Sustainability of food systems: The role of legal and policy frameworks

Abstract

Food plays a critical role in human life for sustenance, nutrition, cultural expression and socio-economic development. It is, therefore, imperative that food production, processing and consumption systems are managed in a manner that ensures access to adequate, quality, safe and nutritious food for all for present and future generations. However, the world continues to struggle with different nutritional challenges such as undernutrition, overnutrition and malnutrition. It is essential that a system of food production, processing and consumption be adopted that effectively responds to these challenges in a comprehensive and holistic manner. This article elaborates on the food sustainability approach as an alternative to the prevailing conventional industrial approach to food production that has failed to end the world’s nutritional challenge while, at the same time, adversely degrading the ecosystem. The food sustainability approach adopts a systems approach to the global nutritional challenge, addressing it in an integrated and holistic manner at all levels of the food chain to ensure that food production, processing and consumption are economical, socially just and environmentally viable in the short and long term. The article finds that legal and policy frameworks at the national and global level have played a critical role in the maintenance of the current conventional food systems that perpetuate hunger, inequality and destroy critical ecosystem services. It calls for the review and transformation of these legal and policy frameworks so as to create an integrated and holistic food systems framework for the management of the entire food chain to enhance the realisation of economic, social and environmental sustainability in the food system.

Key words: food; malnutrition; food systems; food sustainability; legal and policy frameworks