I rischi del sistema alimentare globale
The global food system is dysfunctional both from a health and sustainability perspective. It is time that science, policy and business address these issues collectively.
A report from the World Health Organisation revealed that antibiotic resistance is no longer a prediction for the future, but rather something that is happening right now and can affect "anyone, of any age, in any country". Without urgent, coordinated action by many stakeholders, the world is headed for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries can once again kill, the report warned.
At the same time, we read almost daily about unhealthy food habits, increasingly obese populations, the rising occurrence of food-related non-communicable diseases and chronic malnourishment in poor nations. For researchers in sustainability, health and food production all these gloomy warnings come as no particular surprise. The problem is that they are mostly dealt with separately.
But integrating knowledge on food, health and sustainability is admittedly a major scientific endeavour. There are significant knowledge gaps that need to be filled. Together with the Norwegian Stordalen Foundation, the Stockholm Resilience Centre has initiated a global initiative linking these fields across academia, business and politics. An important part of the initiative is an annual high-level forum, the EAT Stockholm Food Forum.
The forum is among the first to take on the issues of food, health and sustainability as one combined challenge. EAT is created in collaboration with academic partners such as The Lancet, Harvard School of Public Health, Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, Berkeley Food Institute, CGIAR Consortium and the UCL Institute of Global Health.
It is time to acknowledge the fact that what we eat determines our health, and also accept that what we eat determines the health of our planet.
