Pathways to sustainable land use and food systems

by Ansa Heyl, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

The findings of a new report by the Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-Use, and Energy (FABLE) Consortium, suggest that integrated strategies across food production, biodiversity, climate, and diets can meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The second global report of the FABLE Consortium titled “Pathways to Sustainable Land-Use and Food Systems,” presents a plan for sustainable land use and food systems for 20 countries.

The FABLE pathways set out in the report present at least one “current trends pathway” and one “sustainable pathway” to assess how far and how quickly improved policies can make land use and food systems sustainable. The pathways have also been expanded to cover freshwater, future climate-change impacts on crops, a richer discussion of biodiversity targets, and a more detailed trade analysis. They show how countries can meet mid-century objectives on food security, healthy diets, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, forest conservation, and freshwater use. Using the Scenathon methodology and linker tool developed at IIASA, the team were also able to consistently align the pathways of FABLE countries globally.

More here.