Sustainability, Access, and Civil Society Engagement
Humane Society International (HSI) is one of the world’s largest animal protection organizations working to protect all animals. HSI’s farm animal welfare initiatives engage stakeholders at every stage in the supply chain for eggs, milk, and meat—including farmers, governments, food retailers, financial institutions, and consumers—to improve animal welfare and stem the unsustainable rise in meat consumption globally. We appreciate the opportunity to provide input to the Issues Note: Nutrition and Food Systems. Our key comments relate to 1) specific metrics to be used when evaluating sustainability, 2) the need for more specificity and detail when assessing food access, and 3) engagement with civil society organizations that are already working to promote healthier, more humane, and sustainable diets.
Sustainability
Those food products that require the most water and land resources, and that are the greatest contributors to climate change, pose serious threats to long-term food security. Metrics, including protein or caloric availability per kilogram of grain, or per liter of water, should play a key role in evaluating the sustainability of different food products, as should the sustainability of complete diets (e.g. Scarborough et al. 2014. Dietary greenhouse gas emissions of meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans in the UK. Climatic Change 125(2):179-192).
Further, the conceptual framework must allow for an in-depth look at the impact of different production systems on the surrounding environment and public health. For example, agricultural production systems that propagate antimicrobial resistance, release noxious odors into the surrounding community, or otherwise pollute the environment with dangerous chemical or biological contaminants must be rated for their potential dangers. The current list in the Issues Note does not adequately reflect the need for a detailed evaluation of food security and nutrition in relation to sustainability, including different production systems’ environmental and public health impacts.
Access
Assessing food security also requires an in-depth analysis of access to resources, including the disaggregation of data relating to food access and nutritional deficiencies amongst different socio-economic groups within a country. Tremendous nutritional disparities exist, not only amongst countries, but within countries as well. Developing countries with high levels of hunger and undernutrition now simultaneously bear the burden of an obesity-related public health crisis, with the number of overweight women exceeding the number of underweight women in most developing countries. In countries that bear the double burden of under-nutrition and obesity, under-nutrition is frequently greater in rural areas. The availability of disaggregated data would allow for a more nuanced approach to the growth and development of food systems. For example, the production and consumption of environmentally costly foods, including animal source foods, can be be limited and specifically targeted towards populations with relevant nutritional deficiencies. On this issue, we offer our report, The impact of industrial farm animal production on food security in the developing world (http://www.hsi.org/assets/pdfs/hsi-fa-white-papers/factory_farming_and_food.pdf), as guidance.
Further, detailed attention must be paid to the underlying social and economic causes of malnutrition in women, children, and other vulnerable or marginalized populations. Age at first pregnancy, the status of women in the household, and the availability of sanitation or health care services all play a critical role in nutritional outcomes. The conceptual framework employed must allow for detailed and in-depth analysis of barriers to accessing food, health, economic, and other resources necessary to achieve food security at household and individual levels.
Thus, the Issues Note should more comprehensively evaluate access to resources, including disaggregated data on different socio-economic groups within and amongst countries. And it should include underlying causes of malnutrition.
Engagement with Civil Society
In both industrialized and developing countries, a variety of public health, environmental and animal protection groups have launched campaigns and programs to shift consumer choice towards healthier, more humane, and ecologically sustainable food choices. A tremendous wealth of knowledge is being generated within these circles relating to the drivers of consumer choice, behavioral change (as it relates to dietary practices), and effective policy, educational, and marketing tools for promoting more plant-based eating. For example, Humane Society International is successfully promoting Meatless Monday and Green Monday throughout Asia, Latin America, and in South Africa. The Humane Society of the United States has convinced major food companies, and entire school districts in the United States to adopt Meatless Monday and similar initiatives. Leaders in the public health sphere, including the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, also promote Meatless Monday. The CFS would benefit from tapping into this knowledge base, and drawing more of these civil society actors into the dialogue. Therefore, the Issues Note must go beyond vaguely identifying stakeholder actions and also evaluate current and past actions and successes amongst stakeholder groups, including lessons learned, opportunities to buoy and scale actions, and areas in need of further research.
Further, as evidenced by the examples above, the discussion on the need for reduced meat consumption rapidly gaining momentum across the world. It is no longer politically necessary to side-step the issue. The need for the reduced consumption of meat, egg, and milk products – particularly by consumers in industrialized countries, and mid- and high income consumers in developing and emerging economies – must be stated openly in the Issues Note.
We hope these comments are useful and look forward to discussing any questions the Panel may have.
Geoff Orme-Evans