food

A new report from Oxford's Nature-based Solutions Initiative and collaborators including the Environmental Change Institute has found that nature-based solutions are key to reducing climate change impacts such flooding, soil erosion and loss of food production. The report is the first systematic review of the evidence for using nature-based interventions from around the world and investigates nearly 400 scientific studies.

A new report, published in Nature, identifies two key areas for action to stop global biodiversity loss and 'bend the curve' towards recovery by 2050 or earlier - without jeopardising the achievement of other Sustainable Development Goals. The study calls for bold conservation and restoration efforts, alongside a transformation of the global food system. It forms a core part of WWF's Living Planet Report 2020, and authors include Michael Obersteiner, Director of the ECI.

A new report led by ECI's Food Systems Research group reveals the huge value of the agri-food sector to the UK economy as well as the multiple challenges it faces. The report maps and quantifies the UK food system, aiming to act as a quantified foundation for further analyses of the UK food system.

The Interdisciplinary Food Systems Teaching and Learning programme (IFSTAL) gives students the skills to bring about change in the food system and tackle serious problems including malnutrition, food insecurity and environmental damage. More than 180 participants from around the world attended the online launch of the IFSTAL programme for 2020/21. Registration for the programme is free for current students.

Researchers from a pioneering food systems teaching programme based at the University of Oxford welcomed a call for 'systems thinking' in the newly launched National Food Strategy, led by food business leader Henry Dimbleby.

Embedding food resilience in agendas such as climate, planning and health as well as addressing the overlap between income and food access could help London's complex and fragile food system better meet the needs of its growing population. In a new report, food system researchers at the ECI have brought together diverse perspectives to create a set of high-level and specific recommendations to increase the resilience of a complex, dynamic, diverse and potentially fragile food system, in which 99% of the food consumed is imported from outside the capital.

Collaboration with larger institutions could untap the potential for small and medium sized enterprises to contribute to greater UK food security, according to the latest policy and practice brief from the GFS FSR Programme.

A newly launched research project led by Dr John Ingram of the Food Systems Transformation Group at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, is subverting the 'farm-to-fork' paradigm to assess how UK grown beans can help tackle the issue of HFSS (high in fat, sugar and salt) food.