The future of sustainable food systems

• Main Author: Torres , Duarte
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: IUCS-CESPU Publishing 2024
• Subjects: Invited Speaker; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://publicacoes.cespu.pt/index.php/sl/article/view/158; https://doi.org/10.48797/sl.2024.158

For millennia, humanity has thrived during the Holocene epoch, characterised by relatively stable climatic conditions, low atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, and rich biodiversity. This epoch has uniquely supported Earth's life systems as we understand them. Currently, we reside in what is proposed as the Anthropocene epoch, marked significantly by human activities that overwhelmingly influence terrestrial, atmospheric, and marine environments. The precise onset of the Anthropocene is debated, though it likely began around the late 18th century with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. This period is evidenced by increased carbon dioxide and methane concentrations in polar ice cores. However, a more pronounced shift occurred post-mid-20th century, during what is termed the "Great Acceleration", characterised by exponential growth in human population, industrial output, and resource consumption, including fossil fuels, plastics, and food, alongside significant impacts on freshwater resources, deforestation, and biodiversity loss. This transformative era poses the critical question: how long can such trajectories be sustained without irreparable harm to Earth's systems? The "Planetary Boundaries" framework, developed by a global consortium of scientists over the past decade, addresses this concern by delineating nine critical biogeophysical thresholds that must not be crossed to prevent destabilising the Earth system. These boundaries include climate change, biodiversity loss, land-use changes, freshwater use, biogeochemical flows (nitrogen and phosphorus), ocean acidification, ozone depletion, introduction of novel entities, and atmospheric aerosol loading. This framework quantifies the Earth system's resilience and sets limits to human-induced changes that, if exceeded, could lead to catastrophic environmental shifts. Presently, significant breaches have been identified in several of these boundaries. The global food system has been a primary driver of biodiversity loss, approaching what could ...