Food resilience planning

Food resilience planning involves taking action to strengthen the resilience of food systems to shocks and stresses. Global food systems are being affected by more frequent and severe shocks, related to climate change, geopolitical conflicts and pandemic.

Food systems in Australia are experiencing sudden climate shocks such as bushfires, floods and storms. They are also under pressure from long-term climate stresses - such as rising temperatures, drought and sea-level rise - and ecosystem stresses, such as biodiversity loss and land degradation [1].

The impacts of shocks and stresses are felt throughout food supply chains. However, some food system activities, geographic locations and communities are particularly vulnerable. The greatest impacts are felt by people already at risk of food insecurity [2].

There is a growing focus on strengthening the resilience of food systems to shocks and stresses to safeguard food security for all [2]. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines food system resilience as

"the capacity over time of agrifood systems, in the face of any disruption, to sustainably ensure availability of and access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for all, and sustain the livelihoods of agrifood systems’ actors" [3].

Food resilience planning

Food resilience planning involves identifying and taking actions to build the long-term resilience of food systems to future shocks and stresses, so that everyone has access to an adequate supply of nutritious and culturally acceptable food.

Government, civil society, community and industry stakeholder groups can plan for resilient food systems. Food resilience planning is most effective when stakeholder groups collaborate across sectors and through food supply chains to identify and implement co-ordinated actions.

Four resilience framing questions can help to establish the scope and scale of resilience building activities for food systems [4].

1. Resilience of what? What are you trying to increase resilience of? Are you developing a food system resilience strategy or a specific initiative? Is it at local or regional scale?
2. Resilience to what? What are you building resilience against? What shocks and stresses are likely to affect the food system and how are they likely to interact?
3. Resilience for whom? Who needs to benefit from increased resilience? How can you bring an equity lens to food resilience planning?
4. Resilience for how long? What time frame are you working within? Is your focus on building short-term or long-term resilience of the food system?

A food systems framework for resilience

A food systems framework provides a way of considering interactions between food system drivers, activities and outcomes when planning actions to strengthen the resilience of food systems. Environmental, economic, political and social drivers influence activities across food supply chains and other interdependent systems, including energy, transport, communications, banking and finance. Drivers and food system activities influence food security and food system outcomes across domains of equity, health, environment and economy.

Shocks and stresses affect food system activities and the interdependent systems that food supply chains depend on, leading to disruption. The aim of food resilience planning is to build food systems that can not only withstand disruptions but can ‘bounce forward’ and transform to strengthen resilience to any future disruption [3][4].

Features of a resilient food system

Resilient food systems have some common features that can build long-term resilience to any future shock or stress. Resilient food systems are [1] [5]:

• Diverse - in the geographic locations where food is sourced from (global, national, regional, local), the scale of food and farming enterprises (small-medium scale as well as large), the types of food enterprises (social enterprises as well as commercial), the types of crops grown, and the transport routes to get food to consumers
• Decentralised - food supply chain activities spread across many geographic locations and organisations
• Networked and collaborative - networks built on trust can support a rapid response during a crisis, and collaborative action by food system stakeholders builds resilience
• Circular- recycling of food and organic waste keeps valuable nutrients in the food system, and recycled wastewater provides a secure source of water for peri-urban food production in a warming climate
• Sustainable in livelihoods - support fair, safe and secure work in food and farming enterprises
• Participatory - engage food system stakeholders and citizens, including people with lived experience of food insecurity, in planning dignified approaches to address food insecurity and food system resilience
• Prepared - multiple and concurrent shocks and stresses require strategic, long-term planning to build resilience