SDG 2: Zero Hunger – Challenging the Hegemony of Monoculture Agriculture for Forests and People

Abstract

A 'business-as-usual' approach to food production will continue to cause mass deforestation. This is detrimental for biodiversity, consequently impacting forest-dwelling communities who depend on forests for the direct provision of food. With the loss of forests comes the loss of farreaching ecosystem services, vital for many facets of food production relied on by the wider population.• SDG 2 and five of its targets (Targets 2.1-2.5) are closely related to forests. These five targets underscore the reciprocity between forests and SDG 2. Forest biodiversity is integral for nutrition and the ability to grow and harvest diverse crops. In turn, investing in small-scale farming systems and sustainable farming techniques can help conserve forests.• If we are to achieve SDG 2 sustainably, we need a reimagined food system that does not polarise agricultural production and the conservation of forest resources. This calls for land management that promotes the maintenance of biodiversity and integrated land-use planning. This is especially evident when examining the relationship between SDG 2 and the other SDGs, most of which are concomitantly contingent on each other.

Higher education institutions, SDG2 and agri-food sustainability: lessons from Chulalongkorn University and Thailand

“…Some studies have rightly questioned conceptual, political and economic assumptions or vested interests in framing and adoption of SDG2 particularly (Sexsmith & McMichael, 2015 ; Evans and Musvipwa, 2017 ; Spann, 2017 ; Spangenberg, 2017 , p. 319). Others have discussed the need to better understand, critique or improve targets and indicators (Gennari & Kalamvrezos, 2019 ; Gil et al, 2019 ; Sunderland et al, 2020 ). Meanwhile, serious gaps still exist in accessible country or global data of four critical SDG2 indicators including the very idea and operationalization of “agricultural sustainability” (related to SDG2.4.1) missing in one FAO assessment of SDGs, partly because governments have not collected or provided necessary data (FAO, 2019 , pp.…”

Introduction: Political Dimensions of the Bioeconomy

“…It builds on large-scale farming and appears to hold an unquestioned, nearly exclusive focus on improving yields and increasing production (IAASTD 2009;Horlings and Marsden 2011;Hardeman and Jochemsen 2012). This mainstream agenda has recently fallen under the aegis of "sustainable intensification," yet without challenging the problematic "hegemony of monoculture agriculture" and its persistent impacts, such as tropical deforestation (Sunderland et al 2019). Moreover, more broadly, little attention is paid to access dimensions of food security, the impacts of dietary change, inequality in food distribution, or a broader set of environmental issues such as agrobiodiversity loss or pesticide use (Bastos Lima 2008;Horlings and Marsden 2011).…”

Contribution of forests and trees to food security and nutrition

“…and contributing to food security and nutrition (FSN) in its different dimensions. Conversely, because they impact on forests and trees, the considerable landscape changes driven by agricultural expansion also bring negative effects on the ecosystem services that sustain agricultural production itself, with potential impacts on the FSN status of local populations as well as on global food availability and food security (Sunderland et al 2019). Devising landscape-scale solutions and integration to maximize forests and trees' contribution to FSN require closer collaboration between experts on FSN and experts on forests and trees, as well as stronger convergence between related policy sectors, especially in relation to determining land uses and food and nutrition policies (e.g., HLPE, 2017).…”