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102-476: First human settlements have appeared about 1000 A.D., with a constant number of people living in Val Bavona until about 1600. Repeated natural disasters caused by deforestation have then forced the population back to the lower villages of Cavergno and Bignasco , so that the numerous hamlets of Val Bavona were only used as summer abodes for farmers and livestock keepers. The prevalent economy of this valley

204-651: A circular economy . In April 2020 , the EU's Scientific Advice Mechanism delivered to European Commissioners a Scientific Opinion on how to transition to a sustainable food system, informed by an evidence review report undertaken by European academies . In June 2023 , the Scientific Advice Mechanism delivered a second piece of advice, this time on the role of consumers in a sustainable food system, again based on an evidence review report by SAPEA . The main conclusion of this advice was: Until now,

306-833: A 3.2% rise in global deforestation. Massive wildfires in Canada , exacerbated by climate change , contributed to a 24% increase in global tree cover loss, highlighting the ongoing threats to forests essential for carbon storage and biodiversity . Despite some progress, the overall trends in forest destruction and climate impacts remain off track. The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report stated in 2022: “Over 420 million ha of forest were lost to deforestation from 1990 to 2020; more than 90% of that loss took place in tropical areas (high confidence), threatening biodiversity, environmental services, livelihoods of forest communities and resilience to climate shocks (high confidence).” See also: Global deforestation sharply accelerated around 1852. As of 1947,

408-457: A desired quality. For farming cooperatives that share resources, the burden of investment is disbursed to all members rather than being concentrated in a single individual. A criticism of cooperatives is that reduced competition can reduce efficiency Alternative food systems refer to resilient foods or emergency foods, which can be defined as those foods, food production methods or interventions that would allow for significant food availability in

510-637: A fair and just return for their work, continuity of income and decent working and living conditions through sustainable development" Like organic food systems, fair trade relies on transparency and the flow of information. Well-known examples of fair trade commodities are coffee and cocoa . Vertical farms , automation , solar energy production, novel alternatives to pesticides, online food delivery ICTs, and other technologies may allow for localization or modified food production alongside policies such as eco-tariffs, targeted subsidies and meat taxes. The IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land describes

612-593: A good way to revitalize a community. The decreased distance of food transportation has also been promoted for its environmental benefits. Also, farmers can enjoy a better quality of life because producing healthier food will allow them to be paid more, and not live under the poverty line. Both proponents and critics of local food systems warn that they can lead to narrow inward-looking attitudes or 'local food patriotism', and that price premiums and local food cultures can be elitist and exclusive. In contrast, many food sovereignty activists argue that local production of food

714-410: A greater reliance on local knowledge, creating a stronger knowledge community amongst farmers. The transparency of food information is vital for organic food systems as a means through which consumers are able to identify organic food. As a result, a variety of certification bodies have emerged in organic food systems that set the standards for organic identification. Organic agriculture is promoted for

816-550: A leading voice on decisions where public governance authorities have become dependent on private sector funding. Lobbying influences trade agreements for food systems which led to creating barriers to competition and technical barriers to trade . Concerns around corporate governance within food systems as a substitute for regulation were raised by the Institute for Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Integrity. In April 2023, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and

918-407: A mix of incentives, information and binding policies governing all aspects of food production and distribution. Private sector corporations have been successful in building partnerships with governments which allows discussion and collaboration for how food systems work and are governed. Public–private partnerships and private sector led multistakeholder governance have positioned corporations as

1020-437: A more excellent balance between food price and the cost of producing it. It is mainly defined by more direct trading and communication systems whereby producers have greater control over the conditions of trade and garner a greater fraction of the sale price. The main goal of Fair Trade is to "change international commercial relations in such a way that disadvantaged producers can increase their control over their own future, have

1122-501: A much lower impact on increases in travel time and food costs than where food is transported further distances. Organic food systems are characterized by a reduced dependence on chemical inputs and an increased concern for transparency and information. Organic produce is grown without the chemical pesticides and fertilizers of industrial food systems, and livestock is reared without the use of antibiotics or growth hormones . The reduced inputs of organic agriculture can also lead to

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1224-627: A population: growing, harvesting, processing, packaging , transporting , marketing , consumption, distribution , and disposal of food and food-related items. It also includes the inputs needed and outputs generated at each of these steps. Food systems fall within agri-food systems, which encompass the entire range of actors and their interlinked value-adding activities in the primary production of food and non-food agricultural products, as well as in food storage, aggregation, post-harvest handling, transportation, processing, distribution, marketing, disposal, and consumption. A food system operates within and

