Highlights
- Outlining ten crucial changes necessary for global food and land use systems.
- The potential for substantial societal gains is estimated at $5.7 trillion annually, in contrast to a modest investment cost.
- Underscoring the urgency of these transformations, particularly in response to the vulnerabilities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Transforming food and land for a resilient future
In 2019, the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU) introduced a visionary report titled “Growing Better: Ten Critical Transitions to Transform Food and Land Use.” This report called for a global transformation within the next decade, outlining a comprehensive reform agenda. The agenda centered around ten critical transitions aimed at achieving climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation, improved diets, enhanced food security, and more resilient rural economies. Importantly, it highlighted that realizing these objectives could yield a substantial societal return of approximately $5.7 trillion annually, significantly outweighing the investment cost of $300-350 billion per year, which is less than 0.5 percent of global GDP. Moreover, the transformation would generate new business opportunities worth up to $4.5 trillion annually by 2030.
The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the fragility and inequality within our food systems, intensifying issues such as hunger for vulnerable populations and revealing connections between overnutrition, habitat destruction, and zoonotic diseases. As a result, FOLU has renewed its commitment to the ten critical transitions outlined in the “Growing Better” report. The world has reached a pivotal juncture, with increasing awareness of the need for transformative change across various fronts, including COVID-19 recovery and climate action. Governments and businesses are setting ambitious net-zero emissions targets that prioritize nature protection and address food and land use systems’ contributions to the climate crisis. While progress has been made, it is not sufficient. FOLU is now exploring the concept of positive systemic tipping points to drive rapid, large-scale change in food and land use systems, recognizing the need to accelerate the journey toward sustainable systems in the next decade.
Learn more about FOLU’s 10 Critical Transitions
