Climate change a bigger challenge to food sustainability: Sangma

New Delhi:  Meghalaya Minister James Sangma on Thursday said that climate change and other related factors have made food sustainability a far “bigger challenge” than ever before.

The Minister was speaking at a webinar ‘Regional Dialogue: Promoting Sustainable Food Consumption and the Shift to Healthy Diets in Asia through Farm to Fork Concept’.

“The future of food is stirred by issues such as global warming, climate change, change in global supply chains, and several other factors. Bringing food sustainability is by far a bigger challenge than ever before” he said.

During the event, Sangma also presented a case study on Meghalaya and talked about how Meghalaya has initiated work in this direction.

“Earlier food was a way of life but now it’s produced and run by western-style capitalism and Meghalaya has been trying to intervene here and lay down a map that ensures food sovereignty of its people,” he said.

Sangma said, “we are working to make food a way of our lives where everybody is a stakeholder from food production till the time it comes in our plate”.

Speaking on the topic, Dr. Michael Bucky from EU Delegation to India and Bhutan said the dialogue is not a lesson but a two-way street and the world has become a small village and we cannot afford to ignore the neighbours’ needs.

Highlighting the importance of the issue, TERI SAS Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Prateek Sharma said the Regional Dialogue on Promoting Sustainable Food Consumption and the shift to healthy diets in Asia is very timely and is an important part of an important component of the farm and fork strategy.

“Amongst the various contributors, the food systems contribute about one-fourth to one-third of the GHG emissions, which is a significant proportion.  The farm to fork strategy initiated by the European Union to reduce GHG emissions essentially includes sustainable food production, sustainable food processing and distribution, sustainable food consumption and food loss and waste prevention” he said.

The webinar was organized by TERI School of Advanced Studies, UNEP Asia Pacific, and Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok. The aim of the webinar was to unearth various challenges, problems, and bottlenecks to food sustainability.

Asia is one of the largest global food producers but is home to the world’s half-poor and undernourished population.

There are inherent issues of food accessibility and affordability that affect the well-being of society and sustainable development at large.

Food accessibility remains one of the key challenges in the region, especially among low-income households.

Thus, improving access to food and facilitating a transition towards a healthier and sustainable diet is an essential aspect of green growth and sustainable development in the region.