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Resilience in the global food system
David A Seekell1, Joel Carr2, Jampel Dell'Angelo3
1Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Environmental Research Letters : ERL [Web Site]
|August 21, 2020
Summary
Global food security relies on resilient food systems. This study introduces indicators to measure national food system resilience, revealing variations in socio-economic access, biophysical capacity, and production diversity across countries.
Area of Science:
- Food security and sustainability
- Resilience of global food systems
- National-level indicator development
Background:
- Food security necessitates functional food production and distribution systems during disruptions.
- Global food system resilience is critical for long-term human population sustainability.
- Existing resilience tracking methods have limited application to food systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and apply an indicator-based analysis of food systems resilience from 1992-2011.
- To enable global comparisons of national food system resilience.
- To provide context for generalizing food system resilience.
Main Methods:
- Developed an indicator-based analysis of food systems resilience (1992-2011).
- Assessed resilience across three dimensions: socio-economic access, biophysical capacity, and production diversity.
- Analyzed national-scale indicators for global comparison.
Main Results:
- Socio-economic access indicators show low values concentrated in Africa and Asia.
- Biophysical capacity is highest in Africa and Eastern Europe but has declined globally.
- Production diversity has slightly increased globally with even geographic distribution.
Conclusions:
- National food system resilience varies significantly across socio-economic, biophysical, and production dimensions.
- Biophysical capacity for food production is declining globally.
- The developed indicators provide a basis for global comparisons and understanding food system resilience.
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