Abstract
In light of climate change, resource depletion and environmental degradation, food system vulnerability, and food insecurity, the potential to address issues of food system sustainability on local and regional scales is being increasingly recognized and pursued. Bioregions, generally defined as areas that share similar topography, plant and animal life, and human culture, represent an appropriate and consistently applicable scale and framework for sustainable food system analysis, design, and planning. As such, for a southwest British Columbia (SWBC) bioregion food system design and planning project, our first task was to delineate our bioregion. We report on the process, deliberations, and practical considerations that contributed to the determination of the SWBC bioregion for subsequent study. In addition to a complex biogeographic landscape that includes mountains, a major river system and delta, and a marine ecosystem, SWBC’s multicultural and urban/suburban/rural character is further compounded by its proximity to Vancouver Island, as well as by an international border with the Pacific Northwest United States; all represented important considerations in determining the dimensions of the bioregion. Bioregional-scale food system design and planning brings to the forefront the interdependency between human economy and community and the biophysical landscape with which they interact. In this reflective essay, we share our experience in the hope that it will inform the work of other communities in effectively delineating bioregions for food system design and planning that better align human communities and their economy with their environment. We believe the methodology presented has potential for widespread adaptation.
Highlights
The production-paradigm agriculture and food system that dominates North America has been subject to substantial criticism in recent years
We report on the process, deliberations, and practical considerations that contributed to the determination of the southwest British Columbia (SWBC) bioregion for subsequent study
If we are to build sustainable and resilient food systems and communities that can navigate the uncertainties of climate change and post-carbon economies, it is most practical to develop food security strategies linked to localized food systems (Ackerman-Leist, 2013; Greer, 2009; Heinberg, 2003; Moreau, Moore, & Mullinix, 2012)
Summary
The production-paradigm agriculture and food system that dominates North America has been subject to substantial criticism in recent years. Sustainable agriculture and food systems—a human enterprise and cultural construct—should be fully linked to and be reflective of the ecology and environmental capacity of where they occur (Berry, 1997; Thackara, 2015; Thayer, 2003) For these reasons we were motivated to adopt a bioregional framework for our food system study in SWBC, Canada. Watersheds commonly are regarded as providing the most appropriate natural boundaries for bioregions (Dodge, 1981) This approach makes good ecological sense because it recognizes that biological communities within a watershed are interconnected and function as part of a whole system, where an event or action in one part of the system may have both direct and indirect implications for another. Alexander (1996) summarized four possible criteria for, or approaches to, bioregion delineation: 1. Ecological determinism (nature determines culture): Within a specific region, bioregions are defined by one or more environmental criteria such as hydrology, climate, and vegetation, each of which will yield a different geographic area
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