IIED ISSUE PAPER

Food systems depend on, but also threaten, sustainable 2. In order for food systems governance to
natural resource management and the healthy support the transformation of food systems
functioning of ecosystems. As a result, the way food towards sustainability, governance itself
systems are governed impacts how resources are will need to change. Some of the key features
managed within ecosystems, and by extension, the triple of a food systems governance that could support
planetary crisis. This paper has sought to demonstrate environmental agendas are inclusiveness, integration,
the links between food systems governance and the cross-sectoral and multi-level approaches,
environment, and provide insights into how food systems innovation, pluralism, and adaptive capacity. Those
governance is helping to advance environmental forms of governance that have made progress
agendas and tackle the triple planetary crisis. towards influencing the environmental agenda tend
to use two or more of these approaches, but it is rare
In the first part (sections 1 and 2), the report presents
for them all to be used together.
a literature review on food systems, environment and
sustainability, including the links between food systems 3. There is still limited evidence of the material
governance and environmental challenges. These impacts of food systems governance on
sections summarise the ways in which food systems environmental outcomes. Even though the
and environmental systems depend on, and impact literature linking food production governance to
one another, including the specific ways in which food biodiversity and climate adaptation is growing,
systems contribute to climate change, biodiversity loss there is not much evidence of the broader impacts
and pollution. of food systems governance more generally. This
is partly due to the relatively recent adoption of the
The study drew on concepts from the academic
food systems problem-framing in food governance
literature on food systems governance and
(which previously focused on single issues and
environmental governance to discuss how specific
policies), and the relative paucity of studies linking
features of, or approaches to, governance could
food systems governance to sustainable food
lead to the transformation of food systems towards
systems transformations. Gathering more data, as
sustainability. Four key features or approaches emerged
well as agreeing on how to measure and evaluate the
as central to thinking about the contribution of food
impacts of governance, could help make the case
systems governance to environmental outcomes, which
for food systems governance in other arenas — for
can be broadly summarised as:
example, within international environmental fora such
• Collaboration and integration as the UNFCCC and the CBD.
• Inclusion and participation 4. Working with, and learning from, Indigenous
Peoples and local communities is essential.
• Adaptive capacity and resilience
A key learning from the literature on environmental
• Diversity of knowledge governance is that integrating diverse communities,
groups, perspectives, value systems and knowledge
The research borrows the concept of transformative
can support the transformation of systems, such
governance, which is already being used in the field
as food systems, towards sustainability. The
of environmental governance to talk about the kinds of
participation of Indigenous Peoples and local
governance needed to transform food systems towards
communities in particular, and of stakeholders
increased sustainability. Using this concept, which is
and citizens more broadly, can increase the
already common within certain environmental academy
effectiveness of natural resource management and
and policy circles, could be a useful way to think
increase food systems resilience in the long-term.
about the contribution of food systems governance to
Likewise, it is important to acknowledge the value
environmental agendas, and to bridge the gap between
of, and respectfully make use of, indigenous and
researchers, practitioners and policymakers working on
local knowledge, which is an important source of
food systems and the environment.
information about biodiversity and conservation.
The key takeaways from the first part of the report are
In the second part of the report (section 3), 7 case
that:
studies of sustainable food system multi-stakeholder
1. The shift to a systems approach to food mechanisms (SFS MSMs) were analysed, with the
governance has been important for integrating aim of understanding how they are contributing to
environmental dimensions with other food environmental agendas and policymaking. The study
system outcomes related to food security, health gleaned lessons and insights into the motivations of
and livelihoods. This means that food systems SFS MSMs for working on environmental issues, the
governance increasingly explicitly aims to address ways in which they have contributed to environmental
environmental challenges and produce positive policymaking, the kinds of environmental issues they
environmental outcomes.

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