Sustainable Community Food Systems

What are the challenges to the food system in Hawai'i? Food and Power in Hawai'i explores issues facing the way we eat and produce (or do not produce) food in Hawai'i. Given its island geography, high dependence on imported food has been portrayed as the primary problem, and localization has been proposed as the dominant solution in Hawai'i. But the book argues that much more is needed to transform the food system into one that is just, equitable, secure, and healthy. The book points out the diversity of the challenges Hawai'i faces-energy-intensive farming; gendered and racialized farming populations; controversies over the ownership, costs, and benefits of biotechnology; high food insecurity for marginalized communities; and stratified access to nutritious foods. Defying the reductive approach that looks only at calories or tonnage of food produced and/or consumed in the state as the indicator of the soundness of the food system, the book points out how the food problems are necessarily layered with other sociocultural and economic problems and uses food democracy as the guiding framework. "Food and Power in Hawai'i" explores various issues, including agriculture, land use, colonialism, biotechnology, agricultural tourism, and farmers' markets; and explains how these issues relate to movements toward food democracy.

This book explores the experiences, causes, and consequences of food insecurity in different geographical regions and historical eras. It highlights collective action and political action aimed at food sovereignty as solutions to mitigate suffering.

This Topic on Sustainable Development and Food Insecurity is a comprehensive collection of scholarly articles that explore the complex and multifaceted nature of food insecurity across various scales, from the individual to the global level. The scale and severity of the problem cannot be overstated. Currently, one in nine people globally suffer from malnutrition and one in four children experience stunted growth. These challenges are further compounded by the looming threats posed by climate change and the ongoing degradation of vital resources such as soil, freshwater, and biodiversity. As these environmental pressures intensify, they pose significant risks to food production and threaten to exacerbate the already dire situation of food insecurity. In the face of these challenges, the articles in this Topic highlight the urgent need for a multifaceted approach to enhancing food security and sustainability. It includes the development and adoption of sustainable agricultural practices; the preservation of biodiversity in seeds, cultivated crops, and domesticated animals; and reducing food loss and waste along production and distribution channels. Additionally, the collection explores the potential benefits of promoting plant-based diets and implementing effective measures for foodstuff recycling. This Topic contributes to the growing body of knowledge on sustainable development and food insecurity and serves as a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.

Food and nutritional security refers to the challenge of providing sustainable, healthy and accessible food to all people. It has four interconnected dimensions: availability, access, utilization and stability. Tackling this tremendous challenge means transforming our food systems and mobilizing key stakeholders and decision-makers to leverage intersectoral knowledge and scientific evidence. From 2014 to 2020, CIRAD and INRAE led an ambitious interdisciplinary flagship programme on the transitions for global food security called GloFoodS. Authored by principal investigators and contributors to research projects funded by GloFoodS, this book is representative of the programme’s interdisciplinary research but does not claim to provide exhaustive coverage of topics and approaches of food security. It presents recent research findings from many disciplines, including the life, engineering and social sciences. The findings were drawn from different analysis scales as well as from the combination of local and global food security approaches. The various chapters explore issues such as food system governance, balance and discrepancies between agricultural supply and food needs, the role of innovations in providing high-quality foods and promoting resilient value chains, and the role of local resource management in achieving food security. This book will be of interest to a broad scientific audience of researchers, academics, food systems professionals and decision-makers, as well as readers interested in food and nutritional security issues.

Hawaii is a rare and special place, in which beauty and isolation combine to form a vision of paradise. That isolation, though, comes at a price: resources in modern-day Hawaii are strained and expensive, and current economic models dictate that the Hawaiian Islands are reliant upon imported food, fuels, and other materials. Yet the islands supported a historic Hawaiian population of a million people or more. This was possible because Hawaiians, prior to European contact, had learned the ecological limits of their islands and how to live sustainably within them. Today, Hawaii is experiencing a surge of new strategies that make living in the islands more ecologically, economically, and socially resilient. A vibrant native agriculture movement helps feed Hawaiians with traditional foods, and employs local farmers using traditional methods; efforts at green homebuilding help provide healthy, comfortable housing that exists in better harmony with the environment; efforts to recycle wastewater help reduce stress on fragile freshwater resources; school gardens help feed families and reconnect them with local food and farming. At the same time, many of the people who have developed these strategies find that their processes reflect, and in some cases draw from, the lessons learned by Hawaiians over thousands of years. This collection of case studies is a road map to help other isolated communities, island and mainland, navigate their own paths to sustainability, and establishes Hawaii as a model from which other communities can draw inspiration, practical advice, and hope for the future.