FOOD SYSTEMS GOVERNANCE AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA

In 2018, Fundación Alternativas, together with the La Paz Municipal Food Security Committee and Fundación Comunidad y
Axión, organised a meeting between municipal authorities and urban and peri-urban producers from the municipalities of La
Paz and El Alto. The main objective of the event was to facilitate a space for participatory dialogue on food systems and short
supply chains in order to identify public policy proposals focused on strengthening the production, trade and consumption of
local and healthy food. Credit: Fundación Alternativas

circular economy model — for example, a reduction in municipal markets of Quito could contribute to improved
the municipality’s spending on waste management — child nutrition (at the time of writing it had not yet started
along with reduced GHG emissions and pollution. up in practice).
Environmental co-benefits are sometimes implicit
in the work of MSMs, rather than being the primary 3.2.4 Tensions and trade-offs
objective of a policy or intervention, suggesting that
The nature of MSMs is that they bring together a
their contributions to tackling the triple planetary crisis
plurality of actors from across the food system — each
are often hidden or indirect. For example, the LAFPC
with their own objectives and approaches to doing
has tended to foreground other priorities, particularly
things. Respondents generally did not think that
in conversations with stakeholders focused on food
individual stakeholders were blocking the inclusion of
access — such as government and community actors.
environmental issues in the work of their SFS MSM
In promoting the ‘Farm Fresh LA’ programme, which
— except in the case of the French CNA, where one
connected local producers with neighbourhood stores,
respondent noted ‘the reluctance of manufacturers
the emphasis was on benefits to the local economy and
and some producers’; and the Quito MSM, where
access to fresh food, despite the potential environmental
stakeholders from food and agricultural industry
co-benefits of short supply chains.
initially opposed the inclusion of agroecology and food
Co-benefits of the interventions of SFS MSMs — sovereignty (though eventually accepted it). However,
whether environmental, social or pertaining to health they acknowledged that sometimes there were
— are sometimes unplanned or unexpected. In Quito, disagreements over which issues should be tackled,
an urban agriculture initiative which initially aimed to and how.
support vulnerable residents increase their food security
In some cases the disagreement was over how best to
through growing their own food, has since become
approach the same environmental issue; for example, in
part of a broader strategy to increase the resilience of
the French CNA one respondent reported differences
the city’s agri-food system. In addition, a food recovery
in the approach to sustainability among producer
initiative that PAQ has helped to establish in the

26 www.iied.org