This briefing paper by the COP26 Universities Network explains what nature-based solutions (NbS) are and sets out policy recommendations for their implementation in the UK, spanning the UK’s chance to use the COP26 summit to promote the global adoption of good practice principles for NbS, strategic planning at the landscape scale, the economic incentives needed for NbS schemes to be effective, metrics and monitoring, and involving communities.

This report from the United Nations Environment Programme assesses the implications of cutting global methane emissions, including those from agriculture, fossil fuels and waste. It finds that reducing human-caused methane emissions by 45% this decade would avoid nearly 0.3°C of warming by the 2040s as well as have significant co-benefits in reducing premature deaths, asthma-related hospital visits and crop losses (related to ozone exposure, as methane promotes ground-level ozone formation) and work hours lost to extreme heat (related to climate change).

This special issue of the journal Restoration Ecology examines trends, opportunities and research gaps in the restoration of grassland ecosystems. TABLE readers may be particularly interested in the special issue’s coverage of grazing and land-use legacies.

This paper argues that the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) is being used by large corporations, philanthropic organisations and export-oriented countries to take control of the narrative around food systems transformation and undermine more democratic forms of food systems governance. It analyses how the Summit was organised and how stakeholders were selected to take part.

The paper, co-authored by TABLE member Rebecca St. Clair, reviews the literature on business models in the seafood sector (covering both fisheries and aquaculture) and draws links between the principles of circular economy and resilience through a new Circular Economy Resilience Framework for Business Models (CERF-BM). It hypothesises that seafood businesses could increase their resilience (i.e. the ability to keep functioning despite external shocks and pressures) by using circular economy principles.

On 11 May 2021, TABLE and LEAP facilitated a dialogue between Ken Giller (Wageningen University) and Yichao Rui (Rodale Institute) on the topic of Regenerative Agriculture. We asked: why is it taking the world by storm and what are the broader implications for farmers and food systems?

Prof Simon Bush, Chair of the Environmental Policy Group at Wageningen University, has written an opinion piece critically reflecting on the Netflix documentary Seaspiracy and its argument that we should stop eating fish to protect ocean ecosystems. Bush queries some of the factual claims of the film, including statements about whether fish stocks will collapse by 2048, the fraction of fish that is illegally caught and the presence of pollutants in fish. He argues that seafood is an essential source of nutrition for billions of people, including many of the poorest people.

NGOs have warned in an open letter to state leaders that 34 million people are currently at risk of famine, with many more experiencing hunger. The letter says “These people are not starving, they are being starved” and points to drivers including violence, inequality, the impacts of climate change, loss of land or jobs, and the impacts of COVID-19. They call for $5.5 billion to be provided to support immediate food assistance.

This book explains how True Cost Accounting - i.e. the practice of tallying up all of the environmental and social costs and benefits associated with the production of a good or service - can be used to reform the food system.