Reframing the local–global food systems debate through a resilience lens

Wood, A., Queiroz, C., Deutsch, L., González-Mon, B., Jonell, M., Pereira, L., Sinare, H., Svedin, U., Wassénius, E. 2023. Reframing the local–global food systems debate through a resilience lens. Nature Food. DOI: 10.1038/s43016-022-00662-0 # 8 p

For decades there have been debates about whether it is better for food to be locally produced and consumed, or globally. Recent crises such as the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine fueled the debate as some countries started to push hard towards more protectionism and self-sufficiency to the detriment of other countries that depend on the global food trade.

“The broader societal debate on how to solve food system challenges is often focused on two dichotomous perspectives and associated solutions: either more localized food systems or greater global coordination of food systems,” says centre researcher Amanda Wood, lead author of an article on the topic that was recently published in the journal Nature Food.

Food systems are becoming increasingly stressed, but whether they are local or global is not the big issue

Story highlights

• Both local and global food systems suffer from similar challenges
• By only using a global or local perspective on the food system, these challenges cannot be tackled
• But resilience principles can provide promising pathways for transformation