1326-407: A share of the harvest, is a relatively new trend, at the extreme end of direct local food production. An FAO study on food transport networks of 90 countries finds that where food is transported more locally and where the network is denser – such as in high-income countries and densely populated countries like China, India, Nigeria and Pakistan –, systematic disturbances (i.e., adverse events), have

1428-399: A social justice issue. This has given rise to numerous social movements whose goal is to increase access to healthy and culturally appropriate foods, among a wide variety of groups. These movements are often described as belonging to a more significant food justice movement. Scientists estimated the extensive pesticide pollution risks worldwide with a new environmental model and found that

1530-455: A third of global agricultural land is at high risk for such pollution, of which a third are high-biodiversity regions. Recent studies aimed at measuring and valuing the hidden costs of agrifood systems have used True Cost Accounting (TCA), an accounting approach that measures and values the hidden impacts of  economic activities  on the  environment ,  society  and  health . These impacts are regarded as hidden because they are not reflected in

1632-520: A varied: food processing began when the number of consumers started proliferating. The demand for cheap and efficient calories climbed, resulting in nutrition decline; and industrialized agriculture, due to its reliance on economies of scale to reduce production costs, often leads to the compromising of local, regional, or even global ecosystems through fertilizer runoff, nonpoint source pollution, and greenhouse gas emission . The need to reduce production costs in an increasingly global market can cause

1734-535: A wide availability of relevant data. However, the hidden impacts related to human and social capitals might be more difficult to find. Examples include impacts on working conditions (human capital) and cultural identity (social capital). In 2019, a study by the World Bank estimated the hidden costs of foodborne diseases (from unsafe food) in low and middle-income countries and found these to amount to USD 95.2 billion. Three other studies have attempted to estimate

1836-407: Is agreement that destruction of rainforests remains a significant environmental problem. The rate of net forest loss declined from 7.8 million ha per year in the decade 1990–2000 to 5.2 million ha per year in 2000–2010 and 4.7 million ha per year in 2010–2020. The rate of decline of net forest loss slowed in the most recent decade due to a reduction in the rate of forest expansion. In many parts of

1938-636: Is agriculture by far. More than 80% of deforestation was attributed to agriculture in 2018. Forests are being converted to plantations for coffee , palm oil , rubber and various other popular products. Livestock grazing also drives deforestation. Further drivers are the wood industry ( logging ), urbanization and mining . The effects of climate change are another cause via the increased risk of wildfires (see deforestation and climate change ). Deforestation results in habitat destruction which in turn leads to biodiversity loss . Deforestation also leads to extinction of animals and plants, changes to

2040-407: Is also important for the agricultural sector. The reason for this linkage is because the effects of climate change on agriculture pose new risks to global food systems . Since 1990, it is estimated that some 420 million hectares of forest have been lost through conversion to other land uses , although the rate of deforestation has decreased over the past three decades. Between 2015 and 2020,

2142-482: Is also important in identifying foods that possess extrinsic qualities that do not affect the nature of the food per se, but affect its production, such as animal welfare , social justice issues, and environmental concerns. One of the primary ways transparency is achieved is through certification and/or the use of food labels. In the United States, some certification originates in the public sector, such as

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2244-508: Is also related to local food production. Food sovereignty activists argue that local communities should not only have access to nutritious and culturally appropriate foods, but that those communities should also be able to define the means by which their food is produced. Various forms of urban agriculture locate food production in densely populated areas not traditionally associated with farming. Garden sharing , where urban and suburban homeowners offer land access to food growers in exchange for

2346-551: Is an important component of addressing the causes of climate change and adapting to it . A 2020 review conducted for the European Union found that up to 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions could be attributed to the food system, including crop and livestock production, transportation, changing land use (including deforestation), and food loss and waste. Reduction of meat production, which accounts for ~60% of greenhouse gas emissions and ~75% of agriculturally used land ,

2448-758: Is around 38%. Since 1960, roughly 15% of the Amazon has been removed with the intention of replacing the land with agricultural practices. It is no coincidence that Brazil has recently become the world's largest beef exporter at the same time that the Amazon rainforest is being clear cut. Another prevalent method of agricultural deforestation is slash-and-burn agriculture , which was primarily used by subsistence farmers in tropical regions but has now become increasingly less sustainable. The method does not leave land for continuous agricultural production but instead cuts and burns small plots of forest land which are then converted into agricultural zones. The farmers then exploit

2550-587: Is called for to address this challenge. In January 2020 , the EU put improvements to the food system at the core of the European Green Deal . The European Commission 's 'Farm to Fork strategy for a sustainable food system' was published in May 2020 , which laid out how European countries will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect biodiversity, reduce food waste and chemical pesticide use, and contribute to

