Sustainability | SabrangIndia

How to feed a growing population healthy food without ruining the planet

Tue, 22 Jan 2019 09:49:20 +0000

If we’re serious about feeding the world’s growing population healthy food, and not ruining the planet, we need to get used to a new style of eating. This includes cutting our Western meat and sugar intakes by around 50%, and doubling the amount of nuts, fruits, vegetables and legumes we consume.

For many of us, a better diet means eating more fruit and vegetables. iStock, CC BY-NC

These are the findings our the EAT-Lancet Commission, released today. The Commission brought together 37 leading experts in nutrition, agriculture, ecology, political sciences and environmental sustainability, from 16 countries.

Over two years, we mapped the links between food, health and the environment and formulated global targets for healthy diets and sustainable food production. This includes five specific strategies to achieve them through global cooperation.

Right now, we produce, ship, eat and waste food in a way that is a lose-lose for both people and planet – but we can flip this trend.

What’s going wrong with our food supply?

Almost one billion people lack sufficient food, yet more than two billion suffer from obesity and food-related diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

The foods causing these health epidemics – combined with the way we produce our food – are pushing our planet to the brink.

One-third of the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change come from food production. Our global food system leads to extensive deforestation and species extinction, while depleting our oceans, and fresh water resources.

To make matters worse, we lose or throw away around one-third of all food produced. That’s enough to feed the world’s hungry four times over, every year.

At the same time, our food systems are at risk due to environmental degradation and climate change. These food systems are essential to providing the diverse, high-quality foods we all consume every day.

A radical new approach

To improve the health of people and the planet, we’ve developed a “planetary health diet” which is globally applicable – irrespective of your geographic, economic or cultural background – and locally adaptable.

The diet is a “flexitarian” approach to eating. It’s largely composed of vegetables and fruits, wholegrains, legumes, nuts and unsaturated oils. It includes high-quality meat, dairy and sugar, but in quantities far lower than are consumed in many wealthier societies.

Many of us need to eat more veggies and less red meat. Joshua Resnick/Shutterstock

The planetary health diet consists of:

vegetables and fruit (550g per day per day)
wholegrains (230 grams per day)
dairy products such as milk and cheese (250g per day)
protein sourced from plants, such as lentils, peas, nuts and soy foods (100 grams per day)
small quantities of fish (28 grams per day), chicken (25 grams per day) and red meat (14 grams per day)
eggs (1.5 per week)
small quantities of fats (50g per day) and sugar (30g per day).

Of course, some populations don’t get nearly enough animal-source foods necessary for growth, cognitive development and optimal nutrition. Food systems in these regions need to improve access to healthy, high-quality diets for all.

The shift is radical but achievable – and is possible without any expansion in land use for agriculture. Such a shift will also see us reduce the amount of water used during production, while reducing nitrogen and phosphorous usage and runoff. This is critical to safeguarding land and ocean resources.

By 2040, our food systems should begin soaking up greenhouse emissions – rather than being a net emitter. Carbon dioxide emissions must be down to zero, while methane and nitrous oxide emissions be kept in close check.

How to get there

The commission outlines five implementable strategies for a food transformation:
1. Make healthy diets the new normal – leaving no-one behind
Shift the world to healthy, tasty and sustainable diets by investing in better public health information and implementing supportive policies. Start with kids – much can happen by changing school meals to form healthy and sustainable habits, early on.
Unhealthy food outlets and their marketing must be restricted. Informal markets and street vendors should also be encouraged to sell healthier and more sustainable food.

2. Grow what’s best for both people and planet
Realign food system priorities for people and planet so agriculture becomes a leading contributor to sustainable development rather than the largest driver of environmental change. Examples include:

incorporating organic farm waste into soils
drastically reducing tillage where soil is turned and churned to prepare for growing crops
investing more in agroforestry, where trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or pastureland to increase biodiversity and reduce erosion
producing a more diverse range of foods in circular farming systems that protect and enhance biodiversity, rather than farming single crops or livestock.

