Launched in 2016 by the United Nations General Assembly, the Decade of Action on Nutrition aims to end all forms of malnutrition, but as it nears its conclusion, much work remains. The 2021 Tokyo Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit underscored the interlinkages between nutrition, agriculture and climate resilience. The next N4G will be in Paris on March 26-28, 2025, and it marks an important occasion to recognize the impact current food systems have on health and amplify the need for the sustainable transformation of agriculture systems.
Current food systems struggle to provide healthy diets while sustaining ecosystems. Intensive agrifood production systems rely on the excessive use of agrochemicals and monocultural production, harming the environment and failing to support healthy diets. These systems are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, with extreme weather events, reducing crop yields, raising food prices and weakening communities’ resilience. Climate change also has an impact on the availability of key nutrients. Higher levels of CO2 can reduce the iron, zinc and protein content of staple foods by 3 to 17 percent—which can result in an additional 175 million zinc-deficient people and 122 million protein-deficient by 2050.
And the situation is worse for communities already living in vulnerable situations. The food system produces a disturbing contradiction: on one hand, at least 733 million people are undernourished and 2.3 billion experience some level of food insecurity and 2.8 billion cannot afford a healthy diet. On the other hand, nearly 1 billion meals are wasted every day. Moreover, because of unhealthy diets and other factors, 881 million adults are living with obesity and there are rising rates of diet-related non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
Some habits such as eating ultra-processed foods and beverages (UPFs) or long-distance transport of vegetables, are common but have big consequences. For example long-distance transport, temperature and number of storage days can lead to a loss of vitamins and minerals, and high consumption of ultra-processed foods is linked to increased cardiovascular diseases as well as greenhouse gas emissions.
But eating seasonal, mainly plant-based foods ensures variety in our diets, ensures better flavor and offers a diversity of vitamins and minerals in harmony with the natural cycle, without wasting energy and resources. It is clear that human health is inextricably linked to the health of other ecosystem components such as soil, plants and animals. If ecosystems are threatened by climate change, soil degradation and biodiversity loss, our health and nutrition will inevitably suffer from the consequences.
Eating enough nutritious, safe and diverse foods every day helps children to grow and adults to stay healthy. Moreover, nutrition is closely linked to culture, tradition and, in many cases, ancestral knowledge. The current industrial food model, based on the overproduction of a few foods, resource exploitation, and biodiversity destruction, is leading to the loss of much culinary knowledge. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), there are some 20,000 edible plants of which 6,000 have historically been used as food—but today, only 200 contribute to food production and just 9 account for two thirds of global food consumption.
There is good news. Agroecology can be the solution to our nutrition and environmental crises.
Agroecological principles, such as reducing chemical inputs, promoting biodiversity, and ensuring fairness and participation, are key drivers of better nutrition. A literature review finds that 78 percent of studies provided evidence of positive outcomes from the use of agroecological practices on food security and nutrition of households in low and middle-income countries. The Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change highlights robust evidence that agroecological practices can strengthen food system resilience to climate impacts. According to evidence gathered from the project True Cost of Food in Switzerland, 70 percent of the hidden costs of food are related to health. Hidden costs of food include environmental, social and health externalities including air or soil pollution, unpaid work, or diseases. Preliminary research estimates that the world’s food systems cost account around three times the market value of food, with health externalities weighing the heaviest. For instance, the study in Switzerland discovered that the true cost of bread could be much lower if it was made with organic, whole grain wheat rather than refined grain.
Community-based agroecological practices can enhance food system resilience, improve nutrition, raise farmers’ incomes, and protect the environment. But governance, economic, and cultural barriers keep them from being implemented. The Nutrition for Growth Summit is an opportunity to remind policymakers that agroecology is no longer just an option—it’s a necessity.
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Photo courtesy of Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
