TABLE brings you a round-up of COP16 outcomes plus insight and analysis from experts, such as Oliver Camp from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and TABLE’s own Camilo Ardila who is based at the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. 

Mariana Chilton argues that food insecurity is created and maintained by people in power. Taking the reader back to the original wounds in the United States caused by its history of colonization, genocide, and enslavement, she forces us to reckon with hard questions about why people in the US allow hunger to persist.

TMG, a think tank for sustainability, published a series of 5 reports on food system transformation. It reviews current conditions and policy frameworks, the state of debate of food system transformation, blind spots in food debates, a map of agents and drivers in transformations and true cost accounting. 

The 2024 EU Strategic Dialogue on Agriculture proposes a vision for sustainable, resilient, and competitive European agri-food systems, including a benchmark system for sustainability measuring, adapting the CAP to address climate and economic challenges, and mobilising private and public finance for a just transition fund. 

A study by the FAO involving 156 countries finds that hidden costs within global food systems amount to approximately $12 trillion annually. Of this figure, around 70 percent ($8.1 trillion) arise from unhealthy dietary patterns and are linked to non-communicable diseases. 

This study examines how 16 initiatives across Europe are addressing ‘wicked’ food system issues by mobilising local networks and implementing changes in urban and peri-urban regions. It identifies 6 propelling mechanisms that bring about small wins that could lead to systems change. 

Researchers found that in the United Kingdom, reduced meat portions had the largest impact on total meat consumption decline (52%), followed by fewer meat-eating days (24%), fewer meat consumers (17%) and fewer meat-eating meal occasions (7%). Understanding meat consumption behaviour patterns is key for more effective policies.

This study evaluates the carbon opportunity intensity, the trade-off between carbon sequestration benefits of removing livestock from pasture and the decrease of meat, dairy and fibres produced. The authors find removing beef-producing cattle from high carbon intensity pastures could remove an amount of emissions higher than the annual consumption of fossil fuels while reducing 9-18% of beef. 

Researchers used annual land-cover maps to estimate habitat changes for 1,322 bird and mammal species across four continents to discover to what extent cropland abandonment improved biodiversity. It finds that most bird and mammal species gain habitat because of cropland abandonment, yet even more would have benefited if recultivation had not occurred.