2652-414: Is essential to achieving food security, especially among indigenous communities, and thus are crucial to the public health of those communities. Examples of local food systems include community-supported agriculture , farmers markets and farm to school programs. They have been associated with the 100 Mile Diet and Low Carbon Diet , as well as the slow food movement . The food sovereignty movement

2754-470: Is influenced by social, political, economic, technological and environmental contexts. It also requires human resources that provide labor, research and education. Food systems are either conventional or alternative according to their model of food lifespan from origin to plate. Food systems are dependent on a multitude of ecosystem services . For example, natural pest regulations, microorganisms providing nitrogen-fixation, and pollinators. According to

2856-611: Is much less research devoted to sustainability labelling in comparison to nutritional labelling. To conclude, shaping the information environment through labelling is necessary but not sufficient to advance healthy and sustainable diets". [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 ( license statement/permission ). Text taken from The State of Food and Agriculture 2019. Moving forward on food loss and waste reduction, In brief​ , 24, FAO, FAO. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from

2958-605: Is not an issue because of longer fallow periods and lesser overall deforestation. The relatively small size of the plots allowed for no net input of CO 2 to be released. Consumption and production of beef is the primary driver of deforestation in the Amazon , with around 80% of all converted land being used to rear cattle. 91% of Amazon land deforested since 1970 has been converted to cattle ranching. Livestock ranching requires large portions of land to raise herds of animals and livestock crops for consumer needs. According to

3060-476: Is often described in terms of food security . The 1996 World Food Summit defined food security as a state in which "all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. " Many groups argue that food security is largely determined by a given person's socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, or other socially defined categories, making food access

3162-681: Is one major component of this change. The global food system is facing major interconnected challenges, including mitigating food insecurity , effects from climate change , biodiversity loss , malnutrition , inequity, soil degradation , pest outbreaks , water and energy scarcity, economic and political crises, natural resource depletion , and preventable ill-health. Local food systems are networks of food production and consumption that aim to be geographically and economically accessible and direct. They contrast to industrial food systems by operating with reduced food transportation and more direct marketing , leading to fewer people between

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3264-453: Is projected to occur by the mid-21st century. In the early 2000s, some scientists predicted that unless significant measures (such as seeking out and protecting old growth forests that have not been disturbed) are taken on a worldwide basis, by 2030 there will only be 10% remaining, with another 10% in a degraded condition . 80% will have been lost, and with them hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable species. Estimates vary widely as to

3366-727: Is responsible for 48% of deforestation; commercial agriculture is responsible for 32%; logging is responsible for 14%, and fuel wood removals make up 5%. More than 80% of deforestation was attributed to agriculture in 2018. Forests are being converted to plantations for coffee, tea, palm oil , rice, rubber , and various other popular products. The rising demand for certain products and global trade arrangements causes forest conversions , which ultimately leads to soil erosion . The top soil oftentimes erodes after forests are cleared which leads to sediment increase in rivers and streams. Most deforestation also occurs in tropical regions. The estimated amount of total land mass used by agriculture

3468-399: Is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms , ranches , or urban use. About 31% of Earth's land surface is covered by forests at present. This is one-third less than the forest cover before the expansion of agriculture, with half of that loss occurring in

3570-560: The Congolese rainforest increased by 5%. The World Wildlife Fund 's ecoregion project catalogues habitat types throughout the world, including habitat loss such as deforestation, showing for example that even in the rich forests of parts of Canada such as the Mid-Continental Canadian forests of the prairie provinces half of the forest cover has been lost or altered. In 2011, Conservation International listed

3672-479: The European Union 's Scientific Advice Mechanism found that, without significant change, emissions would increase by 30–40% by 2050 due to population growth and changing consumption patterns, and concluded that "the combined environmental cost of food production is estimated to amount to some $ 12 trillion per year, increasing to $ 16 trillion by 2050". Another 2020 study concluded that reducing emissions from

3774-535: The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to improve food safety and sustainable food systems in Africa. Transparency within food systems refers to the full disclosure of information about rules, procedures, and practices at all levels within a food production and supply chain . Transparency ensures that consumers have detailed information about

3876-471: The IPCC , the global food system , including all of the various industries involved in sustainable and conventional food systems, provide employment for 1 billion people. This global food system is facing a number of challenges created by impeding global food security issues created by climate change and non-climate change stresses on the system. About 34% of total greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to

