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Article: COVID-19 shows food systems should focus on public good, sustainability experts say
15 April 2020
COVID-19 shows how food systems have been "under-valued and
under-protected" for years and should now change their focus on
becoming a public good, according to the International Panel of
Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food).
Olivier De Schutter, co-chair of IPES-Food, argued that food
systems have been "sitting on a knife-edge for decades" and that
the coronavirus pandemic has revealed their critical weak
spots.
"Children have been one school meal away from hunger, countries
are one export ban away from food shortages, and farms are one
travel ban away from critical labor shortages," he said.
In an analysis of 100 days of the coronavirus pandemic,
IPES-Food found that global supply chains are strained with
bottlenecks and export restrictions, revealing multiple
vulnerabilities. They claim that these disruptions highlight how
close to two billion people are living on the "cusp of hunger".
But while COVID-19 was found to have exposed such weaknesses and
inequalities of the food system, IPES-Food also said that "the
crisis has given a glimpse of new, more resilient ways of feeding
communities".
Food systems as a public good
IPES-Food believes the response from COVID-19 must turn into
lasting governance for "wellbeing and sustainability" which turns
the entire food system into a public good, meaning society's
benefit is given more of a focus than profits.
The European Commission currently has a group of scientific
advisors that are researching how the bloc could support policies
to move food from a commodity towards "more of a common good". This
will feed into the Commission's upcoming Farm to
Fork (F2F) strategy, which aims to develop more
sustainable agri-food supply chains.
A preliminary report from the scientific advisors concluded that
the EU must reduce food waste, change consumption patterns and
"recontextualise how we think about food".
Professor Peter Jackson, the chair of the group and author of
the report, said that "business as usual" is no longer an option
and change is needed.
"Food is an incredibly complex system, with social, economic and
ecological components. Yet, it contributes significantly to
greenhouse gas emissions and plays a key role in driving climate
change," he said.
The report also highlighted taxation as a key way to drive
change in the food system. A report in February
claimed that a "sustainability charge" on EU meat products could
help generate €32 billion and help shift consumer behaviour towards
greener diets.
The Commission's apparent shift in treating food systems as more
of a public good has been welcomed by green groups in Brussels.