiatives in October, before announcing the Prizewinners in November. Stay tuned!

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The COVID-19 pandemic has focused our attention on food safety and foodborne illness. Our food is the source of life, but increasingly it also causes disease – and death. Today’s food system interacts with human health as much as it does with the health of our environment.

Late May 2021, Russia’s veterinary watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, announced the country would start vaccinating dogs to protect them from COVID-19. So, when Fido, Spot, or rather Boris (one of the most common Russian dog names) cozy up in Russian beds, they will not risk being infected – nor will Mom or Dad.

“About 70% of all infectious diseases are spread to humans from animals – and almost 50% come from the agricultural sector.”

Apes, cats, and minks also pick up the dreaded coronavirus. Tigers and lions in zoos all over the world have fallen severely ill or died from COVID-19, infected by their zookeepers and caretakers. In Denmark, 17 million farmed minks – with furs valued at US$1 Billion – were slaughtered in panic when it was discovered they were infected and could pass the disease back to humans in a mutated form. At this point, infection by pets is not considered a significant risk, but Russia is obviously not taking any chances.

The animal connection

Undeniably, zoonotic diseases – transmitted between animal species and humans – have become increasingly common and are now considered an escalating threat. Many of these illnesses, such as swine and bird flu, are directly linked to the food system and, above all, large-scale livestock farming. Others, such as COVID-19, SARS, Ebola, and HIV, are caused by our encroachment on wild habitats, making it easier for viruses to transmit to humans. About 70% of all infectious diseases are spread to humans from animals – and almost 50% come from the agricultural sector.

Feeding a growing global population is a monumental challenge. To do so without compromising – and instead promoting – the health of people and the biosphere has proven insurmountable so far. The pandemic has brought food safety to the forefront, exposing how vulnerable we are to food-related illnesses.

Although the source of SARS-CoV-2 infection – the infectious agent that caused the COVID-19 pandemic – is not fully clarified or understood, it’s “likely to very likely” (according to the WHO) linked to Wuhan’s wet market, where the virus migrated from bats to humans via one or more intermediate host animals, brought to the market live. Pangolins, porcupines, chipmunks, bamboo rats, giant salamanders, snakes, foxes, wolf pups, raccoon dogs – and ordinary dogs – rank among the 30 candidates traded live by 10 licensed stall owners at Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood market in late 2019.

China boasts one of the world’s most advanced and varied gastronomies, with a wide definition of what is edible, compared to Western cultural norms. Dog meat has been featured on menus for thousands of years; an estimated 10 to 20 million dogs – both farmed and stray – are slaughtered for human consumption every year, and strays are still an important protein source in poor rural communities. There is even an annual Lychee and Dog Meat Festival in Yulin, Guangxi, last carried out on June 21, 2020.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has officially declared that dogs are companions and should not be treated as livestock. Indeed, in the last couple of decades, keeping dogs as pets has soared in popularity. Today, dog ownership is expected to exceed 130 million individuals, almost doubling U.S. numbers. In fact, pet dogs have become a prominent status symbol. In wet markets such as Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Market, there’s a thin line between slaughtered canines on display, live ones in cages, stray dogs perusing stalls for a bite or a lick – and cherished pets carried by shoppers. Cute little Jūn, Băo, or Jí (popular Chinese dog names) might bring home some less-than innocent freeloaders from their outings.

Wuhan is also the focal point for SARS-CoV-2’s alternative genesis story – the lab-leak theory, currently gaining traction again. The presumed source would be the city’s acclaimed biological research facility, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), spearheaded by the now world-renowned “Batwoman,” Dr. Shi Zhengli.

China, very unhappy with the unflattering attention, has launched alternative hypotheses about COVID-19’s provenance: why not frozen seafood from Southern Asia or possibly Norway?

Destruction of nature is the root cause of pandemics

In January 2020, China imposed a temporary ban on the trade of wild animals for food. But the demand for exotic luxury foods – along with traditional Chinese medicines – had been on the rise for some time, bolstered by a poorly regulated wildlife trade and rampant poaching, bringing some species to the brink of extinction. The Sunda Pangolin is one of them – endangered all over Asia – due to high demand both for its meat and its scales, used in traditional medicine.

