Search Results (9)

Although our world produces more than enough food, hunger and malnutrition remain widespread. This is not simply a problem of production—it is about how we manage and organize our food systems. Many researchers and practitioners see food security either as a business challenge to be solved with technical and managerial tools, or as a social movement rooted in justice, sovereignty, and sustainability. These two schools of thought rarely meet, and their disconnect holds back real progress. This paper brings these perspectives together, through the introduction of the “Managerial Architecture of Food Justice”—a new way to think about food management that does not pick sides but aims to transform how food systems are governed. By blending the best of strategic management with values of equity, agency, and ecological stewardship, this framework shows how management practices can help build food systems that are not only resilient and efficient, but also fair and truly sustainable. Grounded in public and collaborative governance theory, this approach provides practical steps for policymakers and food system leaders who want to break the cycle of hunger and injustice. The proposed model supports the Sustainable Development Goals by making sustainability defining features of food security efforts. Full article

On 16 November 1965, three weeks before the end of the Second Vatican Council, about forty conciliar bishops gathered to celebrate the Holy Eucharist in the Catacombs of St. Domitilla. The Mass was presided over by Msgr. Charles-Marie Himmer (1902–1994). At the end of the Mass, the assembled bishops walked up to the altar and appended their signatures to what is now known as “The Pact of the Catacombs.” This document later went into oblivion and suffered obscurity for half a century. Nevertheless, its significance was never lost on some of the bishops who pledged themselves, among other things, to work for the emergence of a “poor and servant Church” with a commitment to justice and charity. The bishops seemed to have followed the example of Pope Paul VI, who on 12 September 1965, in the same Catacombs of St. Domitilla, had spoken about the lessons of simplicity, poverty, charity, and justice that are historically engraved in the Church’s memory of the catacombs. This research examines “The Pact of the Catacombs”, its recent coming to light, and its significance as a pathway for a possible poor-servant church. As a qualitative research, its approach is historical, and its analysis of primary and secondary sources will be both narrative and descriptive in connecting it to other important documents of the same milieu. Full article

This study aims to determine the influence of the fiscal, monetary, and public policy environment in Sri Lanka and its impact on sustainable development before and after COVID-19. This study used the document analysis qualitative research method to obtain and analyse fiscal, monetary, and public policy data. It assigned and measured the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) values and trends. The goals were clustered into social, environmental, and sustainability-related intellectual capital to measure their dimensional capital status values and trends. Despite the economic crisis, Sri Lanka has moderately progressed in sustainable development, with most improvements in social capital. The environmental and sustainability-related intellectual capital dimensions follow. The 17 SDGs were advancing at various levels. Two were on track (Goal 4: Quality education and Goal 9: Industry, innovation, and infrastructure). Five moderately improved goals (Goal 2: Zero hunger, Goal 3: Good health and well-being, Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation, Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production, and Goal 13: Climate action). Seven were stagnant (Goal 5: Gender equality, Goal 7: Affordable clean energy, Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth, Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities, Goal 14: Life below water, Goal 16: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, and Goal 17: Partnership for the goals). Two showed a decrease (Goal 1: Poverty and Goal 15: Life on land). No data are reported for Goal 10 (Reduce inequalities). Fiscal and monetary policies were overly focussed on economic repair and reconstruction. Public policy has nevertheless contributed to sustainable development. This is the first study to examine the multidimensional policy environment and its impact on sustainable development in Sri Lanka. Full article

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are internationally agreed-upon commitments to sustainable development, represent the global development agenda. Lithuania, along with other 192 countries, has committed to achieving these goals by 2030. The purpose of these goals is to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all and ensure that no one is left behind. As emphasized by SDG #17, an important role in achieving all SDGs is played by partnerships among all stakeholders, including partnerships developed by businesses and, especially, social businesses. In Lithuania, social businesses mostly act as work integration social enterprises (WISEs), working with the most vulnerable societal groups and ensuring their social integration into society, thus contributing toward the achievement of the SDGs. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented businesses from performing their usual activities and, subsequently, from achieving their social missions. Thus, in this study, we aimed to analyze the role of WISEs in achieving the SDGs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Lithuania. The study is based on the interviews with Lithuanian de facto WISE leaders. The findings showed that the WISEs in Lithuania mainly contributed to SDG #1 “No poverty”, SDG #2 “Zero hunger”, SDG #3 “Good health and well-being”, SDG #4 “Quality education”, SDG #8 “Decent work and economic growth”, and SDG #16 “Peace and justice” during the pandemic. Full article

