If we change our food systems, we could feed nearly 10 billion people by 2050 without exceeding the planetary boundaries. Photo Shutterstock It has been known for a long time that food systems play a key role in our health and that of the planet. An EAT-Lancet Commission made up of highly respected experts, including professors Hannah van Zanten and Wim de Vries, stresses once again how important these systems are.
Today, the authors present their findings in Sweden on how nearly 10 billion people could have nutritious diets that are fair and do not exceed the planet’s boundaries by 2050 — if we change our food systems. The experts say that urgent policy measures are needed to achieve this, along with changes to food consumption patterns and reforms of global financial incentives.
Models
The Commission is critical but also optimistic. They used models to investigate the potential effects of changes to the food systems on five of the planetary boundaries: the climate, land, fresh water, nutrient contamination and novel entities. They conclude that a transformation would improve human health and reduce the pressure on the environment.
WUR professor Hannah van Zanten (Earth Systems & Global Change) is an expert on circular food systems. She was involved in one of these models. ‘It’s really important that we adopt an integrated approach to tackling the problems. We need a combination of solutions. A circular approach makes food systems more efficient but it isn’t a panacea. We will only be able to produce healthy food with respect for the planet if we combine a circular approach with healthier diets, increased productivity and changes in the distribution of resources.’
Benefits
The Planetary Health Diet (PHD, see inset) is the key concept in the report. We can stay within the planetary boundaries if we adopt these dietary guidelines worldwide. According to the authors, this diet would improve health and lead to a decline in food-related chronic diseases. This more sustainable diet would prevent some 15 million early deaths annually.
Reforming our food systems would not be cheap but could deliver benefits of five trillion dollars per year thanks to better health, restored ecosystems and climate resilience, according to the report. That is more than ten times the amount of money that has to be invested in these reforms.
Food in the Anthropocene
In 2019, the EAT-Lancet Commission 1.0 produced a scientific report on healthy diets based on sustainable food systems. This was the report ‘Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems’. The Commission combined expertise on healthy diets and sustainable food systems. That report introduced the concept of the Planetary Health Diet: a diet that is primarily plant-based with optional animal-based products in moderate quantities and limited amounts of sugars, saturated fats and salt.
A second EAT-Lancet Commission is now presenting a follow-up scientific report entitled ‘The EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems’. WUR professors Hannah van Zanten and Wim de Vries were among the experts who contributed to the report. Van Zanten was the principal researcher of a study on the impact of changes in diets and improved circularity, and De Vries was the principal researcher for the quantification of the planetary boundaries for nitrogen and phosphorus.
