City Region Food Systems: Building Resilience to COVID-19 and Other Shocks

Abstract

Using examples from the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper reviews the contribution a City Region Food Systems (CRFS) approach makes to regional sustainability and resilience for existing and future shocks including climate change. We include both explicit interventions under United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO-RUAF) led initiatives, as well as ad hoc efforts that engage with elements of the CRFS approach. To provide context, we begin with a literature review of the CRFS approach followed by an overview of the global food crisis, where we outline many of the challenges inherent to the industrial capital driven food system. Next, we elaborate three key entry points for the CRFS approach—multistakeholder engagement across urban rural spaces; the infrastructure needed to support more robust CRFS; system centered planning, and, the role of policy in enabling (or thwarting) food system sustainability. The pandemic raises questions and provides insights about how to foster more resilient food systems, and provides lessons for the future for the City Region Food System approach in the context of others shocks including climate change.

The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Security in Rural and Urban Settlements in Benin: Do Allotment Gardens Soften the Blow?

“…Our conclusion regarding the more resilient situation of the urban gardeners during the lockdown is also corroborated by the following finding: before the COVID-19 pandemic, urban gardeners within the cordon (78%) and urban non-gardeners outside the cordon (62.5%) were most food secure, whereas, after the COVID-19 situation, urban gardeners within the cordon experienced a slight decline (58% food secure) in their food security and urban non-gardeners outside the cordon experienced a major decline (7.5% food secure), probably because they lost their jobs due to COVID-19. Furthermore, the conclusion is supported by Blay-Palmer, Santini, Halliday, Malec, Carey, Keller, Ni, Taguchi and van Veenhuizen [13] who recently found, in their review that analyzed the contribution that a city region food systems approach makes to regional sustainability and resilience for existing and future shocks, that urban gardens played a major role in improving the food security under COVID-19 lockdowns in cities in Africa and Asia.…”

“…They found that smaller cities have greater opportunities for practicing urban agriculture and they were, therefore, more able to improve the food security of city dwellers than bigger cities. Furthermore, the role of urban gardens in improving food security under COVID-19 lockdowns in cities in Africa and Asia was highlighted in a recent review that analyzed the contribution that a city region food systems approach makes to regional sustainability and resilience for existing and future shocks [13]; hence, the call to organize and implement urban gardens seems to be justified, but requires empirical evidence to inform and convince decision-makers to intervene.…”

Reconnecting with Nature through Good Governance: Inclusive Policy across Scales

“…An increased interest in multi-scalar bridging through concepts such as territorial governance could help build out the critical junctures and support accountability across governance scales. Blay-Palmer et al argue that frameworks such as the City Region Food System can help build more resilient systems and respond to shocks [82]. There are often strong local or regional networks, but they do not always effectively connect with the global to impact governance outcomes.…”

Urban Public Food Procurement in Kiambu and Machakos Counties as a Driver of Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainability: A Literature Review and Case Studies

“…Overall, there has been recent growth in formal multistakeholder governance, such as food policy councils in numerous LMIC cities [89,90]. These systems-based governance efforts align with the City Region Food System framework, which emphasizes multistakeholder governance for resilient, well-coordinated, and participatory food systems [17,91].…”