Transforming Food Systems Under Climate Change through Innovation

Description

Our food systems have performed well in the past, but they are failing us in the face of climate change and other challenges. This book tells the story of why food system transformation is needed, how it can be achieved and how research can be a catalyst for change. Written by a global interdisciplinary team of researchers, it brings together perspectives from multiple areas including climate, environment, agriculture, and the social sciences to describe how different tools and approaches can be used to tackle food system transformation. It provides practical, actionable insights for policymakers and advisors, demonstrating how science together with strong partnerships can enable real transformation on the ground. It also contributes to the academic debate on the transformation of food systems, and so will be an invaluable reference for researchers and students alike. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Bruce Campbell is Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), and based at the University of Copenhagen. CCAFS has informed over $3.5 billion of climate investments in agriculture, has over 100 policy wins, and reached more than 20 million farmers. He is a staff member of the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) Campbell has worked in agricultural and forestry research in Zimbabwe, Indonesia, and Australia, and has received a national merit award for his work in Vietnam. Philip Thornton is a Flagship Leader of CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and a principal scientist with the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya. He is affiliated with Clim-Eat and is a cross-field Highly Cited Researcher 2018-2021, 39th on the 2021 Reuters Hot List of influential climate scientists, a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and honorary professor at Edinburgh University. Ana Maria Loboguerrero is Research Director of Climate Action for the Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and Head of Global Policy Research for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). She won the UN momentum for change lighthouse award in 2017 and is a member of the Alliance for Rural Climate Resilience in Latin America, as well as of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia. Dhanush Dinesh is Founder of Clim-Eat, formed to transform food systems under climate change through effective science-policy engagement. He is a visiting researcher at the University of Leeds, and PhD researcher at Utrecht University. He is member of the Transformation Leaders Network and a Trustee of the Plan Vivo Foundation. Andreea Cristina Nowak is a Research Team Leader in the Climate Action Group of the Alliance for Bioversity-CIAT, conducting research on measuring climate change adaptation and resilience. She is a mentor at the Climate Leadership Programme of the Africa Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES) and the Terra.do Climate School.

'This fascinating - and rich - book deals with the entire food system and how it must be changed in the context of climate change and other urgent challenges in a complex socio-economic world. It is based on a solid foundation of transdisciplinary research and thus a model for how planetary changes should be addressed in the Anthropocene. A necessary book for scientists and multiple stakeholders concerned with ensuring a healthy diet for the global population.' Thomas Rosswall, former President of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences 'The world is running short of land and water, climates are changing, and these threats challenge our ability to transform food systems to feed the world's burgeoning populations. Transformation will not come through planned processes or silver-bullet technical innovations. The transformation that is required will need fundamental changes in the behavior of those who research, produce, transport, market and consume food. Campbell and his co-authors have brought together in a single volume the learning of a vast global program of innovation experiments each set in its local context and executed with key actors in the food system. The research described in this volume is excellent, but its value is enhanced from the way the research was deeply embedded in local context and the learning occurred through partnerships amongst the full diversity of people engaged in transforming food systems. Campbell et al. provide a unique source of evidence and the concepts needed to achieve the transformation that is vitally needed.' Jeffrey Sayer, University British Columbia 'Innovation is an essential lever to transform food systems which are under the threat and reality of climate change. This inspirational book offers examples and guidance on how to accelerate innovation across four key action areas, designed to deliver a vision and approach to transformation that is urgent, ambitious and inclusive.' Lisa Sweet, Head of Climate and Nature, Food Systems Initiative at the World Economic Forum