Aligning food systems with climate and biodiversity targets

Assessing the suitability of policy action over the next decade

Research paper

Published 14 October 2022

ISBN: 978 1 78413 541 6

Image — Cattle drink from a trough at a farm in the outskirts of Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia, 16 April 2021. Photo credit: David Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

An aerial shot of cattle drinking at a trough.

Dr Helen Harwatt

Former Senior Research Fellow, Environment and Society Centre

Klas Wetterberg

Former Project Manager, Environment and Society Programme

Over the 30 years since the Rio Conventions were initiated to enable international cooperation on climate, biodiversity and land issues, the biodiversity and climate crises have worsened. Action has not been aligned with global treaties to tackle these critical issues, and the decade ahead must be a major turning point to avoid the worst impacts.

This paper considers the policy outlook at the climate–biodiversity–food nexus over the current decade, assessing the suitability of proposed action and identifying fundamental inconsistencies that will inhibit progress and worsen outcomes. With a particular focus on G7 members, the paper explores the critical role of food system transformation in enabling meaningful, joined-up global action on both climate change and biodiversity loss.
 

DOI: 10.55317/9781784135416