How Sustainable are Food Systems? One Step beyond the Concept

Journal title RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA'
Author/s Clara Cicatiello, Silvio Franco, Emanuele Blasi, Barbara Pancino
Publishing Year 2015 Issue 2015/1
Language English Pages 16 P. 181-196 File size 184 KB
DOI 10.3280/RISS2015-001012
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The sustainability of food systems is a topical issue in recent years, but the definition of this concept is still very unclear. This paper aims to face this challenge, in order to support a sustainability assessment of the food systems. Such a definition should tackle the underpinning dimensions of sustainability, i.e. the environmental, social and economic domains. Once the sustainability concept has been defined, an interpretative framework to assess food system sustainability can be proposed, and indicators to measure these issues are discussed. Many have already been tested at the operative level, but it remains unclear how to measure some social and economic issues. Suggestions on how to fill these gaps are discussed in the paper, so as to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how food systems sustainability may be measured in the practice.

Keywords: Sustainability indicators, sustainability assessment, food system, food sustainability.

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Clara Cicatiello, Silvio Franco, Emanuele Blasi, Barbara Pancino, How Sustainable are Food Systems? One Step beyond the Concept in "RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA'" 1/2015, pp 181-196, DOI: 10.3280/RISS2015-001012