Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Greenpeace’s contribution to consultation on the draft scope of the HLPE report on Sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition, including the role of livestock.

We welcome the focus of the proposed report on sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition, including the role of livestock. In particular the critical review of the projections made by FAO and other foresight reports, including assumptions regarding trends in increasing consumption of animal products and the feasibility of efficiency gains in livestock raising.

In line with our ecological farming definition the objectives of any sustainable agricultural development approach for food security and nutrition, including the role of livestock should also include food sovereignty (farmers and communities maintaining control of the food system), rewarding rural livelihoods and resilient food and agricultural systems.  

Ecological livestock, and more widely ecological farming, relies on the principle of ecological optimization, in other words it works with potentials and constraints of the system in terms of what effects it has on resources and its waste assimilation capacity.

Some of the main elements of such an ecologically optimized livestock system are outlined in our paper Ecological Livestock : Options for reducing livestock production and consumption to fit within ecological limits, with a focus on Europe (2013). We would urge that the proposed report include in its assessment of sustainable approaches ecologically optimized systems such as the ‘leftover’ / ‘default’ land user and diet approach. The ‘default land user’ approach is one where the role of livestock is to exploit the use of biomass not accessible to humans and to make efficient use of agriculture waste, surplus and marginal biomass.

In line with above, the “default livestock’ diet is one “that provides meat, dairy and other animal products which arise as the integral co-product of an agricultural system dedicated to the provision of sustainable vegetable nourishment” (Fairlie 2010). Informing this approach would require assessment of scenarios including drastic cuts in the consumption of animal protein in high income countries and a moderate increase of consumption in low and middle income countries, following the shrink-and-share principle (adjusted to the realities of rapidly changing consumption patterns in eg BRIC countries). To make such scenarios useful we understand that regional and even country level scenarios for demand side measures should be made developed, building on existing global assessments and studies.  

See below for Greenpeace’s suggestions on Proposed draft Scope of the HLPE Report by the HLPE Steering Committee.

A) Context: drivers and challenges

1. The HLPE report will begin with a critical assessment of existing projections of future food demand, including animal-sourced food. It will review projections by FAO and other foresight reports with particular reference to the rapid escalation of the demand for animal-source foods and feed, edible oils and non-food products, including the assumptions which are grounding these projections, on evolution of diets as well as on food losses and waste, and trade.

2. The report will then assess implications (challenges and opportunities) of these trends for:

1. food security and nutrition (in particular nutrient deficiencies, obesity and chronic diseases), the realization of the right to food, highlighting gender considerations, as well as inequalities;
2. access to land and natural resources and breaching of planetary boundaries;
3. agricultural production and productivity increases;
4. social and economic development,  including the objectives of food sovereignty and rewarding farmer livelihoods;
5. the health of the environment and ecosystems, including climate change, water and nutrient cycling systems, biodiversity and soil health;
6. human and animal diseases;
7. appropriate knowledge generation and dissemination;
8. control of the food system (farmers and communities versus markets and corporations).

B) Achieving sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition

3. In the light of these projections, the report will review the sustainability challenges for crop and livestock-based agricultural and food systems, including pastoral systems, in diverse agro-ecosystems and for various farm sizes, taking account of threats to the sustainability of these systems, including animal diseases, pest and diseases, pollution and energy, land, water and scarce resource needs.

4. The report will identify objectives and elements of sustainable approaches to agriculture, including livestock, ensuring food security and nutrition for all without compromising the economic, environmental and social bases for the food security and nutrition of future generations. It will identify critical priorities (“tipping points” that need absolutely to be addressed) and objectives. All three dimensions of sustainability will be included and the report will consider relevant metrics that capture the multiple roles of systems integrating livestock.

5. The report will explore pathways towards sustainable crop and livestock-based systems, and options for managing the transition to sustainable systems:

1. Given the role of livestock as an engine for the development of the agriculture and food sector, as a driver of major economic, social and environmental changes in food systems worldwide, particular attention will be paid to the role of livestock (and livestock feed production) in these pathways.
2. The investigation will encompass practices, including agro-ecological practices, default land use approaches, diversification at all scales, as well as broader perspectives from food chains to food systems (including consumption patterns and diets, the extent of farmer and community control), local versus global approaches, trade and investment.
3. The report will identify barriers to change, including in institutions, organizations, policies, market structures, subsidies, investment (by farmers, governments or philanthropic agents) and governance, and potential options to overcome them.
4. It will cover the enabling environment necessary to trigger or accompany transition: the role of public policies and tools to promote and facilitate transition to sustainable systems.

6. Conclusions and recommendations for policies and actions.

22 January 2015