3978-730: The Philippines , Indonesia , Thailand , Burma , Malaysia , Bangladesh , China, Sri Lanka , Laos , Nigeria , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Liberia , Guinea , Ghana and the Ivory Coast , have lost large areas of their rainforest. Much of what remains of the world's rainforests is in the Amazon basin , where the Amazon Rainforest covers approximately 4 million square kilometres. Some 80% of

4080-603: The Scientific Advice Mechanism to the European Commission concluded that "Evidence generally supports a moderate impact of nutrition labelling on (un)healthy consumption in different contexts (retail, out-of-home). Sustainability-oriented labels tend to reach those who are already motivated and interested, and they strongly depend on the trustworthiness of labels, given that sustainability cannot be directly observed by consumers. However, there

4182-708: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Organic label. Others have their origin in private sector certification (e.g., Humanely Raised, Certified Humane). Some labels do not rely on certification, such as the USDA's Country of Origin Label (COOL). Participation in local food systems such as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Farmers Markets, food cooperatives, and farmer cooperatives also enhances transparency. Diverse program are promoting purchase of locally grown and marketed foods. In June 2023 ,

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4284-479: The World Wildlife Fund , "Extensive cattle ranching is the number one culprit of deforestation in virtually every Amazon country, and it accounts for 80% of current deforestation." The cattle industry is responsible for a significant amount of methane emissions since 60% of all mammals on earth are livestock cows. Replacing forest land with pastures creates a loss of forest stock , which leads to

4386-471: The environmental impacts of agriculture , such as land use impacts , and reducing food prices or preventing shortages . International policy has increasingly approached policy from a food systems perspective: Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger and Sustainable Development Goal 12 : "responsible consumption and production" focus on sustainable food systems and Sustainable and in September 2021

4488-643: The United Nations hosted the first Food Systems Summit . Conventional food systems operate on economies of scale . These food systems are geared towards a production model that requires maximizing efficiency in order to lower consumer costs and increase overall production, and they utilize economic models such as vertical integration , economic specialization , and global trade . The growing soil quality degradation, climate change, and growing world population put pressure on agricultural land, leading to innovations to increase agricultural productivity on

4590-611: The academic literature. In September 2019 , the EU 's Chief Scientific Advisors stated that adapting the European food system for the future should be a high priority for the EU: Although availability of food is not perceived as an immediate, major concern in Europe, the challenge to ensure a long-term, safe, nutritious and affordable supply of food, from both land and the oceans, remains. A portfolio of coordinated strategies

4692-441: The advent of industrial agriculture and the infrastructure built around conventional food systems has enabled the world population to expand beyond the " Malthusian catastrophe " limitations. According to the IPCC , food supply per capita has increased by more than 30% since 1961. However, conventional food systems are largely based on the availability of inexpensive fossil fuels , which is necessary for mechanized agriculture ,

4794-749: The calories to support the global population even without agriculture. According to the book Feeding Everyone No Matter What and peer-reviewed study paths to a full solution include: global-scale conversion including natural gas-digesting bacteria ( single cell protein ), extracting food from leaves , and conversion of fiber by enzymes , mushroom or bacteria growth, or a two-step process involving partial decomposition of fiber by fungi and/or bacteria and feeding them to animals such as beetles , ruminants (cattle, sheep, etc.), rats and chickens . Most alternative food work covers carbohydrates and protein, but there are also ways to make synthetic fat Indeed, because fats are generally achiral (see chirality ),

4896-642: The commodity is consumed. For example, consumption patterns in G7 countries are estimated to cause an average loss of 3.9 trees per person per year. In other words, deforestation can be directly related to imports—for example, coffee. In 2023, the Global Forest Watch reported a 9% decline in tropical primary forest loss compared to the previous year, with significant regional reductions in Brazil and Colombia overshadowed by increases elsewhere, leading to

4998-603: The conquests of Alexander the Great , the Crusades , the expansion of Islam , the journeys of Marco Polo , and the exploration and colonization of the Americas by Europeans led to the introduction and redistribution of new foods to the world at large, and food systems began to intermingle on a global scale. After World War II , the advent of industrialized agriculture and more robust global trade mechanisms have evolved into

5100-407: The conversion of forest to other land uses (regardless of whether it is human-induced). Deforestation and forest area net change are not the same: the latter is the sum of all forest losses (deforestation) and all forest gains (forest expansion) in a given period. Net change, therefore, can be positive or negative, depending on whether gains exceed losses, or vice versa. The FAO estimates that

5202-478: The country's western regions at a rate of 15,000 hectares at a randomly studied 2-month period in 2010. In 2009, Paraguay's parliament refused to pass a law that would have stopped cutting of natural forests altogether. As of 2007, less than 50% of Haiti's forests remained . From 2015 to 2019, the rate of deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo doubled. In 2021, deforestation of

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5304-483: The current global food system as potentially having major food security risks due to changes created by climate change, including changing local weather conditions, socioeconomic effects of climate change, vulnerability of certain types of agriculture (such as pastoral) and changes in diets due to availability. The food system is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, attributable for between 21 and 37% of global emissions. In 2020, an evidence review for

5406-780: The decades 1990–2000 and 2000–2010. Some claim that rainforests are being destroyed at an ever-quickening pace. The London-based Rainforest Foundation notes that "the UN figure is based on a definition of forest as being an area with as little as 10% actual tree cover, which would therefore include areas that are actually savanna-like ecosystems and badly damaged forests". Other critics of the FAO data point out that they do not distinguish between forest types, and that they are based largely on reporting from forestry departments of individual countries, which do not take into account unofficial activities like illegal logging. Despite these uncertainties, there

5508-498: The deforestation of the Amazon can be attributed to cattle ranching, as Brazil is the largest exporter of beef in the world. The Amazon region has become one of the largest cattle ranching territories in the world. The regions with the highest tropical deforestation rate between 2000 and 2005 were Central America —which lost 1.3% of its forests each year—and tropical Asia. In Central America , two-thirds of lowland tropical forests have been turned into pasture since 1950 and 40% of all

5610-410: The development of sustainable agricultural practices, development of more sustainable food distribution systems, creation of sustainable diets , and reduction of food waste throughout the system. Sustainable food systems have been argued to be central to many or all 17 Sustainable Development Goals . Moving to sustainable food systems, including via shifting consumption to sustainable diets ,

5712-571: The ecological benefits of reduced chemical application, the health benefits of lower chemical consumption, the economic benefits that accrue to farmers through a price premium, and the social benefits of increased transparency in the food system. Organic food systems have been criticized for being elitist and inaccessible like local food systems. Critics have also suggested that organic agriculture has been conventionalized such that it mimics industrial food systems using pesticides and fertilizers that are organically derived Cooperatives can exist both at

5814-414: The electricity grid, has preserved the historical look of Val Bavona's settlements. Today, the Val Bavona is mostly known for hiking, a few restaurants, and its holiday apartments that offer a basic comfort. From Cavergno northwards: 46°22′26″N 8°32′53″E  /  46.37389°N 8.54806°E  / 46.37389; 8.54806 Deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance

5916-463: The extent of deforestation in the tropics. In 2019, the world lost nearly 12 million hectares of tree cover. Nearly a third of that loss, 3.8 million hectares, occurred within humid tropical primary forests, areas of mature rainforest that are especially important for biodiversity and carbon storage. This is equivalent to losing an area of primary forest the size of a football pitch every six seconds. A 2002 analysis of satellite imagery suggested that

6018-487: The face of a global catastrophic food shock (GCFS). Such alternatives may also help to decouple food production and land use, thereby avoiding the greenhouse gas emissions and habitat loss associated with agriculture. An expected 345.2 million people projected to be food insecure in 2023 – more than double the number in 2020, but a global catastrophe such as nuclear winter could threaten billions with mass starvation. Several studies have argued resilient food could provide

6120-437: The farmer and the consumer. As a result, relationships that are developed in local food systems emerge from face-to-face interactions, potentially leading to a stronger sense of trust and social connectedness between actors. In addition to this, consumers can also encourage farmers to be environmentally friendly by teaching them about practices such as organic farming. As a result, some scholars suggest that local food systems are

6222-410: The farmer end of food production and the consumer end. Farming cooperatives refer to arrangements where farmers pool resources, either to cultivate their crops or get their crops to market. Consumer cooperatives often refer to food cooperatives where members buy a share in the store. Cooperative grocery stores, unlike corporate grocery stores, are socially owned, and thus surpluses cannot be taken from

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6324-432: The form of charcoal or timber ), while cleared land is used as pasture for livestock and agricultural crops. The vast majority of agricultural activity resulting in deforestation is subsidized by government tax revenue . Disregard of ascribed value, lax forest management , and deficient environmental laws are some of the factors that lead to large-scale deforestation. The types of drivers vary greatly depending on

6426-541: The global food system to be essential for achieving the Paris Agreement 's climate goals . The IPCC 's and the EU 's reports concluded that adapting the food system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions impacts and food security concerns, while shifting towards a sustainable diet , is feasible . The European Union 's Scientific Advice Mechanism has published a systematic review of all European policies related to sustainable food systems, and their analyses in

