Special Issue "Sustainable Food System Transition"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Food".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2022.

Special Issue Editor

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Christian Bugge Henriksen
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Climate and Food Security Group, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, DK-2630 Taastrup, Denmark
Interests: sustainable food systems; agriculture; climate change; innovation; environmental assessment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Our current food system is unsustainable and not successful in providing adequate food security and food sovereignty for an increasing human population, thereby impeding the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The rapid expansion of agricultural land has caused severe damage to ecosystems by reducing biodiversity, increasing water stress, and elevating global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, already exceeding several planetary boundaries. Between 21% and 37% of global GHG emissions can be attributed to the food system, and livestock alone accounts for about 15% of global GHG emissions when including emissions from ruminants, feed production, and land use change. While middle- and especially low-income countries are facing severe problems with access to food and undernutrition, high-income countries are challenged by unhealthy diets and malnutrition that are contributing to non-communicable diseases, resulting in increased mortality rates across the world. At the same time, structural changes in agriculture are causing population and employment to become increasingly concentrated in urban areas, resulting in a shrinking of the population in rural areas and a widening urban–rural gap that threatens both territorial and social cohesion within countries. Recent research has shown that healthy food is primarily plant-based, that plant-based food has significantly lower GHG emissions, and that more localized food systems may increase resilience and strengthen urban–rural cohesion, especially in light of COVID-19. In order to better meet the needs of the people and the planet, we urgently need a global shift toward more plant-based, resilient, and localized food systems.

This Special Issue welcomes submissions that shed light on the opportunities and barriers for a sustainable food system transition in a COVID-19 and post COVID-19 world, and contribute to the development and assessment of sustainable, innovative, and inclusive food system solutions across the entire food value chain, covering production, distribution, consumption, and recycling/upcycling. Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary contributions are encouraged.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Christian Bugge Henriksen
Guest Editor

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 papers will be 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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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 1900 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

  • sustainable food systems
  • agriculture
  • transition
  • climate change
  • food security
  • food sovereignty
  • sustainable development goals
  • planetary boundaries
  • COVID-19
  • diet
  • health
  • plant-based
  • resilience
  • cohesion
  • innovation
  • inclusion
  • empowerment

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Article
Scaling up Action on Urban Sustainable Food Systems in the United Kingdom: Agenda Setting, Networking, and Influence
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 2156; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042156 - 17 Feb 2021
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Abstract
There has been an increasing focus on the potential of city-based initiatives to address the negative impacts of the global food system. Adopting a meso-level policy perspective, this study aimed to explore whether, how, and why the UK non-government organisation led Sustainable Food [...] Read more.
There has been an increasing focus on the potential of city-based initiatives to address the negative impacts of the global food system. Adopting a meso-level policy perspective, this study aimed to explore whether, how, and why the UK non-government organisation led Sustainable Food Cities (SFC) programme has influenced this food agenda at the level of city governance. The research fills a gap in our understanding of the detailed processes through which trans-local food networks influence the capacity of local food partnerships to effect change, sustain themselves, and through a collective effort, to shape the attention of national and international decision-makers. Based on documentary evidence from 29 of the most active member cities and interviews with a purposive selection of stakeholders, the analysis suggests that SFC provided a point of origin for solutions and inspiration on a major and complex issue. However, the absence of a national sustainable food policy framework and little formal national-government recognition of local food governance together with the paucity of funding opportunities threatens the long-term viability of local food partnerships and ultimately places significant constraints on the ability of the programme to effect long-lasting, systemic change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food System Transition)
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Article
Transition from Animal-Based to Plant-Based Food Production to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agriculture—The Case of Denmark
Sustainability 2020, 12(19), 8228; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198228 - 06 Oct 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2709 | Correction
Abstract
Curbing emissions from agriculture, and especially from livestock production, is essential in order to fulfil the Paris Agreement. Shifting to a diet lower in meat consumption has been emphasized in several studies. Based on the Planetary Health Diet developed by the EAT-Lancet Commission, [...] Read more.
Curbing emissions from agriculture, and especially from livestock production, is essential in order to fulfil the Paris Agreement. Shifting to a diet lower in meat consumption has been emphasized in several studies. Based on the Planetary Health Diet developed by the EAT-Lancet Commission, this study investigates the effect on agricultural greenhouse gas emissions of transitioning the Danish agricultural system, which currently relies mainly on meat and dairy production, towards increased focus on plant-based foods, combined with replacement or reduction of imported feed and carbon sequestration on previous agricultural land. The study finds a large potential for reducing emissions from Danish agriculture through implementation of the Planetary Health Diet, with reductions of up to 20.2 Mt CO2e (CO2 equivalents) (86.5%) under the most ambitious conditions. This demonstrates the potentially large benefits from transitioning towards a more plant-based European agricultural sector and underscores the need for European and national policies incentivizing this transition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food System Transition)
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Correction
Correction: Prag, A.A.; Henriksen, C.B. Transition from Animal-Based to Plant-Based Food Production to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agriculture—The Case of Denmark. Sustainability 2020, 12, 8228
Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 944; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020944 - 18 Jan 2021
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Abstract
The authors have made the following corrections about the published paper [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food System Transition)
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