Challenges and Opportunities of Sustainable Food Systems for Global Health
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Food".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 March 2027 | Viewed by 243
Special Issue Editors
Interests: sustainable food consumption; generational consumer behaviour; food and masculinity; alternative proteins; novel food technologies and food system harmonisation
Interests: sustainability; innovation; sustainometrics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Global food systems are at a critical crossroads. While they have succeeded in increasing food availability over recent decades, they have also contributed to a complex set of challenges, including persistent undernutrition, rising rates of obesity, and diet-related non-communicable diseases, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate change. These interconnected crises highlight the urgent need to rethink how food is produced, processed, distributed, and consumed, placing human and planetary health at the centre of food system transformation. Sustainable food systems have emerged as a key framework for addressing global health inequities while remaining within ecological boundaries.
This Special Issue aims to explore the challenges and opportunities of transitioning toward sustainable food systems that support improved nutrition, public health, environmental sustainability, and social equity. We seek to emphasise the multidimensional nature of food systems, recognising the interlinkages between agriculture, nutrition, health outcomes, climate resilience, economic development, and governance. Key themes include, but are not limited to, sustainable agricultural practices and their health implications; food environments and dietary transitions; the role of policy, governance, and trade in shaping sustainable diets; equity and access to nutritious foods; Indigenous and local food systems; technological and social innovations; and the impacts of climate change on food security and health.
The overarching aim of this Special Issue is to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and generate evidence that can inform policy and practice at local, national, and global levels. We welcome original research articles, systematic or scoping reviews, policy analyses, case studies, and conceptual or methodological papers that address food systems from a global health perspective. Contributions from diverse disciplines, including social sciences, public health, nutrition, agriculture, environmental sciences, and economics, are particularly encouraged. By bringing together diverse perspectives and contexts, this Special Issue seeks to advance understanding of how sustainable food systems can contribute to healthier populations and a more resilient planet.
Dr. Diana Bogueva
Prof. Dr. Dora Marinova
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- sustainability
- nutrition
- food policy
- food systems
- health
- resilience
- polycrisis
- case studies
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