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© James Morgan / WWF
Food
SOLVING THE GREAT FOOD PUZZLE

We all need to eat, but today’s food systems are failing. How we produce and consume food is the biggest driver of nature loss and a major cause of greenhouse gas emissions. Unhealthy diets are leaving billions obese, overweight or ill, but nearly 830 million are still going hungry. Huge amount of the food we produce is going uneaten - a waste of natural resources, human labour and money. Neither planet nor people are being nourished and these hidden costs are reducing food security and leaving food systems vulnerable to disruption.

Solving the great food puzzle of how to nourish everyone within planetary boundaries requires an integrated and systemic approach. The good news is that food systems can be a major part of the solution to the global health, climate and nature crises.

We work on multiple issues - including scaling nature-positive production practices, shifting to healthy and sustainable diets and radically reducing food loss and waste - and across value chains, in policy, finance, retail, on the farm and so on. We bring partners from across food systems together, at the global level to influence international agendas - like biodiversity loss, climate change and land use - and on the ground and in the water in more than 100 countries to implement context-specific and place-based solutions that will have the highest impact in the shortest time.

We have developed several solutions to help accelerate impact around the world.

SOLVING THE GREAT FOOD PUZZLE

FOOD FORWARD NDCs

ADOPTING PLANET-BASED DIETS

TACKLING FOOD LOSS ON FARMS

CUTTING INDIVIDUAL FOOD WASTE
WHERE WE WORK
WWF Food Map Oct24
© WWF

We work in nearly 100 countries to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature, by working with local communities and in some of the most iconic ecosystems. Applying a food systems approach is critical to deliver holistic benefits and we frame our work through four interconnected areas:

Planet – wherein planetary health is improved, with the impacts of food systems reduced, so that they operate within planetary boundaries (many of which are currently being transgressed)

Places – reducing the negative impacts, and increasing the positive ones, on landscapes, waterscapes and seascapes in which food is produced – protecting, sustainably managing and restoring these ecosystems to ensure that all ecosystem services (including food production) are optimized

People – improving human health, by increasing the availability, affordability and accessibility of healthy, nutritious and safe food – and recognizing the critical role of Indigenous Peoples, local communities and women – leveraging the knowledge of these groups and protecting all groups that are vulnerable

Prosperity – working towards a food systems transformation that improves livelihoods and incomes, ideally for all – but for those that may be negatively affected by transformations, ensuring that they are supported and incentivized to shift to more sustainable practices
GLOBAL AGENDAS

Food intersects with most of the primary conservation issues. We work at the global level to shape agendas and ensure that food systems transformation is included as a solution to biodiversity loss, climate change and land-use change. We also focus on reshaping subsidies, incentives, taxes and investments, to shift away from encouraging harmful behaviours to rewarding healthy and sustainable practices.
Rapid decarbonization of all sectors is needed to achieve the Paris Agreement. Recent analyses have shown that climate action is not moving anywhere near quickly enough. Across all sectors, we need more urgency and a shift from making commitments to implementing solutions. Rapid action on food system transformation is especially critical given food systems produce around 33% of global greenhouse gas emissions but have historically been overlooked as a climate solution. We can’t phase out food in the same way we can fossil fuels, but we can transform food systems so that they have net-zero emissions. With systemic transformation, the food system can become a major part of the solution to the climate crisis.
 
We often refer to biodiversity by another name - nature. It is the rich variety of all life on Earth along with the places and spaces they call home - forests, grasslands, oceans, rivers and everything in between. We all depend on nature for food, water, clean air and more. But we're losing nature at an alarming rate, putting the planet and ourselves in increasing danger. It is critical that we conserve nature, for instance by creating protected areas and helping to grow population of animals under threat, is critical, but we can only restore nature at the required rate if we also transform food systems and reduce the impacts of our production and consumption. Food systems are presently the biggest driver of environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. They cause 80% of deforestation and the degradation of many other precious habitats such as wetlands and grasslands, 70% of all biodiversity loss on land and 50% in freshwater, and produce around 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions.

If we do not transform food systems it will be impossible to sustainably use our land and natural resources. Around 40% of all habitable land is used to produce food. This has come at the expense of nature, causing 80% of deforestation and 70% of biodiversity loss on land. Soil degradation has reduced the productivity of nearly a quarter of the global land surface, affected the well-being of about 3.2 billion people and cost about 10% of annual global gross domestic product in lost ecosystem services.  But food systems can be transformed from being the primary cause of degradation to the principle catalyst in restoration and recovery for a nature-positive future.
KEY ISSUES

Global targets for food systems transformation need to be downscaled to local contexts. Implementation will take place at the national and sub-national level. We take a food systems approach, working to scale nature-positive production, shift to healthier and more sustainable diets, and to eliminate food loss and waste. Our area-based conservation focuses on grasslands and savannahs, the ecosystems in which most food is produced - though they are often overlooked in conservation and transformation agendas.
Nature-positive food production keeps soils healthy, water flowing, helps store carbon and provides homes for a range of biodiversity, both above and below the ground. Food can be produced in way that works with nature, not against it, but right now it’s the biggest threat, on land and in rivers and oceans.
Our food choices can make a positive difference to people and nature – improving our own health, the health of others, and the health of the planet. But over-dependence on select foods, a lack of diversity in our diets and the continued consumption of unsustainably produced items have a harmful impact on nature.
If we all shopped, cooked and ate smarter we could avoid wasting food. Combining that with actions along supply chains, like increasing efficiency or improving storage, would mean we had more than enough food to feed a growing population. However, one third of all the food we produce goes uneaten, with major negative impacts on nature, global hunger and the economy.
For centuries the fertile soils provided by natural grasslands have led to their unchecked conversion to croplands, and domestic livestock have replaced the vast herds of wild animals. Driven by an expanding global population, the transformation of our landscapes from valuable natural ecosystems to agriculture has intensified. Grasslands and savannahs represent up to 80% of the world’s agriculturally productive land and face some of the fastest rates of conversion of any biome. Both North America’s Great Plains and Brazil’s Cerrado have already lost about half of their native vegetation.   

IN FOCUS - ALIGNING THE RIO CONVENTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS TRANSFORMATION

This year, Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings are being held for all three Rio Conventions, namely the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). There is a unique opportunity to prioritize and advance actions that can simultaneously address the interconnected crises of nature loss, climate change and land degradation, improving human health and wellbeing. Food systems provide several entry points to make progress simultaneously in all areas.

WWF has identified four key actions which international bodies, national policymakers and other stakeholders across food systems, including the private sector, investors and financiers and NGOs, should prioritize at the upcoming COPs:

1. ELEVATE FOOD SYSTEMS AS A PRIORITY
Integrate food and agriculture into national plans (NDCs, NAPs, NBSAPs, LDNs) and collective agreements
2. USE FOOD SYSTEMS AS AN ENTRY POINT FOR SYNERGIES
Prioritize and promote solutions with multiple benefits e.g. agroecology
3. SCALE UP FINANCE FOR FOOD SYSTEMS
Increase total and proportional amount of finance related to food systems, and ensure it reaches actors implementing solutions on the ground and in the water
4. MULTISTAKEHOLDER, EQUITABLE APPROACH
Ensure all stakeholders are part of decision-making processes, leveraging local and traditional knowledge, and increasing representation for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, women, youth and other under-represented groups
Food COPs 2024 © WWF
Food COPs 2024
© WWF
READ MORE TO FIND OUT HOW DIFFERENT ACTORS CAN APPLY THE ACTIONS ACROSS COPs
Aligning the Rio Conventions for Sustainable Food Systems Transformation
pdf 1.71 MB
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