An Extended Model for Sustainable Food and Nutrition Security in the Agrifood Sector

The increased consumer demand for environmentally friendly production and distribution practices and the stricter environmental regulations turned environmental aspects into important criteria in business decision-making. On the other hand, Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) has evolved dramatically during the last decades in theory and practice serving as a reference point for exchanging experiences among all agents involved in programs and projects to fostering policy and strategy development. Global pressures make it more important than ever to gain a better understanding of the contribution that agrifood businesses make to FNS and to examine ways to make them more resilient in an increasingly globalized and uncertain world. This study extends the standard three-dimensional model of sustainability to include two more dimensions: A technological dimension and a policy/political dimension. Apart from the economic, environmental and social dimensions regularly used in sustainability literature, the extended model will accurately represent the measures and policies addressing food and nutrition security. Keywords—Food and nutrition security, sustainability, food safety, resilience. I. INTRODUCING SUSTAINABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION USTAINABILITY is, at its base, a modern term describing something that has always been at the heart of any concept of resource use and material production: the need to balance steadily growing production with the fact that some, or all, of the used resources are taken from a finite quantity which, in the best case, replenishes itself at a rate lower than the rate of use or in the worst case, is not replenished at all. The first applications of sustainability in a form resembling its modern definition were in the forestry sector, from where only a short step leads to agriculture and, more broadly, to food production in general. Sustainability as a term can be defined in a number of ways, most of which are connected to the notion of sustainable development, however, sustainability can be considered to extend to other areas not necessarily directly related to the growth-economy foundations of sustainable development. A number of respected encyclopedias and dictionaries define sustainable, and by derivation its noun “sustainability” as “able to be maintained at a certain rate or level” or “able to be upheld or defended” (Oxford) or “of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged” (Merriam-Webster). Ioannis Manikas is with the Department of Systems Management and Strategy Business School, the University of Greenwich Old Royal Naval College, Park Row London SE10 9LS United Kingdom (e-mail: [email protected]) From those definitions, it is easy to connect sustainability and sustainable acting as being related to the maintenance (in the broad sense of the word) and use of a resource, which is most often a physical, material resource, but can also, have immaterial qualities. Traditionally, the first uses of the word “sustainability” are attributed to a German accountant, mining administrator and forestry manager, Hans Carl von Carlowitz, who has introduced the first ideas of sustainable management of a resource in his book Sylvicultura oeconomica, oder haußwirthliche Nachricht und Naturmäßige Anweisung zur wilden Baum-Zucht, published in the year 1713 [1], [2]. Further development of human civilisation through the industrial revolutions and breakthroughs has seen the topic of sustainability come up at different times, but it took until the middle of the 20th century for sustainability to reappear in the focus of the global discussion. The growing and easily observable toll of an unchecked and relentless growth and development, and the first signs of using up finite resources, such as the oil crises of the 1970s and 1980s, have further contributed to increased awareness of and orientation towards sustainable ideas, as have more and more common environmental crises and disasters, very often caused by anthropogenic direct action or indirect influence through depletion of resources and alteration of ecosystems. Agendas such as the Club of Rome “Limits to Growth”, spearheaded by Dennis Meadows [3], or the UN-appointed World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), popularly also known as the “Brundtland Commision”, who have delivered probably the most well-known definition of sustainable development in their report “Our Common Future”, published in 1987 and welcomed by the UN General Assembly. Sustainability refers toas the definition given by the United Nations Brundtland Commissionin meeting the wants and needs of the present day world without sacrificing the well-being of the future generation. This definition indicates that it is extremely vital to preserve the natural habitat and the environment as well as the resources available such as water, natural gas or the rare earth materials like cadmium or in fact any sort of resources without sacrificing the organizations profitability as organizations are not really interested in greening their business unless combined with economic benefits [4]. Another definition describing the principles of sustainable development also highlights the goal of better living for people. It states for sustainable development, there must be a safe, healthy environment, resources must be used efficiently and environmental issues must be taken into account across various sectors.