1. A food systems approach for sustainability Insights from Seafood in Europe report
Context for this work and why through seafood
How we approached assessing the food system for sustainability (new, learning)
Main insights (beyond what is in the report)
16 Nov 2016 – Eionet NRC network workshop
Presentation by Constança Belchior, EEA

2. EEA SOER 2015: the overarching messages
Europe hasn’t translated resource-efficiency gains into social and environmental resilience or long-term sustainability
This is due to the systemic and globalised nature of Europe’s environmental challenges
Protecting, conserving
and enhancing natural capital
Resource efficiency
and the low-carbon
economy
Safeguarding from
environmental risks to health
Past (5–10) year trends
Improving trends dominate
Trends show mixed picture
Deteriorating trends dominate
20+ years
outlook /

3. Achieving sustainability demands systemic transitions
Source: EEA

4. Supporting transitions demands new types of knowledge
SOER 2020
Reviewing environmental trends, and understanding systemic challenges and the need for transitions
Identifying knowledge, skills and governance approaches for transitions
PROBLEM-FOCUSED
SOLUTION-ORIENTED
2016
2017
2018

5. Food connects people, the planet and prosperity
Source: Stockholm Resilience Center

6. Fish as food matters but this role is underplayed in policy
Over half (55%) of EU
seafood is from abroad
Source: FAO, 2016
Source: EEA, 2016
Source: EEA, 2016

7. Assessing the food system for sustainability?
1 – Defining sustainability
2 – Understanding the food system
3 – Identifying pathways for change

8. Defining sustainability in the food system
“A food system that delivers food security and nutrition for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised."
(HLPE - Committee on World Food Security, 2014)
Source: EEA, 2016

9. Sustainability dimensions in the wider EU policy context
2050 vision
Recognising that environmental, economic and social objectives are essentially interlinked, the 7EAP three key objectives are to:
protect, conserve and enhance the EU's natural capital;
turn the EU into a resource-efficient, green and competitive low-carbon economy;
safeguard the EU's citizens from environment related pressures and risks to health and well-being.

10. Understanding what the food system is
Outcomes
Actors and
Activities
Interactions
Inputs from natural capital and other human capital
Source: EEA
Source: EEA

11. v1.0 Defining a new compass for assessing sustainability
DPSIR is not enough for assessing systems...
Source: EEA, 2016

12. Identifying pathways for change in Europe´s food system
Build a shared understanding of the food system
Improve knowledge base on seafood to better understand
interactions in Europe's food system & beyond
Sustainability in food requires a policy framework that embraces a food system approach, and that allows a shared understanding of the food system to be built
There is a need to improve the knowledge base related to seafood in order to better understand interactions in Europe's food system and beyond
Implementing an ecosystem approach to Europe's seas — a key principle in several EU policies — is critical to securing the long-term availability of seafood, but further efforts are needed to support its operationalisation
Boost efforts to implement an ecosystem approach to Europe's seas

13. maximum sustainable yield Coherent and representative
Improving knowledge base on seafood from a food system level
Interactions in the journey of fish to fork explored in the report:
The influence of international trade on seafood production
Aquaculture feed connects fisheries, aquaculture and land
A globalised seafood supply chain with emerging partnerships
Market incentives and consumer choices for sustainability
Fishing at
maximum sustainable yield
Coherent and representative
marine protected areas networks
Source: EEA, 2016

14. maximum sustainable yield Coherent and representative
Boosting the ecosystem approach in Europe's seas
Fishing at
maximum sustainable yield
Photo: © Stephen McGowan, 2006/Marine Photobank
MSFD – CFP – Maritime Spatial Planning
Coherent and representative
marine protected areas networks
Photo:EUO © OCEANA, Carlos Suarez
Source: WWF; Illustrations: Erik Lieberman

15. Emerging insights on human decision making and behaviour
Building a shared understanding of the food system
Complex sustainability problems = mismatch between how real-world systems work and how we think they work
Emerging insights on human decision making and behaviour
Source: Adapted from “Cabrera and Cabrera, 2015,
Systems thinking made simple: New hope for solving wicked problems”
Source:

16. Building a shared understanding of the food system
Ecosystem services as a common language to assess human-environment interactions,
and how people depend and benefit from healthy ecosystems
(EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020)
Source: EEA, 2016