Seven Food System Metrics of Sustainable Nutrition Security
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ILSI Research Foundation, Center for Integrated Modeling of Sustainable Agriculture and Nutrition Security (CIMSANS), 1156 15th St NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005, USA
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Center for Public Health Nutrition, University of Washington, Box 353410, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
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School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, 1740 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036, USA
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Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: John P. A. Lamers
Sustainability 2016, 8(3), 196; https://doi.org/10.3390/su8030196
Received: 15 January 2016 / Revised: 15 February 2016 / Accepted: 17 February 2016 / Published: 23 February 2016
(This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Agriculture)
Sustainability considerations have been absent from most food security assessments conducted to date, despite the tremendous economic, environmental, and social implications of meeting accelerating food demand in the face of water shortages and climate change. In addition, previous food security work has generally focused only on achieving adequate calories, rather than addressing dietary diversity and micronutrient adequacy, both of which are critical to maintaining a healthy overall nutritional status. In response to the limitations of previous assessments, a new methodology is proposed here based on the concept of “sustainable nutrition security” (SNS). This novel assessment methodology is intended to remedy both kinds of deficiencies in the previous work by defining seven metrics, each based on a combination of multiple indicators, for use in characterizing sustainable nutrition outcomes of food systems: (1) food nutrient adequacy; (2) ecosystem stability; (3) food affordability and availability; (4) sociocultural wellbeing; (5) food safety; (6) resilience; and (7) waste and loss reduction. Each of the metrics comprises multiple indicators that are combined to derive an overall score (0–100). A novel SNS assessment methodology based on these metrics can be deployed by decision-makers and investors to set meaningful goals, track progress, and evaluate the potential impact of food system interventions intended to improve sustainability and human nutrition outcomes.
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Keywords:
sustainability; nutrition security; food security; climate change; resilience; food safety; waste and loss; crop modeling; economic modeling; integrated modeling; open data
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MDPI and ACS Style
Gustafson, D.; Gutman, A.; Leet, W.; Drewnowski, A.; Fanzo, J.; Ingram, J. Seven Food System Metrics of Sustainable Nutrition Security. Sustainability 2016, 8, 196. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8030196
AMA Style
Gustafson D, Gutman A, Leet W, Drewnowski A, Fanzo J, Ingram J. Seven Food System Metrics of Sustainable Nutrition Security. Sustainability. 2016; 8(3):196. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8030196
Chicago/Turabian StyleGustafson, David, Alona Gutman, Whitney Leet, Adam Drewnowski, Jessica Fanzo, and John Ingram. 2016. "Seven Food System Metrics of Sustainable Nutrition Security" Sustainability 8, no. 3: 196. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8030196
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