Research also demonstrates that the consumption of much less animal protein is healthier for all populations and demographics as long as a culturally appropriate, diverse, and balanced whole-foods diet is accessible.įortunately, though our food systems are a major player in the climate problems we face, they can also be a source of the brilliant solutions we need. Shockingly, 90 percent of agricultural subsidies-worth US$600 billion of taxpayers’ money annually-have no climate or environmental safeguards. The many correlations between industrialized food systems, biodiversity loss, and a lack of diversification in diets are painfully apparent too when we consider that of the world’s 6000 species available for consumption, only 12 crops and 5 animal species make up 75 percent of what we eat globally. All too often, we see the responsibility of a “healthy diet” being placed on the shoulders of the consumer but where is the scrutiny on the inequitable and unsafe food environments that limit and dictate people’s dietary choices and nutritional status?

More than 2.3 billion people or 30 percent of the global population lacked year-round access to adequate food in 2020 yet, another 677 million adults on earth are obese. Unhealthy dietary patterns, increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods, rising malnutrition, and compounding food insecurity are also visible worldwide. Food systems cause significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and are intrinsically connected to increases in zoonotic diseases like COVID-19, antimicrobial resistance, environmental contamination, and deforestation and land degradation. Unsustainable practices that underpin today’s industrialized food systems-like intensive livestock and commodity crop production, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, antibiotic overuse, long and deregulated commodity supply chains-negatively impact human, animal, and ecological health. What is the connecting thread through all these crises? Dysfunctional food systems that are making us ill and driving climate change. We are facing a “triple planetary crisis”-climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and a human health crisis. Read parts one, two, and three, and learn more by visiting their webpage here. This is the fourth piece in a series produced by the Global Action Platform on Sustainable Consumption and Diets.

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