FAQ on Sustainability

This answer is brought to you by many of the Australian nutrition professionals who regularly contribute to a nutrition email discussion group.

The following questions and answers address one of the most important issues facing humanity today: can we achieve sustainable development of the food supply?

What is meant by "sustainable development"?

There are many viewpoints regarding what is meant by sustainable development. These views may encompass concepts of concern for the physical environment, maintenance of biodiversity, and concern for human social structures, as well as efficiency of resource use, and maintenance of profitability and productivity. One definition (from the World Commission on Environment and Development) is "the ability to meet the needs of the current generation without compromising future generations' ability to meet their economic needs". A simple question to decide whether an activity is sustainable or not is: "If we kept doing this for a long time, what effects would this have on the people around here, and on people elsewhere on the planet?" The answer to this question may be very complex (and may not be known with certainty).


How is sustainable development related to food and nutrition?

The production and consumption of food is an activity of fundamental importance for all human beings. There are choices regarding resource use at the stage of food production and processing, during the transport of food from its site of production to its point of consumption, and at the time of food consumption. Waste is generated at all levels of the food system and decisions must be made regarding the management of its disposal. Examples of excessive resource use include air freighting food across the globe to provide 'out-of-season' foods, excessive processing during the production of foods, and waste during packaging of food (e.g. wrapping single slices of cheese). The production of 'artificial' foods or food components (for example artificial sweeteners and artificial fats) is an example of resources being used for the specific purpose of NOT providing nutrition. Incredibly, this is a case of using excessive resources by those who already over consume food.

Many of the costs of using resources are passed on to the consumer. However, this is rarely fully costed and the costs of repairing ecological damage are especially likely to be ignored. While examples of how this relates to food are highlighted in this FAQ, it is also true that excessive use of resources applies to many other discretionary activities of humans (e.g. driving 'gas guzzling' vehicles short distances to work, to the shops, or long distances for recreational purposes).

Commitment to ecological sustainability is often seen as an unimportant side issue, but the increasing effects of population growth and technological development mean that they must become central concerns if sustainability is to be achieved. These are global issues, so they will require consideration not only of practices close to home, but also of the transglobal food supply.

It should also be pointed out that non-sustainable food production systems are not a recent problem. Animals such as the Moa of New Zealand and at least some Australian megafauna were hunted to extinction for their food value. The large cities that existed 5,000 years ago in what is now Southern Iraq were abandoned around 4,000 years ago because of desertification of the rich agricultural land that supported them. This desertification was caused by inappropriate agricultural practices. More recently, the passenger pigeon of North America was wiped out through over-hunting by white settlers, and the bison very nearly suffered the same fate. These are just a few examples of the many unsustainable food production practices of our forebears. Unless we learn from the mistakes of the past we run the risk of repeating those mistakes, to our great cost (and even more to the cost of our descendants).


Why should I be concerned about environmental sustainability when I eat?

Many of the major planetary processes--whether on land, in the waterways and oceans, or in the atmosphere--are already affected by human activity. Among the many changes people have made is the development of domesticated animals and plants that have been bred for specific characteristics. This has reduced genetic heterogeneity (i.e. the number of different varieties of each species of plant and animal), thereby leading to reduced adaptability of our food animals and plants to sudden changes in the environment.

Maintaining the desirable traits of current food production systems in climates that are becoming increasingly unsuited to them, and in the face of mounting disease and pathogen attacks (one of the predicted results of global climate change) will require ever increasing energy inputs and environmental modification. For example, the increasing use of fertilisers and pesticides (to overcome reduced soil fertility and increased disease,
respectively) necessitates ever greater energy inputs into an agricultural system just to maintain the same output of food.

The lack of attention to sustainable development is likely to result in rising real food costs due to increasing scarcity of food resource, a requirement for increasing inputs to combat environmental change and decreasing soil fertility, and loss of food due to increasing instability of production resulting from global climate change. Degrading environments also come with a health cost due to planetary changes in climate and UV radiation, and more local changes to air and water.

Food insecurity is a vitally important global issue--of the present world population of 6 billion people, at least 20% are chronically undernourished. Food insecurity and the means to ensure food production is likely to be an increasing cause of conflict between nations (and within nations). Not all world hunger occurs because of inadequate food production--inequitable distribution is also a major contributor. However, non-sustainable food production systems will increasingly contribute to malnutrition, starting with population groups whose food security is poor.

The world is undergoing the greatest mass extinction of species since the sudden disappearance of the dinosaurs. The present mass extinction is directly attributable to human activity. In addition to any ethical considerations, this loss of biodiversity has the potential to threaten food production, because dependence on only a few food-producing organisms leads to greater vulnerability to disease or crop failure. Reducing biodiversity also increases the risk that productivity will decline without increasing resource inputs. It also has an opportunity cost (i.e. a cost of lost opportunity to farm or otherwise use the plant or animal as another source of food or medicine).