The measure of success in this area is that agriculture one day becomes a carbon sink, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Technology can help us make better use of our farmlands. Shutterstock

3. Produce more of the right food, from less
Move away from producing “more” food towards producing “better food”.

This means using sustainable “agroecological” practices and emerging technologies, such as applying micro doses of fertiliser via GPS-guided tractors, or improving drip irrigation and using drought-resistant food sources to get more “crop per drop” of water.

In animal production, reformulating feed to make it more nutritious would allow us to reduce the amount of grain and therefore land needed for food. Feed additives such as algae are also being developed. Tests show these can reduce methane emissions by up to 30%.

We also need to redirect subsidies and other incentives to currently under-produced crops that underpin healthy diets – notably, fruits, vegetables and nuts – rather than crops whose overconsumption drives poor health.

4. Safeguard our land and oceans
There is essentially no additional land to spare for further agricultural expansion. Degraded land must be restored or reforested. Specific strategies for curbing biodiversity loss include keeping half of the current global land area for nature, while sharing space on cultivated lands.

The same applies for our oceans. We need to protect the marine ecosystems fisheries depend on. Fish stocks must be kept at sustainable levels, while aquaculture – which currently provides more than 40% of all fish consumed – must incorporate “circular production”. This includes strategies such as sourcing protein-rich feeds from insects grown on food waste.

5. Radically reduce food losses and waste
We need to more than halve our food losses and waste.

Poor harvest scheduling, careless handling of produce and inadequate cooling and storage are some of the reasons why food is lost. Similarly, consumers must start throwing less food away. This means being more conscious about portions, better consumer understanding of “best before” and “use by” labels, and embracing the opportunities that lie in leftovers.

Circular food systems that innovate new ways to reduce or eliminate waste through reuse will also play a significant role and will additionally open new business opportunities.

For significant transformation to happen, all levels of society must be engaged, from individual consumers to policymakers and everybody along the food supply chain. These changes will not happen overnight, and they are not the responsibility of a handful of stakeholders. When it comes to food and sustainability, we are all at the decision dining table.

The EAT-Lancet Commission’s Australian launch is in Melbourne on February 1. Limited free tickets are available.

Alessandro R Demaio, Australian Medical Doctor; Fellow in Global Health & NCDs, University of Copenhagen; Jessica Fanzo, Bloomberg Distinguished Associate Professor of Global Food and Agriculture Policy and Ethics, Johns Hopkins University, and Mario Herrero, Chief Research Scientist, Food Systems and the Environment, CSIRO

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Dreaming of a green Christmas? Here are five ways to make it more sustainable

Mon, 17 Dec 2018 06:09:22 +0000

Moderation is the last thing on people’s minds at Christmas. Shopping, travelling and eating reach peak levels – putting pressure on our planet. Even Santa poses a problem. If you don’t believe in flying reindeers, that sleigh must be rocket-fuelled to reach the supersonic speeds needed to travel around the world to visit hundreds of millions of children in just one night using conventional engineering.

Plastic trees that are reused actually have a lower carbon footprint.

The example goes to show just how many presents we buy and send each Christmas – creating problems with packaging and transport. And as the population increases, so does the pile of presents. To get round this, presents have got smaller and virtual gifts such as an experience day have risen in popularity.

This has an added benefit of reducing packaging and transport problems. But virtual presents have a carbon footprint too. Electronic downloads still have an impact, as data has to be stored and transferred, using energy. So everything we buy has some impact, even through the electronic process of buying.

So how can we have a greener, more sustainable but generous Christmas? Here are five gold circular things!

1. Reduce food waste

The amount of food wasted at Christmas has a massive carbon (and water) footprint. Using less and storing excess in a winter wonderland – your freezer – is a great way to avoid waste. If leftover food doesn’t go in the freezer, cooked turkey and vegetables will keep for up to three days in the fridge.

Think about whether you actually like turkey. Subbotina Anna/Shutterstock

However, not producing excess in the first place is the best way to avoid waste. Portion size is a big part of this and so is cooking things you actually like. Just because something is traditional does not make it compulsory. For instance, sprouts can be very controversial – so, if you don’t like them, skip them. You could also try an alternative to the traditional meat option, such as a nut roast. Vegetarian and vegan choices at the Christmas dinner table can massively cut the impact of your Christmas.

