Conciliating food security and environmental sustainability objectives through city-region food systems

There is a growing awareness of the increasing vulnerability of global food systems due to natural and anthropogenic causes, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the current war in Ukraine. Adding to this, the food system is the single largest driver of global environmental change and transgression of planetary boundaries, among which are climate change and water use.

Recent studies on City Region Food Systems Environmental Sustainability were carried out within the scope of the BIOPOLIS Programme of the Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, by the postdoctoral researcher Andreia Saavedra Cardoso. Results for the Lisbon city region point to a food self-sufficiency capacity of more than 70%, variable according to the selected diet. The proposed agrarian land use changes also suggest that the relocation of the regional foodshed could be done so that 68% of its productive area would be located in Green Infrastructure area. These results suggest that the Green Infrastructure besides bringing together all the fundamental areas on which the ecological sustainability of the territory depends can contribute in a very significant way to regional food self-sufficiency and to the implementation of city-region food systems.