This temporary ban coincides with preparations for the Convention on Biological Diversity that China is hosting in Kunming from October 11 to 24, 2021. This is where world leaders hope to agree on a new action plan to stop global extinction in the next ten years. According to a paper published in Science, 8,775 species globally are at risk of extinction as a result of illegal trade:

“The trade of wildlife for luxury foods and medicinal parts and as pets is now so substantial that it represents one of the most prominent drivers of vertebrate extinction risk globally. Each year, billions of wild plants and animals are traded to meet a rapidly expanding global demand, a demand so insatiable that, globally, US$8 billion to $21 billion is reaped annually from the illegal trade, making it one of the world’s largest illegitimate businesses.”

Today, it’s quite clear that the root cause of pandemics is the destruction of nature. Our increasing demand for food is the primary driver, pushing agriculture and livestock farming to annex ever-more land. In the past 40 years alone, agriculture has expanded its land use by 10 percent – a landmass larger than South Africa – costing rapid loss of rain forests and other vulnerable habitats. The safety distance between wildlife and us is continuously shrinking, making it easier for viruses to leap from animals to humans. Physical distancing is a safety policy that should translate from the social to the wildlife scene as well.

The COVID-19 pandemic’s direct effects on mortality, combined with indirect effects such as under-treatment of other diseases and increased infant mortality, have lowered global life expectancy by several years. But, as bad as this sounds, COVID-19 is not the worst killer with a food system connection.

Food; a manifold hazard

Every year, 600 million people catch some 200 different types of foodborne diseases. But food impacts our health in many other ways. Unhealthy food is in fact one of the predominant killers. Globally, premature deaths due to unhealthy food – all forms of non-communicable diseases; including obesity, malnourishment, cardiovascular disease, and cancer – amount to 10-11 million annually. (https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(19)30041-8/fulltext)

Food safety programs focus chiefly on keeping bacteria at bay. They are the most common cause of food poisoning, but parasites, fungi, and other microorganisms in food and drink can also cause poisoning. Additionally, many of the hygiene measures that aim to keep food safe, such as the use of plastic packaging, drastically contaminate living environments and marine habitats in particular. Microplastics entering the food chain – and our bodies – is a growing health concern.

Health dangers in food have many sources, including harmful cooking conditions. Annually, three million premature deaths are caused by indoor smoke and pollution, primarily related to cooking on primitive stoves.

Chemically intensive agriculture spills numerous environmental toxins, carcinogens, and other harmful substances into the biosphere, ricocheting directly and indirectly on human health. Human emissions of toxic and long-lived substances like organic compounds, heavy metals, and radioactive substances add to grave health concerns, short- and long term. These substances can reduce fertility, cause cancer, and lead to genetic defects.

Industrial processing and ultra-processing of foodstuff often add further malicious substances, undermining human health.

Two of the UN’s SDGs, “Zero Hunger by 2030” and “Good Health and Well-Being”, seem far from attainable in this decade.

It is indeed an irony that the fuel of life: food – the way we source, produce, and consume it today – harms not only nature but us as well.

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In this updated Food Planet Prize report, Dr. Afton Halloran gives you the big picture on land use, agriculture and how the two relate to food. For a quick summary from Afton – take a look at this 4-minute video!

Today, one-third of the Earth’s land surface is dedicated to crop and livestock production — more than the total area of Europe, North America, and South America combined. New research stresses that the way we’re converting natural ecosystems for pasture and crop production is the main cause of habitat loss and reduced biodiversity. Food has a significant impact!

We need to change the way we produce and consume food to better balance land use and agriculture. But how? Numerous new solutions could solve our conundrum; some are ripe for implementation, others are in development for future use. Understanding the relationships between the multiple functions of agriculture — food and fiber production, environmental-, cultural- and socio-economic outputs — is essential to comprehending which approaches are best suited to each context. Although humans have dramatically shaped land over history, this generation and the generations to come have an opportunity to leave it in a better state than we received it. Doing so begins with acknowledging the ground beneath our feet.

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Wildfire season has officially started in the Golden State. Water scarcity and water management – once California’s marvel of engineering – are primarily to blame, as are thirsty crops.

Beware the “zombie trees”. In early May, scientists discovered a smoldering, smoking sequoia tree in Central California’s Sequoia National Park. It has been burning silently since August of last year when lightning ignited a wildfire that spread across a sizable swath of the Sierra Nevada and took five months to contain. Twenty-twenty saw California’s worst wildfire season on record; 9,279 fires burned a stupefying 4.2 million acres of forest and vegetation, torching 10,488 structures and killing 31 people. Governor Gavin Newsom called it a “climate damn emergency”.

