Food sustainability: Diverging interpretations
Abstract
The concept of sustainability in general and food sustainability, in particular, entails many aspects and many interpretations. During a conference on food sustainability a broad, multidisciplinary picture was painted and many key issues were dealt with, from ecology, economy and society. In sessions on food security – the focus in developing countries – and food safety – primarily a preoccupation in developed countries – many potential trade‐offs and opportunities for regional approaches were identified. The session on governance, therefore, focused on the interaction between multi‐level actors, including national governments, international organisations such as WTO, the food industry and consumers. Finally, transparency was identified as one of the main issues underlying good governance. In order to improve the sustainability of food production, therefore, it was considered of the utmost importance that food multinationals transfer some form of democratic control over their global environmental policies, as part of an overall multi‐level (public‐private) governance ideal.
Keywords
Citation
Aiking, H. and de Boer, J. (2004), "Food sustainability: Diverging interpretations", British Food Journal, Vol. 106 No. 5, pp. 359-365. https://doi.org/10.1108/00070700410531589
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited