The EU-funded project "Sustainable Consumption Research Exchanges"
(SCORE!) consists of around 200 experts in the field of sustainable
innovation and sustainable consumption. The SCORE! philosophy is
that innovation in SCP policy can be achieved only if experts that
understand business development, (sustainable) solution design,
consumer behaviour and system innovation policy work together in
shaping it. Sustainable technology design can be effective only if
business can profitably make the products and consumers are
attracted to them. To understand how this might effectively happen,
the expertise of systems thinkers must be added to the mix. The
publication in 2008 of System Innovation for Sustainability 1 was
the first result of a unique positive confrontation between experts
from all four communities. It examined what SCP is and what it
could be, provided a state-of-the-art review on the governance of
change in SCP policy and looked at the strengths and weaknesses of
current approaches. System Innovation for Sustainability 3 is the
second of three books of case studies covering respectively the
three key consumption areas of mobility, food and agriculture, and
energy use and housing - responsible for 70% of the life-cycle
environmental impacts of Western societies - with the aim of
stimulating, fostering or forcing change to SCP theory in practice.
The availability of healthy food for all is a basic human need.
Yet, primarily due to higher food prices, the overall number of
undernourished people in the world increased from 923 million in
2007 to 963 million in 2008 - the vast majority of whom live in
developing countries. Experts estimate that close to half of the
human impact on the environment is directly or indirectly related
to food production and consumption. Food production, distribution,
consumption and disposal are important in terms of land and
resource use, pollution and emissions, biodiversity and landscape
design. Also of key importance are health issues and issues
surrounding the satisfaction of citizens' basic needs: more than
200 million adults in the European Union are overweight or even
obese due to unhealthy diets and too little exercise.
Sustainability issues are now clearly on the agenda for food
producers and market actors, politicians and regulators, as well as
being increasingly important in the decisions consumers make about
food. A large number and variety of efforts to stimulate
sustainability have been instigated and numerous studies, research
programmes and publications have addressed such issues. Agri-food
issues have also been prominent in the evolving definition of what
sustainability means. This book focuses largely on providing
answers to the question of how food production and consumption
systems can stay within the limits of the carrying capacity of our
natural environment. But it also considers the challenges of food
security and nutrition in the context of sustainability and a
growing world population. The book first analyses the state of the
art in sustainable agriculture and food production in Europe.
Eleven case studies follow, examining issues such as food policy,
greening mainstream agricultural systems, organic farming, farmers'
markets, sustainable food networks, eco-labelling, consumer
behaviour, slow food and fair trade. Finally, a concluding chapter
summarises what has been learned by the 60-plus experts active in
the SCORE! food project. In brief: bottom-up and top-down processes
have to be linked, industrialised nations must reduce their meat
consumption, and agriculture should become a multifunctional
sustainable system not only producing food but also delivering
other services such as energy and material production, CO2 storage
and recreation - which would have the added benefit of improving
farmers' socioeconomic situations. The System Innovation for
Sustainability series is the fruit of the first major international
research network on SCP and will set the standard in this field for
some years to come. It will be required reading for all involved in
the policy debate on sustainable production and consumption from
government, business, academia and NGOs for designers, scientists,
businesses and system innovators.
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