How Food Connects all the Sustainable Development Goals

How Food Connects all the Sustainable Development Goals

This article is republished from Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University | Republished with permission | Read the Original Article | Twitter: @sthlmresilience | Read more about the EAT Stockholm Food Forum here

Johan Rockström and Pavan Sukhdev present new way of viewing the Sustainable Development Goals and how they are all linked to food

Speaking at the Stockholm EAT Food Forum 13 June, centre director Johan Rockström and board member Pavav Sukhdev, pushed for a new way of viewing the economic, social and ecological aspects of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The new illustration download high-res version here (credit: Azote Images for Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University) is based on one of the iconic figures of the centre, “the wedding cake”, developed by centre science director Carl Folke and others. It implies that economies and societies are seen as embedded parts of the biosphere.

This model changes our paradigm for development, moving away from the current sectorial approach where social, economic, and ecological development are seen as separate parts. Now, we must transition toward a world logic where the economy serves society so that it evolves within the safe operating space of the planet.

Johan and Pavan concluded that actually all the sustainable development goals are directly or indirectly connected to sustainable and healthy food. They also put forward that goals on eradicating poverty (SDG 1) and zero hunger (SDG 2) requires gender equality (SDG 5), decent jobs (SDG 8) and reduced inequality (SDG 10).

Johan Rockström is Executive Director of Stockholm Resilience Centre, and Chairman of the EAT Advisory Board. Together with Pavan Sukhdev, Founder and CEO of Gist Advisory he presented a State of The Union style adress. EAT Stockholm Food Forum, June 2016. www.eatforum.org.