According to a recent report by Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative, led by EcoAgriculture Partners, the food and beverage sectors are at the highest risk from “sustainability megaforces” – such as water scarcity and population growth among others—but are least prepared to manage that risk. This report argues that when sourcing areas are threatened by a constellation of risks that cannot be mitigated solely on-farm or via supply chain programs, landscape approaches offer solutions.
Landscape approaches provide a framework to deliberately work beyond the farmscale to support food production, ecosystem conservation, and rural livelihoods across entire landscapes in an integrated manner. In Reducing Risk: Landscape Approaches to Sustainable Sourcing, the Landscapes, for People, Food, and Nature Initiative highlights best practices from among agribusinesses in their own pursuit of reducing risk. Out of an initial scope of 27 agribusinesses that are already using landscape approaches to deal with sustainability challenges, the authors chose three companies to investigate further, Starbucks, Olam International, and SABMiller, who are each developing approaches to dealing with environmental and social risks.
The report is entitled: Kissinger, G., A. Brasser, and L. Gross, 2013. Reducing Risk: Landscape Approaches to Sustainable Sourcing. Washington, DC. EcoAgriculture Partners, on behalf of the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative.
All research findings and case studies can be found here.
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