6528-426: The global food system. In 2020 an EU evidence review found that food system gas emissions are on course to increase by 30–40% by 2050 due to population growth and dietary change. It is crucial to build the resilience of agrifood systems so that they have the capacity over time, in the face of any disruption, to sustainably ensure availability of and access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for all, and sustain

6630-568: The global forest carbon stock has decreased 0.9%, and tree cover 4.2% between 1990 and 2020. As of 2019 there is still disagreement about whether the global forest is shrinking or not: "While above-ground biomass carbon stocks are estimated to be declining in the tropics, they are increasing globally due to increasing stocks in temperate and boreal forest. Deforestation in many countries —both naturally occurring and human-induced —is an ongoing issue. Between 2000 and 2012, 2.3 million square kilometres (890,000 square miles) of forests around

6732-507: The hidden costs of global agrifood systems. FOLU (2019) estimated them at USD 12 trillion, while Hendricks et al (2023) estimated them at USD 19 trillion. However, the latter, acknowledges the uncertainly in the estimate and concludes that the value would be between USD 7.2 trillion and USD 51.8 trillion. The third estimate in the 2023 edition of the FAO report: The State of Food and Agriculture estimates global hidden costs from agrifood systems to be USD 12.7 trillion. This study also acknowledges

6834-402: The implication of increased greenhouse gas emissions by burning agriculture methodologies and land-use change . A large contributing factor to deforestation is the lumber industry . A total of almost 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) of timber, or about 1.3% of all forest land, is harvested each year. In addition, the increasing demand for low-cost timber products only supports

6936-649: The largest annual rate of net forest loss in 2010–2020, at 3.9 million ha, followed by South America, at 2.6 million ha. The rate of net forest loss has increased in Africa in each of the three decades since 1990. It has declined substantially in South America, however, to about half the rate in 2010–2020 compared with 2000–2010. Asia had the highest net gain of forest area in 2010–2020, followed by Oceania and Europe. Nevertheless, both Europe and Asia recorded substantially lower rates of net gain in 2010–2020 than in 2000–2010. Oceania experienced net losses of forest area in

7038-543: The last century. Between 15 million to 18 million hectares of forest, an area the size of Bangladesh , are destroyed every year. On average 2,400 trees are cut down each minute. Estimates vary widely as to the extent of deforestation in the tropics . In 2019, nearly a third of the overall tree cover loss, or 3.8 million hectares, occurred within humid tropical primary forests . These are areas of mature rainforest that are especially important for biodiversity and carbon storage . The direct cause of most deforestation

7140-562: The limited available land and urban space. Though conventional farming practices have increased crop yield through the use of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) , smallholder farming systems and limited knowledge of CSA remain constraints for enjoying economies of scale and sustainable crop production and food security. The term "conventional" when describing food systems is largely due to comparisons made to it by proponents of other food systems, collectively known as alternative food systems . The development of food systems can be traced back to

7242-423: The livelihoods of agrifood systems' actors. Transitioning to sustainable food systems is critical for addressing global challenges such as climate change , hunger , biodiversity loss , and deforestation . Addressing issues at each stage in the system, can have system-wide effects for 30-40 percent of food produced is lost from post-harvest up to retail and the consumer.  Reducing food waste then reduces

7344-483: The local climate, and displacement of indigenous people who live in forests. Deforested regions often also suffer from other environmental problems such as desertification and soil erosion . Another problem is that deforestation reduces the uptake of carbon dioxide ( carbon sequestration ) from the atmosphere. This reduces the potential of forests to assist with climate change mitigation . The role of forests in capturing and storing carbon and mitigating climate change

7446-408: The loss of traditional food systems in less developed countries , and have negative impacts on the population health , ecosystems, and cultures in those countries. As a result of these forces, 2018 estimates suggest that 821 million people are currently undernourished, and 2 billion adults are overweight and obese. The issue of having minimal access to food, or access to primarily unhealthy food,

7548-607: The lumber company to continue logging. Experts do not agree on whether industrial logging is an important contributor to global deforestation. Some argue that poor people are more likely to clear forest because they have no alternatives, others that the poor lack the ability to pay for the materials and labour needed to clear forest. Food system The term food system describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition , food , health , community development , and agriculture . A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding

7650-430: The main driver of deforestation and forest fragmentation and the associated loss of forest biodiversity. Large-scale commercial agriculture (primarily cattle ranching and cultivation of soya bean and oil palm) accounted for 40 percent of tropical deforestation between 2000 and 2010, and local subsistence agriculture for another 33 percent. Trees are cut down for use as building material, timber or sold as fuel (sometimes in

