Transition heuristic frameworks in research on agro-food sustainability transitions

Abstract

The agro-food system needs a genuine sustainability transition to achieve sustainable food and nutrition security in the face of climate change, population growth, ecosystem degradation and increasing resource scarcity. Agro-food sustainability transitions refer to transformation processes needed to move towards sustainable agriculture and food systems. There is a broad range of theoretical and conceptual frameworks that have been used to understand and promote transition towards sustainability. These include the multi-level perspective (MLP) on socio-technical transitions, transition management (TM), strategic niche management (SNM), technological innovation system (TIS) and social practice approach (SPA). The paper analyses the use of these heuristic frameworks in research on agro-food sustainability transitions. A search carried out in March 2018 on Scopus yielded 791 documents, and 127 research articles underwent a systematic review. Results show that more than three-fifths of research papers dealing with sustainability transitions in agriculture, food processing, distribution and consumption use at least one of the five heuristic frameworks (MLP, TM, SNM, TIS and SPA). The MLP is the most prominent framework in research on agro-food sustainability transitions, followed by TM, SPA, SNM and then TIS. Nevertheless, MLP is increasingly complemented with frameworks that focus on humanrelated and social factors (SPA), management and governance (TM, SNM) or agency and interactions between actors (TIS) in sustainability transitions processes. Therefore, the paper makes the case for more integration of transition frameworks in order to better nurture and foster transitions towards sustainable agro-food systems.

Food Waste in the Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council: A Systematic Review

“…The systematic review is in line with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines [58]. The methodology followed for documents selection is similar to that suggested by Moher et al [58] and adopted by El Bilali [59,60]. A search was carried out on January 12th, 2020, using the Title-Abs-Key search query ("food wastage" OR "food waste") AND (Bahrain OR Kuwait OR Oman OR Qatar OR "Saudi Arabia" OR "United Arab Emirates" OR UAE OR "Gulf Cooperation Council" OR "Gulf countries" OR "Middle East" OR "Near East" OR "West Asia").…”

How Has the Wine Sector Incorporated the Premises of Circular Economy?

“…The paper is based on a systematic review of documents [35,36]. Such method of analysis brings evidence to a specific intervention based on the existing literature, using explicit and systematized search methods, careful appraisal and synthesis of the selected elements [35].…”

“…The paper is based on a systematic review of documents [35,36]. Such method of analysis brings evidence to a specific intervention based on the existing literature, using explicit and systematized search methods, careful appraisal and synthesis of the selected elements [35]. The documents were indexed in 4 databases with a large number of academic publications: (1) SCOPUS, that brings together a wide coverage with more than 22,800 titles in multiple scientific areas and subareas; (2) Web of Science (WOS) collection which has more than 18,000 high impact journals; (3) Springer Link, with 3,556 journals; and, (4) Science Direct with 3,800 journals.…”

The Multi-Level Perspective in Research on Sustainability Transitions in Agriculture and Food Systems: A Systematic Review

“…Different frameworks have been used to conceptualize, understand and promote transition towards sustainability [1,3,[20][21][22][23][24][25]. Lachman [22] reviews the more notable transition frameworks: the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions (MLP), strategic niche management (SNM), transition management (TM), technological innovation systems (TIS), techno-economic paradigm (TEP) shifts, and socio-metabolic transitions.…”