Some people suggest that the success of humans in an evolutionary sense is demonstrated by the huge population increase that has occurred, and that this is proof of our ability to modify ecosystems to our advantage. It has been argued that humanity will take care of environmental concerns when it can afford to do so, and that environmental clean-up and the development of sustainable food systems should naturally follow wealth creation. While this may be a comforting thought, it is clear that this has not yet happened in the developed world with respect to fisheries and forestry, as just two examples. Many population experts now believe that the world's human population will reach a peak in the current century, followed by a slow decline as human fertility rates fall. This trend has been consistently observed in developed countries. The challenge is to manage the peak global population rather than plan for ever-increasing population growth.


Are there any particular issues relating sustainable development to food production and consumption in Australia?

Many people mistakenly consider that Australia should have relatively few concerns about sustainable development, because of our relatively low population density compared to most other populated parts of the world. For example, in recent years Australia has been producing enough wheat to feed about 60 million people--far more than the current population of 19 million--so Australia is a net food exporter. However, the Australian continent is a fragile environment and, for the most part, the soils are relatively infertile. This also applies to the oceans surrounding Australia, where most of the fisheries are in decline because of overfishing.

Specific issues in Australia include extensive land clearing for agricultural purposes, dryland salination, soil acidification, and loss of biodiversity. Over the last two centuries land has been (and continues to
be) extensively cleared for monoculture crops. Yet agriculturalists have come to understand the importance of a diversity of organisms in agricultural ecosystems. A productive soil is a living entity because of the number and diversity of organisms that cycle nutrients through the soil, maintaining its structure and fertility, and preventing outbreaks of pests and disease. Above ground, natural enemies and pollinators are essential for profitable and sustainable agriculture. Many modern agricultural practices--such as monocultures, poor crop rotation, overstocking, excessive use of pesticides, overuse of irrigation, and the breakup of soil caused by heavy machinery--reduce biodiversity to low levels and can cause significantly lower productivity.

Dryland salinity currently affects around 2.5 million hectares of Australia's agricultural land, with annual costs estimated at about $600 million in Western Australia and $250 million in the Murray-Darling Basin
(reference: National Land and Water Resources Audit, 2000). Clearing of natural vegetation and its replacement with crop and pasture plants has contributed to the problem because crops and pasture take up less rainwater. This leads to a rise in the water table, bringing salt to the surface.

Australia has more than 7 million hectares of acid soils, costing around a billion dollars in lost income every three years. It has been estimated that up to 90 million hectares of land in Australia have the potential to be affected by soil acidity.

Australian farmers are internationally efficient and are leaders in the adoption of sustainable farming practices and new technology. Australia is renowned for its harsh, demanding and variable conditions, with a wider range of climates and environments than all but a few other nations. As a result, Australians understand more about the sustainable production of food, under a wide range of conditions, than most other people. This knowledge can help to increase the value of our rural exports and also in itself become one of our exports.


How do we help with the development of sustainable agriculture and animal production?

Important first steps for sustainable production include appropriate government policies, awareness of our way of thinking, and a more sophisticated communal world view. The many external costs of food production and consumption need to be factored into the cost of the end product, rather than borrowed from future generations. These include the cost of land degradation, loss of biodiversity, pollution of air and water, cost of transportation and the costs of safely disposing of waste.

People can take action on an individual level by applying knowledge about sustainable practices to their food purchasing decisions. This might include

* buying more fresh foods (low processing costs),
* seeking food that was produced nearby (reduced transport costs),
* choosing food that is in-season (reduced storage costs),
* buying more organic food (less cost to the environment in terms of chemical use), and
* growing some of their own food (if they have the opportunity).

Because packaging commonly contributes up to 50% of the retail cost of foods, consumers can restrict some of the packaging costs by buying foods that are not excessively packaged, and buying larger quantities at a time (less packaging per unit weight of food). They can also use recycled or calico shopping bags.

Other matters the consumer might consider include how far they travel to shop and what method of transport they use. Some people might choose to reduce their purchase of foods with components that have been added unnecessarily (for example, shopping more frequently rather than buying foods with extended shelf life). Added components ultimately have a resource cost and the functions of the added components might be more sustainably addressed using other strategies.

However, it should be noted that the strategies outlined above are not necessarily consistent with each other. For example, it has recently been stated that organic food is more likely than conventional food to have been transported from far away. This illustrates the importance of considering the wholistic concept of sustainability when making decisions regarding food purchasing.

The challenge of developing sustainable food production systems will require finding solutions to many problems. Achieving sustainable development of the food supply will require cooperation and harmony, both within and between nations, looking to community needs and taking satisfaction from community accomplishment, recognition of finite resources that need to be conserved and preserved for future generations, and the controlled utilisation of technology for collective good.



Suggested Further Reading: 'The Future of Life' by E.O. Wilson; published by Random House; projected publication date April 2002.

See also the excerpt from 'The Future of Life' at:

http://www.sciam.com/2002/0202issue/0202wilson.html
 

Back to Frequently Asked Questions Index

[Date Issued: February 2002]

Disclaimer: This material is provided on the basis that it constitutes advice of a general nature only. It is not intended to replace the advice of a physician or a dietitian.