7752-458: The main policy focus in the EU has been on providing consumers with more information. But this is not enough. People choose food not just through rational reflection, but also based on many other factors: food availability, habits and routines, emotional and impulsive reactions, and their financial and social situation. So we should consider ways to unburden the consumer and make sustainable, healthy food an easy and affordable choice. That will require

7854-403: The major dimensions (i.e. environmental, health and social) of agrifood system hidden costs, allowing not only comparison across countries, but also across the different dimensions. A sustainable food system is a type of food system that provides healthy food to people and creates sustainable environmental, economic, and social systems that surround food. Sustainable food systems start with

7956-409: The manufacture or collection of chemical fertilizers , the processing of food products, and the packaging of the foods. The increase in the availability of food since 1961 has primarily been driven by an 800% increase in the use of nitrogen fertilizers (which are fossil fuel dependent) and high water usage (an increase of over 100% since 1961). The impacts of these intense resource processes are many

8058-461: The market prices of products and services, i.e. not included in the operational profit and loss accounts. The scope of these studies differs depending on the research question being addressed, the geographical coverage and the hidden impacts to be included in the analysis. There are many hidden impacts and some are difficult to measure or quantify. For example, environmental externalities such GHG emissions are easy to include in any TCA analysis due to

8160-449: The may be synthesized without biological processes at high temperatures and pressures, the greater efficiency of which may make them more cost-effective than other synthetic macronutrients. By mixing many alternative foods micro- nutrient balance is possible. Substantially more research is needed in this area to realize resilient food systems for the globe and even wealthy nations. Fair trade has emerged in global food systems to create

8262-400: The models of food production , presentation, delivery, and disposal that characterize conventional food systems today. The development of conventional food systems is directly responsible for decreased food prices and increased food variety. Agronomic efficiency is driven by the necessity to constantly lower production expenses, and those savings can then be passed on to the consumer. Also,

8364-460: The nutrients in the ashes of the burned plants. As well as, intentionally set fires can possibly lead to devastating measures when unintentionally spreading fire to more land, which can result in the destruction of the protective canopy. The repeated cycle of low yields and shortened fallow periods eventually results in less vegetation being able to grow on once burned lands and a decrease in average soil biomass. In small local plots sustainability

8466-566: The original 16 million square kilometres (6 million square miles) of tropical rainforest that formerly covered the Earth. More than 3.6 million hectares of virgin tropical forest was lost in 2018. The global annual net loss of trees is estimated to be approximately 10 billion. According to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 the global average annual deforested land in the 2015–2020 demi-decade

8568-630: The origins of in-situ agriculture and the production of food surpluses. These surpluses enabled the development of settled areas and contributed to the development of ancient civilizations, particularly those in the Fertile Crescent . The system of trade associated with the exchange of foodstuffs also emerged in East Asia, North America, South America, and Subsaharan Africa with common commodities of exchange such as salt , spices , fish , grains , etc. Through events in world history such as

8670-418: The other hand, a 2005 analysis of satellite images reveals that deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is twice as fast as scientists previously estimated. From 2010 to 2015, worldwide forest area decreased by 3.3 million ha per year, according to FAO . During this five-year period, the biggest forest area loss occurred in the tropics, particularly in South America and Africa. Per capita forest area decline

8772-410: The planet had 15 to 16 million km (5.8 to 6.2 million sq mi) of mature tropical forests , but by 2015, it was estimated that about half of these had been destroyed. Total land coverage by tropical rainforests decreased from 14% to 6%. Much of this loss happened between 1960 and 1990, when 20% of all tropical rainforests were destroyed. At this rate, extinction of such forests

8874-404: The pooling of resources to achieve scale, facilitating access to productive resources, and enhancing marketing power. Coordination with other actors is also key to managing market risks. Mutual benefits can be achieved, for example, through forwarding contracts: farmers receive guaranteed prices for their outputs regardless of market conditions, while processors and distributors receive products of

8976-467: The production of a given food item. Traceability , by contrast, is the ability to trace to their origins all components in a food production and marketing chain, whether processed or unprocessed (e.g., meat, vegetables) foods. Concerns about transparency and traceability have been heightened with food safety scares such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and Escherichia coli ( E. coli ), but do not exclusively refer to food safety . Transparency

9078-547: The production of foods to be moved to areas where economic costs (labor, taxes, etc.) are lower or environmental regulations are laxer, which are usually further from consumer markets. For example, the majority of salmon sold in the United States is raised off the coast of Chile, due in large part to less stringent Chilean standards regarding fish feed and regardless of the fact that salmon are not indigenous in Chilean coastal waters. The globalization of food production can result in

