Using Systems Thinking to Create a Sustainable Food System

The agricultural landscape around Bangalore is experiencing environmental degradation – groundwater depletion, a decline in soil health and agrobiodiversity. Urbanisation and globalisation have changed the agricultural landscape as well as consumer preferences which in turn affect rural livelihoods and food production. This article explores the complexity of sustainable food production in the semi-arid region around Bangalore.

Jun 26, 2020

Food systems are complex and interconnected, yet most efforts to improve them tend to look at them in parts. This has often resulted in unsustainable food systems with adverse environmental and social impacts. We show how a systems approach can help better understand our food systems and identify opportunities to address multiple challenges simultaneously. 

This article illustrates how systems thinking can help identify opportunities for creating sustainable food systems using the example of the Sikkim Darjeeling Himalayan region.

Acknowledgements

Contributors: Zarir De Vitre, Veena Srinivasan and Sarala Khaling

The authors conducted this work when they were with the Centre for Social and Environmental Innovation at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (CSEI-ATREE). WELL Labs is now taking it forward in collaboration with ATREE.

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