Report: Planning a resilient food system for Victoria

The main findings of this research include:

• A ‘food systems’ approach is needed to food resilience planning, but there is a lack of understanding among stakeholders about what a food systems approach is and how to implement it
• Government responsibilities and accountabilities for food security and food resilience planning should be integrated into relevant policy and legislative frameworks, adopting a ‘whole of government’ approach
• Australia has obligations under international agreements to ensure that citizens are able to realise their human right to food, but there is no clear government responsibility for implementing the human right to food and no mechanisms to hold government to account
• The main approach to addressing food insecurity in Victoria, emergency food relief, does not adequately fulfil obligations related to the human right to food
• The right to food should be incorporated into Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights as part of the ‘right to an adequate standard of living’
• ‘Food with dignity’ approaches should be implemented to address food insecurity, such as social supermarkets, community-based markets, voucher schemes and the ‘right to grow’
• Toolkits are emerging to support stakeholders in food resilience planning, including step-by-step processes tools, conceptual frameworks and audit tools
• Victorian stakeholders need tools and guidance that (i) help to make the case for food resilience planning (ii) build understanding of how to implement a ‘food systems’ approach to food resilience planning (iii) measure food system resilience and progress in strengthening resilience

https://doi.org/10.46580/124375