2. Cut down on packaging

Lower the impact of gifts through choices of paper and packaging. A lot of seasonal wrapping is non-recyclable as it is coated in plastic. This is concerning as plastic tends to spread everywhere – it has even been detected at the North Pole. A better approach would be to use wrapping paper made entirely out of paper. Gift bags are another great option – they can be reused and therefore help cut a massive amount of waste.

3. Buy ethically

You can give twice if you buy your presents second hand from charity shops – supporting worthwhile projects while also reducing consumption. You can also buy locally produced goods and support your local economy. Buying second hand potentially halves the carbon footprint. A typical T-shirt alone has a footprint of around 8.77kg of carbon dioxide and 2700 litres of water. If 1% of the 55.6m people in England alone bought just one second-hand T-shirt instead of a new one, they would be saving around 4.9m tonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of driving 1,049 passenger cars for a year, and a whopping 1.5 billion litres of water.

4. Reuse Christmas stuff

Christmas decorations and fashion are basically the same every year. So celebrate your Christmas collection and reuse it, over and over again. It is a tragedy that only one in four Christmas jumpers are ever reused. According to the Carbon Trust, an artificial tree needs to be used around 10 times to have an equivalent footprint as its real counterpart.

5. It’s the thought that counts

There are few holidays that are so focused on being caring, helpful and generous as Christmas. So celebrate this and try to avoid buying unnecessary stuff that people don’t want anyway. Donations and acts of kindness really lighten the load on that sleigh. A colleague once bought me a toilet for a family in Sierra Leone. No wrapping, no plastic: the best present ever – and Santa didn’t have to lift a finger!

Sharon George, Lecturer in Environmental Science, Keele University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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How Every Goan Can Get Rs 9,000 Each Year

Sun, 21 Aug 2016 10:47:17 +0000

Citizens Rights and Exploitation of Resources: The Goan Case

It doesn’t happen often but doesn’t it feel wonderful when occasionally your bank account gets credited by the government? Some of us will have enjoyed this sensation with our LPG subsidies (now withdrawn for many), or the occasional income tax refund.

But what I’m positing is not occasional. It is a steady amount, paid every year, year after year, ad infinitum (well, for as long as you live!).

Sounds far fetched? Not really. Here’s how it would work –

Let’s start with a few facts. First is the fact that under Indian law, state government’s are the owner’s of mineral resources. However, governments own these in their capacities as Trustees for the people. In other words, the true beneficial owners of the resources are the people of the state.

Second, under Article 21 of the constitution future generations must have as much access to resources as our own. In other words, we are merely custodians of inherited resource wealth and cannot deplete the country of its resources leaving none of the value for our children.

Now, as we know, Goa has rich deposits of iron ore. While much of these have already been extracted (the first mining concessions were granted by the Portuguese as early as 1929, though relatively modest amounts were extracted till the last decade), estimates of mineable reserves currently remaining in the ground are in the region of just under 600 million tons. In the years immediately prior to a 2012 Supreme Court judgment, huge amounts were being mined each year, which if continued at the same pace in future could have resulted in no ore being left after 10 years. However, the judgment limited future iron ore mining in Goa to 20 million tons per year. Now using this cap on the amount that could be mined per year in the future, and simply selling the right to mine for just (say) the next 12 years, based on long term average iron ore sale prices and percentages of value historically obtained by efficient governments, the Goa government could reasonably expect to earn approximately Rs 45,000 crores from the sale of future mining rights over this period (these estimates are taken from a letter sent to the Chief Vigilance Officer by the NGO Goa Foundation in June, 2015). If the money thus collected was conservatively invested to earn a return of (say) 3% above the rate of inflation, with just this 3% ‘real’ (i.e. excess) return being distributed to citizens as an annual dividend (and the remainder retained in the fund to effectively ‘inflation proof’ the principal amount for the benefit of future generations), an annual dividend of Rs 9,000 could be paid to each man, woman and child living in Goa today (assuming a population of 1.5 million). Voila, it’s as simple as that!

