Access to Food and Availability in Areas of Social and Environmental Vulnerability: Threats to Sustainable Development

Abstract

Throughout the extensive journey until it appears on a plate, food goes through complex interactions with (un)sustainability. The discussion on food and sustainability has existed for many years, yet it is considered a current theme among studies. When it comes to food, the contextualization of food insecurity is of paramount importance, characterized as when people do not have access to food in sufficient and adequate quality and quantity. In the context of social inequality, we can state that social vulnerability is correlated with nutritional food insecurity, demonstrating that vulnerability hinders access to food. The objective is to discuss the relationship between social and environmental vulnerability and sustainable development, food and communities at risk in the municipality of Novo Hamburgo, in the south of Brazil. Thus, a short questionnaire of the Brazilian Scale for Food Insecurity (BSFI) of food consumption in areas of socio-environmental risk was used to verify the presence of nutritional food insecurity. The research demonstrates how social and environmental vulnerability increases the food insecurity of families of schoolchildren in at-risk areas and discusses the existence of public policies for the sustainable development of the municipality, considering the UN sustainable development goals.