He might be equally eloquent this year. The wildfire season, which typically lasts through October, started on May 15 when the Palisades brush fire, a mere 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles, forced the evacuation of some 1,000 residents and scorched land that hadn’t burned in 75 years.

“One single almond needs about 4.2 liters of water to grow. A one-liter carton of almond milk contains anywhere from 16 to 135 almonds, that means between 125 and 940 liters of water go into making one liter of almond milk.”

Anyone who has ever built a campfire knows that you need tinder, kindling, and fuel; tinder is the stuff that will ignite from an ember or a spark – dried leaves, pine needles, grasses, and such; kindling will get the fire going; fuel is what keeps it aflame. The most populous state in the country is a parched expanse of tinder, with severe to extreme drought conditions in the mountain range that provides about a third of California’s water. In spring, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is normally at its peak, yet on April 1, it was down to 5% of average, according to the state Department of Water Resources.

Drought, without a doubt

Californians are surely going to feel the effects of their soon-to-be-drained reservoirs, just as they did in 2012 – 2015, the state’s driest consecutive four-year stretch since record-keeping began in 1896.Still fresh in mind, this extended drought turned into an all-out crisis. Crops and gardens withered, salmon streams dried out, and ski slopes turned into gravel runs. Statewide,

officials ordered urban residents to reduce water use by 25%. They hired water cops to enforce the rules, prompting people to think twice about flushing toilets (the water-thrifty slogan “If it’s yellow, let it mellow” has been adopted from San Francisco to London, and Cape Town), forcing hotels to cut back on laundry service and restaurants to serve less of that formerly free-flowing beverage. All the while, homeowners used smartphone apps to turn in neighbors that over-sprinkled their lawns – massive residential water users, so-called water buffalos, still spill over 15,000 liters a day.

More alarmingly, thousands of rural wells ran dry, requiring the state to truck in costly emergency drinking water to underprivileged communities.

From 2014 – 2016, the agricultural sector lost 3.8 billion USD and more than a half-million acres of farmland, taken out of production for lack of irrigation water. An estimated 21,000 jobs disappeared in 2015 alone.But it didn’t stop there. The extreme aridity killed more than 100 million trees and weakened millions more, sparking – literally – a catastrophic turn of events: The graveyard of trees fueled California’s wildfire epidemic.

The nation’s thirsty fruit basket – a marvel of modern engineering, a catalyst of conflagration

Moving vast quantities of water remains California’s proudest feat of engineering; it has transformed its arid, mountainous countryside into the nation’s most bounteous oasis. The state’s constructed landscape turned it into an agricultural powerhouse that produces one-quarter of the United States’ food. Some of America’s greatest public infrastructure accomplishments were created to spur this development, among them nearly 1,500 reservoirs for water that is redirected from the mountains to the coast and from north of Sacramento, where three-quarters of the state’s precipitation falls, to south of the state capital, where three-quarters of its water is used, 80% of which by farming.

As the name suggests, the Central Valley is far from any northern cloudbursts. This verdant basin is California’s agricultural hub, fed partly on groundwater, which has seen a fair share of farming-induced contamination calamities. To irrigate the crops in the hot, dry summer months when water is most needed, the Central Valley depends on the state’s extensive network of water storage and delivery systems that collect winter rain and spring snowmelt.The Golden State produces more than 400 agricultural commodities, collecting billions in revenue and supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs. They include forage (grown for animal consumption), fiber, grains, legumes, vegetables, fisheries, and livestock. But fruits and nuts are its real celebrities. The state grows nearly two-thirds of the nation’s fruits and nuts and is the primary or sole producer of almonds, clingstone peaches, grapes, pistachios, and walnuts. Based on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Agriculture Statistics Service, and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization

these gustatory superstars collectively cover over 2 million acres and generate more than 14 billion USD, comprising more than 28% of the states direct agricultural value. The crux of this stale biscuit, however, is that agriculture requires a superabundance of water. Almond orchards, for example, need more than 40 inches of water each year, yet many of the state’s prime almond-growing regions receive less than 10 inches. Almond cultivation has doubled in the last decade as it’s a high-value crop. High returns make it lucrative for farmers to invest in deeper wells that intensify groundwater depletion. One source suggests a single almond needs about 4.2 liters of water to grow. A one-liter carton of almond milk contains anywhere from 16 to 135 almonds, which means between 125 and 940 liters of water go into making one liter of almond milk. Consider that next time you pour the popular stuff in your coffee!

