Despite increasing awareness of climate change, our emissions of greenhouse gases continue on a relentless rise. Even if we stopped emitting all greenhouse gases today, global warming and climate change will continue to affect future generations. Among the main climate risks for human societies: reduced agricultural productivity, heightened water insecurity, increased exposure to extreme weather events, collapse of ecosystems and increased health risks, at least 4 of them will have an immediate impact on rank 2 “Zero Hunger” Millenium development goal.
The unprecedented scale of the Agreement obtained in Paris during COP21 makes it an important milestone to mobilize all the actors of the international community to keep human made global warming less than 2°C – and if possible less than 1,5 °C – in the horizon 2100. It reinforces the core importance of non state actors to find and implement solutions for climate and to meet the objectives of the period 2015-2020. It also open the doors for their participation to the reassessment of States’ indicative contributions in 2018.
Climate Chance bridges the appointments of Paris Cop 21 and Marrakech Cop 22. There is a clear necessity to incitate the civil society to become a protagonist of the discussions around climate issues and to create an alliance between all actors working on sustainable Food Systems. In one hand, food should be a pillar on the climate agenda for multiple reasons. On the other hand the climate emergence could allow the various existing initiatives on sustainable food to converge in a unified message.
If climate change is projected to cause lower yields from major crops, to increase price volatility for agricultural commodites and to reduce food quality, it is clear also that dominant food production systems are one cause of climate change (for instance, the amount of energy necessary to cultivate, process, pack and bring the food to European citizens’ tables accounts for 26% of the EU’s final energy consumption in 2013). Therefore food is at the core of climate issues as part of problematic issues and also as part of fundamental solutions to help humanity to survive such threat.
An holistic approach is necessary to tackle efficiently and sustainably such a complex issue in an action plan that integrates mitigation and adaptation measures to reduce the pace & magnitude of the changes in global climate being caused by human activities and the adverse impacts on human well-being resulting from the changes in climate that do occur.
In the absence of national or international efficient climate policy direction, cities are already at the frontline, directly called up to take practical measures to protect an increasing population from adverse climate impacts. In parallel, the idea that cities can be crucial to foster sustainable food systems is also gradually gaining ground. Through a deep cultural change, Cities Food Policies may turn food into a thread to connect all the main competences of the cities related to economic development, education, health, environment, solidarity, culture and leisure, governance, and give consistency to a synergic osmosis between cities and rural territories. In such context, Eating City platfom promotes pragmatic approach to build a model of food lifespan from origin to plate that makes possible to identify all food-related activities and infrastructures in and out the city to design an organization chart that connects all stakeholders and infrastructures, giving them a role and a responsibility to foster resilient/regenerative food systems.
This was the thematic of the workshop : “The role of collective catering in the paradigm shift in food systems” chaired by Maurizio Mariani at the Climate Chance meeting in September 26th, which gathered Robin Gourlay and Giuseppe Mastruzzo, both members of the Steering Committee, Philippe Hersant, founder of Restaurants sans frontières, Guilhem Soutou, working on the Sustainable food and diets Program of Fondation Nina et Daniel Carasso, Amandine Lebreton from Fondation Nicolas Hulot, Rocio Llamas Vacas from Mensa Civica discussed on the role of Public food Service in the needed change of paradigm. Edith Salminem presented the 4th declaration of Villarceaux in a report prepared after the campus.