Many scientists and other experts believe that the present decade will be the last chance to keep global warming and global biodiversity loss at an acceptable level for the survival of humankind. The food and agricultural system has become the single most important factor that can deliver fast and sustained results in relation to these challenges. The complexity of food system and ecosystem approaches are addressed today by an emerging discipline, or rather trans-discipline, of agricultural, ecological, economic and health knowledge.
Agroecology, healthy diets, and different trade and marketing systems are seen as the main players in this long-awaited food systems transformation.
In Transformation of our food systems – the making of a paradigm shift, 40 international experts set out the highlights and trends in food production since 2009, when the groundbreaking International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report on global agriculture was published. The book presents the results of 13 landmark scientific reports published over the past decade, and 15 updates on topics not sufficiently covered in the initial IAASTD report.
“This book clearly proves from various perspectives that the agroecological approach is by far the most important and fundamental pathway to ‘build back better’ and to make the shift towards sustainable food systems”, says World Food Prize winner and former co-president of the IAASTD Hans Herren.
The book is published on the knowledge for policy page of the European Commission and can be downloaded here.