Avocados are heavy drinkers too. California is the United States’ largest producer of everybody’s favorite toast topping. More than 3,000 avocado growers occupy approximately 50,000 acres. On average, 250 to 300 liters of water are required to grow one “alligator pear”.

California’s engineered landscape was not designed to accommodate current nutritional fads or farm practices, nor was it made to adjust to the rapid climate change that continues to cause more extreme precipitation patterns. The dry years are simply becoming drier, forcing cities and farmers to deplete underground aquifers.

California’s cows aren’t keeping it cool

Of course, this warming is also exacerbated by greenhouse gas emissions, some 20% of which originate “within the farm gate”. California is not only the country’s fruit basket; it’s America’s larder and largest dairy producer. But its cows – with their methane-producing metabolism – are further raising temperatures and causing even more drying. According to the North Carolina Institute of Climate Studies and the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, California’s emission pathway will cause historically unprecedented warming by the end of the 21^st century. Even under a pathway of lower greenhouse gas emissions, average annual temperatures will most likely exceed historical record levels by the middle of the 21^st century – contributing to yet more wildfires.

Overall, the western fire season has extended by at least 84 days since the 1970s. Cal Fire, California’s fire protection service, no longer considers there to be a wildfire “season”. The state is a year-round campfire that just won’t go out.

The still-burning sequoia in the Sierra Nevada is like a dinner guest that refuses to leave, hoping she’ll be invited to stay for breakfast. She’s not alone. In the high northern hemisphere’s boreal forests, “zombie fires” smolder through the non-fire season and flare up the following spring. A recently published study in the journal Nature suggests that these “overwintering” blazes could become increasingly merciless as the climate warms.

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Images of turtles entangled in plastic often hit the headlines. When not directly killing marine animals, plastic debris breaks down into tiny pieces called microplastics. Now found in every corner of the planet, including some of the Earth’s most remote places like Antarctica, seafloors, and groundwater, microplastics have turned into a plague that keeps on spreading. So, it’s perhaps unsurprising that a recent study discovered plastic fragments in the air we breathe. We should nevertheless be alarmed by the news.

While we use plastics in nearly all aspects of life, the way we produce, distribute, consume, and dispose of food notably fuels our global appetite for this petroleum byproduct. In fact, food and drink packaging alone accounts for 16% of all plastics ever produced. Microplastics have infested the entire food chain, polluting land, water, and atmosphere with disastrous environmental and public health consequences.

Land pollution – Microplastics flushed down the soil

The agricultural sector contributes greatly to the problem, using 6.5 million metric tons of plastic annually. Representing 40% of the total agriplastic market, mulching – covering soil with a plastic film – is a significant contamination source on farms. The practice helps prevent weeds, conserve water, control temperatures, accelerate growth and prolong seasons for certain vegetables. But it also causes widespread soil and crop contamination. Paradoxically, despite the existence of plastic-free alternatives such as wood chips, leaves, grass trimmings, or straw – which all have the added benefit of enhancing soil quality – organic farmers still favor mulching because it increases productivity without prohibited fertilizers and pesticides.

Beyond plastic mulch, tunnels, greenhouses, and seed coatings – yes, as crazy as it sounds, seeds are coated in plastic – sewage sludge is by far the largest source of microplastics on farmlands. Whether poured directly on soils or first processed as biosolids, this fertilizer resulting from sewage treatments accounts for 92% of microplastics contamination on farms. The impact of such large-scale use remains unknown. Still, a 2019 Kansas State University lab experiment showed that wheat grown with microplastics contained 1.5 times more cadmium, one of the most toxic components in sewage sludge. The experiment also found drainage problems in plastic-contaminated soils.