Food system transformation has been a widely discussed topic in international society over time. For the last few decades, China has made remarkable achievements in food production and has contributed greatly to the reduction in global hunger and poverty. Examining experiences and lessons from China’s food security practices over the years is helpful to promote a national food system transformation for China, as well as other developing countries. This study systematically reviews the literature on Chinese food security studies, with the aim of assessing China’s food security achievements and examining the remaining and emerging issues in the pursuit of food system transformation. The results show that China has continuously promoted food system transformation in land consolidation, agri-food production technologies, management and organization modes, food reserves, trade governance, and food consumption. These transformations ensure not only food availability, timeliness, and nutrition, but also in terms of the ecological, social, and economic sustainability, feasibility, and justice of food security. However, China is also confronting new challenges in food security, for example, malnutrition, environmental unsustainability, and reductions in diversified agri-food. In the future, China is expected to be committed to promoting healthy diets, sustainable agricultural production, climate change mitigation, and the reduction of food waste and loss to enhance its agri-food system’s resilience. Full article

This research is a critical approach to the emergence of community pantries during the COVID-19 pandemic as at-once contestatory and transformative narratives, foregrounding the Filipino poor’s experience of hunger, suffering, and marginality, while also highlighting their collective hope for a better world. I began by exploring the emergence of the community pantry in the Philippines, which was prompted by the government’s inadequate response to the plight of the hungry poor due to prolonged mandatory lockdown in the National Capital Region. I then turned to Emmanuel Levinas’ concept of hunger as the basis for the ethical giving displayed in the community pantries, which is a symbolic arena where leadership is questioned and the marginalized voices of the hungry poor are both mainstreamed and articulated. I brought ethical giving into relation with the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam as the platform for the possibility of healing wounded relations. I constructed a particular weave between the community pantry and the Filipinos’ shared experiences of hunger that touches on the ethical that can create liberating spaces for collective hope. In conclusion, I argue that this study is valuable for confronting unexamined assumptions of the relationship between hunger, healing, and hope for critical pedagogy and critical spirituality, which can have significant philosophical and theological implications. Full article

Urban agriculture is often advanced as a sustainable solution to feed a growing urban population, offering a number of benefits: improved fresh food access, CO₂ absorption, social justice and social cohesion among others. Going beyond these direct tangible/objective benefits from urban agriculture, in this paper we ask: How can growing food in the cities teach us about taking care of each other and the natural environment? We use the example of urban food autonomy movements to discuss the transformative potential of a grassroots-led initiative promoting permaculture, which is anchored in three “ethics”: care for the earth, care for the people, and fair share. Through examining the philosophical underpinnings of “autonomy” and “care”, we explore how urban food autonomy initiatives can enable the development of an ethics of care, especially using permaculture inspirations. Our theoretical review and case analysis reveal that “autonomy” can never be achieved without “care” and that these are co-dependent outcomes. The urban food autonomy initiatives are directly relevant for the achievement of the three of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals: “Zero Hunger,” “Life on Land” and “Climate Action”, and contribute to a culture of care. Indeed, urban agriculture can act as a powerful education platform for the engagement of diverse stakeholders while also supporting a collective transformation of values. Full article

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) rest on a set of broadly accepted values within a human rights framework. The SDGs seek to improve human lives, improve the planet, and foster prosperity. This paper examines the human rights framework and the principles of social justice and shows that, while the SDGs do not specifically state that there is human right to food, the SDGs do envision a better, more just, world which rests upon the sufficiency of the global food supply, on environmental sustainability, and on food security for all. Then the paper examines the interrelationships between the SDGs, food access and waste, and human rights within a framework of social justice. Finally, it looks at the potential pandemic of hunger wrought by COVID-19, showing that COVID-19 serves as an example of a crisis that has raised unprecedented challenges to food loss and waste in the global food supply system and tests our commitment to the principles espoused by the SDGs. Full article

Markets dominate the world’s food systems. Today’s food systems fail to realize the normative foundations of ecological economics: justice, sustainability, efficiency, and value pluralism. Drawing on empirical and theoretical literature from diverse intellectual traditions, I argue that markets, as an institution for governing food systems, hinder the realization of these objectives. Markets allocate food toward money, not hunger. They encourage shifting costs on others, including nonhuman nature. They rarely signal unsustainability, and in many ways cause it. They do not resemble the efficient markets of economic theory. They organize food systems according to exchange value at the expense of all other social, cultural, spiritual, moral, and environmental values. I argue that food systems can approach the objectives of ecological economics roughly to the degree that they subordinate market mechanisms to social institutions that embody those values. But such “embedding” processes, whether through creating state policy or alternative markets, face steep barriers and can only partially remedy food markets’ inherent shortcomings. Thus, ecological economists should also study, promote, and theorize non-market food systems. Full article