And this will not be the first time that such a thing has been done. The concept of permanent funds for mineral wealth is a well established one. Take the case of the US state of Alaska. Soon after the Trans-Alaskan pipeline system was opened, allowing Alaska’s vast reserves of oil to find their way to market, and on the back of a popular perception that the government had historically not managed the revenue from these reserves well, the state set up a permanent fund in 1976. This fund started distributing an annual dividend to residents in 1982 and has done so in every year since then. The most recent annual payment was USD 2,072 per head. To be eligible for the dividend an individual needs to establish that he or she has physically lived in the state for at least 185 out of 365 days of the calendar year preceding the date of the relevant dividend distribution (which typically happens in October each year).

By law, at least 25% of the Alaskan state’s oil revenues must be paid into the fund. The revenues of the fund go towards meeting the expenses of administering it (this is done by a state owned company which is operated at arms-length from the government of the day), retaining a portion within the fund as a hedge against inflation, and paying the annual dividend to residents.

Now let’s get back to Goa. During the years of peak iron ore prices (2004-2012) the state secured for its coffers approximately 3% of the (declared) value of iron ore extracted by private parties from within its boundaries. This came from levying royalties on miners, set as a percentage of the value of the ore that they sold. This very low percentage of the total value that was secured by the owners of the resource compares extremely unfavorably with instances where reasonably efficient owners have secured between about 50 and 75% of the value.

Naturally, it would be wrong to assume that the full value of the resource can accrue to the state. After all it costs money to extract ore from the ground and sell it. Those doing so also need to earn a ‘reasonable profit’. So some of the value must accrue to the extracting parties. Taking this into account and assuming a generous profit to those parties, The Goa Foundation has estimated that during this 8 year period over Rs 50,000 crores (about 7.5 billion US Dollars) of value was lost to Goans due to the revenue system used by the state government. This is about twice the revenue that the Goa government earned from all sources during the period. Had this money been secured and invested in a permanent fund with 3% per year paid to residents as a dividend, it would have resulted in each Goan receiving Rs10,000 per year. The Rs 9,000 per year receivable from the sale of future mining rights, as previously mentioned, would of course come on top of this – so the dividend would grow as the pot grew. In short, what has happened in Goa in recent years amounts to a raw deal for the people on a massive scale.

But much of this is fairly well known.

In September 2012, following the report of a judicial commission (the so called ‘Justice Shah Commission), the Supreme Court banned mining in Goa. The judgment in April 2014 stated that a number of illegalities had occurred including mining after the expiry of leases (all mining leases expired by November 2007, yet mining continued until the Supreme Court order nearly 5 years later) and dumping waste outside mining lease areas, among others. It also specified that for mining to resume in the state fresh leases and environmental clearances would be required, an interim cap of 20 million tons per annum was placed on the amount that could be extracted each year, the government was required set up a permanent fund and to investigate and prosecute those who had broken the law.

Less than a year later, in January 2015 the central government issued an ordinance stating that henceforth all mining leases must be auctioned and no leases can be renewed on expiry (if desired, fresh leases could be granted following a fresh auction). However, in the weeks before the ordinance was promulgated, the government of Goa renewed the leases of 88 mines, extending them till 2027 while effectively backdating the renewals to 2007. It thus substantially weakened its position in recovering damages from parties that had been deemed to have mined illegally after 2007 as per the Supreme Court order.

Incidentally 56 out of these 88 leases were approved in the week before the ordinance was promulgated, presumably in the knowledge of the impending legislation. No auction was conducted.

So far so depressing.

But we should not be completely despondent. Much has been lost but there is still some hope for the future. If this (or a subsequent) government follows the orders of the Supreme Court it could attempt to recover at least some damages from those who acted illegally (bearing in mind that the Supreme Court pointed out several illegalities). Charges imposed could swell to nearly double the principal amounts if interest were taken into account. It could also cancel existing leases on the basis of current illegalities and auction new leases. This has recently been done in the case of coal blocks. The full proceeds from both sources of revenue could be put into a permanent fund.

A local movement called Goenchi Mati (see www.goenchmati.org) has as its chief aim the persuasion of political parties to do precisely this. It is asking politicians contesting the upcoming state elections to sign a petition saying that they promote this course of action. For the sake of our children it deserves our support.

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