Water pollution – Plastics dumped into the ocean

Although microplastics “only” account for 8% of the total mass of debris found in the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch, they represent 94% of floating fragments. These very particles take off and travel in the atmosphere when powered by waves and wind. As if that wasn’t bad enough, a study from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, estimates that there are 35 times more marine habitat-threatening microplastics buried in the depth of the seabed than floating on the surface. What’s more, fishing nets make up the vast majority of larger debris in the oceans. Some of this plastic eventually enters our food chain, from the plankton that krill eat to the salmon fillet on your plate. Microplastics have even found their way into groundwater.

Air pollution – Microplastics dispersed into the atmosphere

We force-feed our lands and waters a colossal quantity of plastic, only for them to chew and spit it back out into the atmosphere. Once in the air, microplastics can travel for up to six and a half days, accumulating organic pollutants, exposing the ecosystems to additional air pollution, and posing risks of respiratory diseases for humans, according to a study conducted by researchers at Utah State University and Cornell University.

Not only do we breath plastic particles, but we also eat a credit card-sized amount of microplastics each week. This can affect our immune system and facilitate the transmission of toxic chemicals and pathogens. We ingest microplastics and related chemicals through seafood but also through direct transfers from food packages. Bisphenol A is one of such substances. It’s a carcinogenic endocrine disruptor now banned in baby bottles in most industrialized countries but still allowed in most low-income countries as well as in water bottles and soda cans.

Yet, despite such alarming evidence, plastic production continues to rise. Researchers project it’ll quadruple by 2050. By then, we will have generated 26 billion metric tons of plastic waste, further contaminating soils, waters and air. What is it going to take for our food systems to learn that what goes around comes around?

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What do the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have to do with food, you wonder? Quite a lot, it turns out!

In September 2015, the United Nations’ 193 member states committed to 17 global goals for sustainable development. These goals — also called the SDGs — are a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. For example, SDG1 addresses poverty reduction, and SDG2 aims to achieve zero hunger by 2030.

Sustainable food production has tremendous potential to help achieve the SDGs while also revitalizing the rural landscape, fuelling inclusive economic growth, and driving positive human development.

Sustainable food consumption is also essential when addressing the SDGs. Sustainable diets have a low environmental impact while contributing to food security and meeting current and future generations’ health and nutritional needs.

Some examples of the links between food and the SDGs:

Proper nourishment helps children learn better (SDG4), encourages healthy and productive lives (SDG3) and spurs societal prosperity (SDG8).
Sustainable agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture will enable present and future generations to increase their capacity to feed a growing population without harming water resources (SDG6) or contributing to climate change, the destruction of ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity (SDG 13, 14, 15).
The food sector is the world’s biggest employer and the largest economic sector in many countries (SDG8). It also provides nutrition (SDG2) and income for the extremely poor (SDG10).

Fundamentally revamping food, and getting it right, is directly or indirectly connected to all of the SDGs, a fact that has been reiterated in many recent reports by the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and others.

Each of the 17 SDGs, including “Zero Hunger by 2030”, depends on a healthy planet with a stable climate and a well-functioning biosphere. And food, as the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, has a pivotal role to play in achieving SDGs.

More sources:

TRANSFORMING FOOD AND AGRICULTURE TO ACHIEVE THE SDGS – 20 INTERCONNECTED ACTIONS TO GUIDE DECISION-MAKERS

THE STATE OF FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION IN THE WORLD 2019

SUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION OF AGRICULTURE FOR HUMAN PROSPERITY AND GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY.

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Over millions of years, the Earth gave us a truly astonishing number of living species. For most of human history, we have made use of this biodiversity and even added to it. Since the Industrial Age, however, we resorted to assaulting it, endangering the Earth’s wildlife and vegetation, and, in some cases, even driving them to extinction. In the last century, we have stepped up our offensive against nature, threatening entire ecosystems and our planet’s biosphere. According to numerous experts, the main brute in this one-sided fight is our modern food system. The way we produce, distribute, and consume food has become a savage destroyer, transforming landscapes and plundering natural resources so that we can choose what we wish to eat.

In total, up to one million plant and animal species face extinction, many within decades, because of expanding monocultures and other human interventions – a quantity and a pace exceeding the mass extinction that occurred during the Triassic and Jurassic periods 200 million years ago. Without drastic action to conserve habitats, the rate of species extinction will only increase, concludes a landmark report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

But wild animals are not the only ones threatened with extinction. As of 2016, 9% of all domesticated breeds used for food and agriculture have vanished, with at least 1,000 more in jeopardy.