9180-492: The rainforests have been lost in the last 40 years. Brazil has lost 90–95% of its Mata Atlântica forest. Deforestation in Brazil increased by 88% for the month of June 2019, as compared with the previous year. However, Brazil still destroyed 1.3 million hectares in 2019. Brazil is one of several countries that have declared their deforestation a national emergency. Paraguay was losing its natural semi-humid forests in

9282-472: The rate of deforestation in the humid tropics (approximately 5.8 million hectares per year) was roughly 23% lower than the most commonly quoted rates. A 2005 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that although the Earth's total forest area continued to decrease at about 13 million hectares per year, the global rate of deforestation had been slowing. On

9384-404: The rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million hectares per year, down from 16 million hectares per year in the 1990s. The area of primary forest worldwide has decreased by over 80 million hectares since 1990. More than 100 million hectares of forests are adversely affected by forest fires, pests, diseases, invasive species , drought and adverse weather events. Deforestation is defined as

9486-476: The region in which they take place. The regions with the greatest amount of deforestation for livestock and row crop agriculture are Central and South America, while commodity crop deforestation was found mainly in Southeast Asia. The region with the greatest forest loss due to shifting agriculture was sub-Saharan Africa. The overwhelming direct cause of deforestation is agriculture. Subsistence farming

9588-522: The size of India—by 2050. 36% of globally planted forest area is in East Asia – around 950,000 square kilometers. From those 87% are in China. Rates of deforestation vary around the world. Up to 90% of West Africa 's coastal rainforests have disappeared since 1900. Madagascar has lost 90% of its eastern rainforests. In South Asia , about 88% of the rainforests have been lost. Mexico , India ,

9690-653: The store as profit. As a result, food co-ops do not work for profit, potentially keeping prices more cost representative. Other forms of cooperatives that have developed more recently include community-supported agriculture , where community members buy a share in a farm's harvest, and may also be engaged in farm labor, operating at both the consumer and producer end of food systems. Garden sharing pairs individual landowners and food growers, while variations on this approach organize groups of food gardeners for mutual assistance. Producer associations and cooperatives reinforce small-scale agricultural producers' livelihoods by allowing

9792-467: The top 10 most endangered forests, characterized by having all lost 90% or more of their original habitat , and each harboring at least 1500 endemic plant species (species found nowhere else in the world). As of 2015 , it is estimated that 70% of the world's forests are within one kilometer of a forest edge, where they are most prone to human interference and destruction. Deforestation in particular countries: Agricultural expansion continues to be

9894-418: The uncertainty in the estimate. The FAO report shows the global value of the hidden costs has a 95 percent chance of being at least USD 10.8 trillion and a 5 percent chance of being at least USD 16 trillion. Differently from the other two studies, the FAO report assesses hidden costs of agrifood systems at the national level for 154 countries. It states these national numbers are consistent and comparable covering

9996-473: The world were cut down. Deforestation and forest degradation continue to take place at alarming rates, which contributes significantly to the ongoing loss of biodiversity . Deforestation is more extreme in tropical and subtropical forests in emerging economies. More than half of all plant and land animal species in the world live in tropical forests . As a result of deforestation, only 6.2 million square kilometres (2.4 million square miles) remain of

10098-576: The world, especially in East Asian countries, reforestation and afforestation are increasing the area of forested lands. The amount of forest has increased in 22 of the world's 50 most forested nations. Asia as a whole gained 1 million hectares of forest between 2000 and 2005. Tropical forest in El Salvador expanded more than 20% between 1992 and 2001. Based on these trends, one study projects that global forestation will increase by 10%—an area

10200-456: Was 10 million hectares and the average annual forest area net loss in the 2000–2010 decade was 4.7 million hectares. The world has lost 178 million ha of forest since 1990, which is an area about the size of Libya. An analysis of global deforestation patterns in 2021 showed that patterns of trade, production, and consumption drive deforestation rates in complex ways. While the location of deforestation can be mapped, it does not always match where

10302-461: Was also greatest in the tropics and subtropics but is occurring in every climatic domain (except in the temperate) as populations increase. An estimated 420 million ha of forest has been lost worldwide through deforestation since 1990, but the rate of forest loss has declined substantially. In the most recent five-year period (2015–2020), the annual rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million ha, down from 12 million ha in 2010–2015. Africa had

10404-402: Was livestock (goats and cattle), as well as rye farming and logging. During the construction of hydro power plants , the valley received its first and only made-up road in 1957. Before that, people had to use the mule tracks between the settlements. In 1983, the valley received federal protection status. The late construction of the road, and the fact that the valley is still not attached to

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