Food systems transformation
With a world’s population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, and the difficulties posed by climate change, increasing globalization, and the shifting of global economies, the improvement of global, regional and local food systems has become even more relevant. Providing sustainable and nutritious food to the global population, with almost 690 million people undernourished in 2019 is a global challenge which engages governments, researchers and all those involved in the food production, processing and trade. Our food systems need to transform in a more sustainable manner to generate food security in the present, not compromising the well-being of future generations.
Value Chain Development
The SVC4SIDS project aims at addressing challenges to sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in SIDS countries, these include low technical capacity, limited market access opportunities coupled with social and environmental vulnerabilities.
In addressing such challenges and the inherent complexity of food systems and associated value chains, a holistic and strategic approach is necessary in order to bolster the competitiveness of SIDS and further strengthen the fisheries value chain actors. As such, the Project adopts a Sustainable Value chain Development Framework which takes a dynamic, systems-based approach to measuring, understanding and improving the sustainability performance of fisheries and aquaculture value chains that make up food systems in SIDS.
In its first stage, the Project analyses the relationships between the three interlinked layers of the core value chain, the extended value chain and the enabling environment. It conducts triple bottom line sustainability assessments (economic, social and environmental) whereby hotspots are identified and sustainability indicators of concern are highlighted.
After the value chain analysis is completed, the second phase is the development of an upgrading strategy that will maximize impact by both targeting leverage points and bottlenecks in the value chain, and fully engaging stakeholders to realize the improvement potential of the value chain. The next step revolves around stakeholders developing and adopting an overall action and investment plan for value chain development.