Food production depletes freshwater resources and, because agriculture relies heavily on chemicals, it contributes to the acidification and contamination of waterways and marine habitats. In turn, this threatens the dynamics of ecosystems and the species within them.

Based on the practice of growing a single crop, intensive agriculture endangers biodiversity in both the plant and animal kingdoms. Three crops – wheat, corn, and rice – account for more than half of the world’s caloric intake, and a large portion of them goes to animal feed. As fewer kinds of these crops are grown in increasingly similar cultivation systems, industrial monoculture will further reduce genetic variation. Meanwhile, other grains, fruits, and vegetables are being phased out or outright lost, adding to impaired resiliency.

Through its contribution to climate change, the food system becomes an indirect driver of biodiversity loss. Climate change alters the suitability of habitats, causing sensitive species to die out or move elsewhere. In some cases, other species move in to occupy the territory left behind. These alterations compromise the overall resilience of the ecosystem in question.

Key figures from the IPBES report include:

More than a third of the world’s land surface and nearly 75% of freshwater resources are now dedicated to crop or livestock production.
Land degradation has reduced the productivity of 23% of the global land surface, and up to US$577 billion in annual global crops are at risk from pollinator loss.
In 2015, 93% of marine fish stocks were either fully fished or overfished and only 7% were harvested at sustainable levels.

More info:

GLOBAL ASSESSMENT REPORT BIODIVERSITY ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

FOOD PLANET PRIZE REPORT: BIODIVERSITY

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As things stand now, the world’s food system could get in the way of meeting the 1.5°C target. We need to reinvent the way we produce and consume food – promptly!

In its 2018 report, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) asserts that we can indeed limit global warming to 1.5ºC in cost-effective ways. It will, however, require rapid, far-reaching, and unprecedented efforts on a global scale.

The report also underscores that the difference between 1.5°C and 2°C warming – the upper limit to which governments committed in the 2016 Paris Agreement – is dramatic and that an extra half-degree will affect people’s personal lives on grave, fundamental levels.

“We’re starting to feel the impacts of today’s unsustainable food systems, both on global warming and on the basic functions of our planet. A food system shift is vital; it requires political will, ample funding, and the right ideas,” says Professor Johan Rockström, Co-chair of the Food Planet Prize.

Existing strategies to shift the trajectory of a failing food system – developing alternatives to chemically driven monoculture farming or reducing excessive global transport for year-round availability of seasonal products – are necessary but insufficient. To get off the road to ruin, we must also find radically innovative and even disruptive solutions. Protecting the biosphere and ensuring a sustainable food supply in the long term means rethinking, reshaping, and re-engineering the entire food system – at every link along its chain – from agriculture and other primary forms of production, via processing, transportation, and distribution to consumption and waste management. We have to secure a safe operating space for the global food system in all its complexity.

Keeping a growing world population alive and well-nourished – without destroying the planet – that’s our challenge. We should have started yesterday.

Some key findings from the IPCC report include:

Human activity has already caused approximately 1.0°C of global warming above pre-industrial levels. Between 2030 and 2050, that figure will likely rise to 1.5ºC if emissions continue to increase at the current rate.
Two degrees of warming, compared with 1.5%, will provoke a much greater reduction in crop yields, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America. The extra half degree also nearly doubles the chances that insects, which are vital for pollination of crops and other plants, will lose the majority of their habitats.
Even modest amounts of warming may push both human societies and natural ecosystems past critical thresholds for catastrophic change.

More info:

FOOD PLANET PRIZE REPORT: AIR AND CLIMATE

IPCC SPECIAL REPORT ON GLOBAL WARMING OF 1.5°C

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Improved efficiency has enabled us to use less land to feed more people. Since 1961, the amount of arable land area needed to produce the same quantity of crops has declined by 70%. But that efficiency comes at a cost. Intensified land use can cause chemical contamination and pollution, salination, soil erosion, nutrient depletion, and overgrazing. Transforming natural landscapes for economic gains – i.e., farming and animal husbandry – frequently results in deforestation and desertification.

Three main phenomena drive the expansion of pastures and cropland that is putting mounting pressure on land resources. First, a growing global population and increased consumption of animal products in developing countries – more and more households are entering the middle class, giving them the financial means to buy comparatively expensive foodstuffs like meat. Second, a rising demand, especially in developed countries, for biofuels and biomaterials that are derived from plants and fungi. And finally, a booming need for new, ever-larger planting areas as agricultural land degrades and becomes less fertile—or is converted for urban development.

