Abstract

The COVID-19 crisis is just one in a series of shocks and stressors that exemplify the importance of building resilient food systems. To ensure that desired food system outcomes are less fluctuating, policy makers and other important stakeholders need a common narrative on food system resilience. The purpose of this paper is to work towards a joint understanding of food system resilience and its implications for policy making. The delivery of desired outcomes depends on the ability of food systems to anticipate, prevent, absorb, and adapt to the impacts of shocks and stressors. Based on our literature review we found four properties of food systems that enhance their resilience. We refer to these as the A B C D of resilience building: Agency, Buffering, Connectivity and Diversity. Over time, many food systems have lost levels of agency, buffering capacity, connectivity or diversity. One of the principal causes of this is attributed to the governance of food systems. Governance is inherently political: as a result of conflicting interests and power imbalances, food systems fail to deliver equitable and just access to food. Moreover, the impacts of shocks and stressors are not evenly distributed across actors in the food system. This paper has highlighted the importance of more inclusive governance to direct food system transformation towards such higher levels of resilience. We conclude that we cannot leave this to the market, but that democratic and before all independent, credible institutions are needed to create the necessary transparency between actors as to their interests, power and influence.

Highlights

  • Food system resilience presents a paradox: even when global food markets prove to be quite resilient in the face of different shocks and crises, desired outcomes such as food and nutrition security are not ensured for al and all timesl

  • We suggest that policy makers and other stakeholders recognise what we present as the A B C D of resilience building (Figure 3): 1. Agency: the means and capacities of people to mitigate risks and to respond to shocks

  • That worries about basic food supply have mostly faded, attention has moved to broader concerns about the effects of different shocks and stressors on food and nutrition security, economic livelihoods, sustainability, biodiversity and healthy ecosystems

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Summary

Introduction

Food system resilience presents a paradox: even when global food markets prove to be quite resilient in the face of different shocks and crises, desired outcomes such as food and nutrition security are not ensured for al and all timesl. The impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic remind us of the importance of food systems that can withstand and recover from shocks. The delivery of desired outcomes depends on the ability of food systems to anticipate, prevent, absorb, and adapt to the impacts of shocks and stressors. We identify four key properties of building resilient food systems: ensuring Agency, creating Buffers, stimulating Connectivity, and enhancing Diversity throughout the system Implementing these properties will enhance the capacity of food systems to anticipate, prevent, absorb, and adapt to the impacts of shocks and stressors. Building resilience through these key properties requires transformation of the entire system and this raises questions about the politics and governance of markets and broader food systems

Towards a joint understanding
Why are food systems not resilient and what are the consequences?
What can be done to make food systems more resilient?
Agency
Buffering
Connectivity
Diversity
Governance for food system resilience
Findings
Conclusions and recommendations
Full Text
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