Sustainability in the Agri-Food Sector

Sustainability in the Agri-Food Sector

• Presented by Dr. Marco Garcia-Vaquero, Director of Food Science Programme, University College Dublin in February 2024.

Learning Outcomes

• Gain insights into the impacts of humans on the planet.
• Understand global discourses and Irish perceptions.
• Gain insights into systems thinking and sustainability models and frameworks.
• Use and explore UN SDGs goals, targets & progress.
• Understand and identify UN SDGs into other Irish strategies in the agri-food and horticultural sectors.
• Understand upcoming Irish and EU initiatives pushing the sustainability agenda.

Overview of the Problem

• The scientific community agrees the sustainability of natural world has reached a critical point.
• Global issues such as resource depletion require urgent action.
• Reversing this trend requires radical redefinition of practices and changes to values and thinking.

Actions and Discourses on Climate Change

• Personal values impact worldview and how we interpret received information.
• An example of how personal values impacts action is the recognized "discourses of climate delay".
• "Discourses of climate delay" is common in debates on climate action and accepts climate change exists, but justifies inaction or inadequate efforts.
• Proponents of climate delay argue for minimal action or action taken by others.

Irish Perception on Climate Issues

• The EPA's 'Climate Change in the Irish Mind' (CCIM) project is conducted in partnership with Yale University’s ‘Programme on Climate Change Communications' (YPCCC).
• The CCIM project informs the National Dialogue on Climate Action (NDCA) led by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC).
• The NDCA serves as the hub for understanding: public climate change knowledge, attitudes, policy preferences, behaviors and the underlying psychological and cultural factors that influence the public.

Indicators of Transgression of Planetary Boundaries

• Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding land-use change and forestry are measured in mtCO2eq.
• As of 2020, Ireland's emissions totaled 63,503.7 mtCO2eq.
• Greenhouse gas emissions of food consumption are measured in kg CO2eq/capita.
• As of 2010, the greenhouse gas emissions of food consumption were 3,192 kg CO2eq/capita.

Irish Boundaries vs. Ecological Ceilings

• For at least the last 30 years, no country has met the needs of its current residents whilst maintaining a globally substantiable level of resource usage.
• Countries have transgressed planetary boundaries faster than they have met the basic needs of their residents.
• In Ireland, 6 biophysical boundaries have been transgressed out of 7 with data available.
• On the other hand, 9 social thresholds have been achieved (based on the 11 data available).

Understanding Sustainability

• Sustainability is a complex issue and can be considered a "wicked problem".
• Defining sustainability is difficult on account of the complex interdependencies and multicausal factors.
• Attempts to solve sustainability issues often lead to unforseen consequences, are frequently not stable and the solution is unclear.
• Sustainability is socially complex and relies on multiple stakeholders behaving in ways that reduces policy falure.

Insights Into Solutions

• These problems required to be addressed holistically.
• Stakeholders must work together to ensure full understanding of the problem and share commitment to achieve solutions.
• When trying to achieve these solutions is where we talk about systems.
• Sustainable Food System

Sustainability Models and Frameworks

• The dictionary definition implies an activity can be sustained indefinitely, but this has problems in the form of a timer vs recovery relative to modern civilization timeline.
• Sustainability must be relevant to the human environment and our development.
• "Sustainability" and "Sustainable development” are not the same but they may be used interchangeably in scientific literature.
• These terms can mean many things to different people. Johnston et al. (2007) estimate that approximately 300 definitions of sustainability and sustainable development occur in the area of environmental management and similar fields.
• The World Commission on Environment and Development's Brundtland Report of 1987 framed sustainable development as "...development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".
• Some models depict the economy as the primary weight and the environment and society as dependent but this is a flawed.