The very things we do to increase food production are threatening the soil and land health that are the cornerstones of food security—and ultimately, our existence as a species. The term “soil health” refers to the soil’s capacity to function as an essential living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans. That health has declined significantly over the past century. Many soils degraded through land-use change contain fewer macrofauna, are less fertile, and less able to perform critical functions like water filtration – the natural cleansing of water by the soil as it makes its way into the groundwater. According to the UN’s Global Land Outlook, we are losing fertile soil at a rate of 24 billion tons a year. If we continue this business-as-usual scenario, by 2050, the per capita global amount of arable and productive land will fall to a quarter of its 1960 levels. Unhealthy soils mean we will no longer be able to grow enough food to feed the world.

Soil is not only the backbone of the food system; it also plays a crucial role in absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. Soil is the planet’s greatest carbon sink. According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), ecosystems on land have absorbed almost a third of all human-caused carbon dioxide emissions. Still, this carbon sink is now in peril because of how we use and mismanage our land.

Healthy soils contain over twice the amount of carbon found in trees and other kinds of biomass. Less healthy soils lose their ability to store carbon effectively, which creates yet another vicious cycle: reduced storage capacity makes the world hotter, and hotter temperatures degrade soils further.

Drought, land use, and soil health are interconnected. Healthy soil retains water, which in turn supports the plants and other organisms that grow there. But a lack of rainfall will quickly disrupt this system. While the effects of droughts may not be immediately apparent, they can be devastating and deadly. New research suggests that by the late 21st century, the global land area and population facing extreme droughts could more than double. And as drought occurs more frequently, it can make it increasingly difficult for the soil’s water reserves to recover in between dry spells.

More info:

IPCC SPECIAL REPORT ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND LAND

FOOD PLANET PRIZE REPORT: LAND-USE AND AGRICULTURE

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There are nearly 8 billion humans on Earth. Scientists predict that the population will continue to grow by about 70 million per year and reach nearly 10 billion by 2050. 10 billion humans that need food.

Theoretically, the Earth is capable of nourishing 10 billion people, just not how we do it today. If we continue to put even more pressure on the planetary boundaries, our ecosystems will collapse and we may face a future without food.

We find ourselves in a paradoxical situation. We must feed this growing population, yet our current food system cripples our ability to do so as it continues to threaten the very environment that supports food production. The food sector is largely responsible for driving the environment beyond planetary boundaries – the safe operating space we should stay within to avert large-scale and abrupt environmental degradation.

How do we feed 10 billion people a healthy diet within planetary boundaries? Thirty-seven world-leading scientists, members of the EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health, asked this very question. Their inquiry generated a complete scientific review – the first of its kind – detailing the components of a healthy diet from a sustainable food system. It also defines actions that can support and speed up food system transformation.

To improve human health and avoid potentially catastrophic damage to the planet, we must radically change our diets and food production and reduce food waste, concluded the EAT-Lancet Commission’s 37 scientists. They posit that the lack of science-based targets for a healthy diet has hindered efforts to transform the food system. To that end, their review proposes a reference diet that meets nutritional requirements, promotes health, and allows food production to stay within planetary boundaries.

The “planetary health diet” is a global reference diet for adults, symbolically represented by a plate, half of it filled with fruits, vegetables, and nuts, the other with primarily whole grains, plant proteins (beans, lentils, pulses), unsaturated plant oils, modest amounts of meat and dairy, and some added sugars and starchy vegetables. The diet offers vegetarian and vegan options and is deliberately flexible, accounting for dietary needs, personal preferences, and cultural traditions.

Key messages from the EAT-Lancet Commission report include:

Global consumption of foods such as red meat and sugar should decrease by more than 50%, while consumption of foods like nuts, fruits, vegetables, and legumes should double.
Food waste must be reduced by at least half. In low- and middle-income countries, most waste occurs during production, whereas in high-income countries, it is primarily caused by consumers.
Achieving these changes – including the most pressing, like the diversification of agriculture and the implementation of better governance over land and ocean use – will require unprecedented levels of international cooperation and commitment.

More info:

EAT-LANCET COMMISSION REPORT: THE PLANETARY HEALTH DIET

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