Abstract
Globally, traditional food security fears have been supplemented by concerns about food system sustainability that link current agricultural production practices to damages of environmental ecosystems and the world’s climate, thus threatening the natural resource base of future generations. This paper aims at creating a better understanding of the evolution of diet sustainability from 1961 to 2013. Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations were used to investigate the situation for the world as a whole as well as for its macro-regions Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and Oceania. We define diet sustainability by (a) the share of daily per capita calorie intake derived from vegetable/plant products and (b) the variety of vegetable/plant products consumed, measured by the Simpson diversity index. Moreover, total calorie consumption is considered. Then the correlations between diet sustainability and (a) macro-regional life expectancy rates and (b) food system greenhouse gas emissions are calculated. The results show that diet sustainability has not changed much during the last 50 years. Moreover, the nexus between diets and health and climate outcomes is not fully evident at the macro-regional level. Therefore, Malthus 2.0, i.e., scientific food pessimism, should be avoided. In particular, the limitations of dietary contributions to human and planetary health ought to be more widely acknowledged.
Highlights
Planet Earth’s natural resources, such as land, freshwater, raw materials etc., have to be shared among an increasing number of people
The results show that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and land use are some of the most commonly used metrics
2013, using three indicators: a) the share of daily per capita calorie intake derived from vegetable/plant products; the variety of vegetable/plant products consumed, measured by the Simpson diversity index [18]
Summary
Planet Earth’s natural resources, such as land, freshwater, raw materials etc., have to be shared among an increasing number of people (and farm animals). Human life expectancy has continuously increased [1]. More people consume for longer, leading to fears whether there is enough for all of them, and in the future. One particular concern is about human diets and their resource implications. Agriculture already accounts for up to 40% of global land use, 70% of freshwater withdrawals and 30% of greenhouse gas emissions [2]. The question is whether humankind can go on consuming food and drink as it currently does
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