Fostering circularity for sustainable agro-food systems

Wassenaar Tom. 2024. Fostering circularity for sustainable agro-food systems. . ISPARD, APEC. s.l. : s.n., 2 p. Circularity in Agriculture: A Pathway to Sustainability Among APEC Economies, Hanoï, Viet Nam, 24 Octobre 2024/25 Octobre 2024.

Matériel d'accompagnement : 1 diaporama (18 vues)

Résumé : The presentation first argued for a reframing of the scope of circularity. Ever since agricultural systems have become spatially separated from those for whom they produce, " circularity in agriculture " has limited scope for contributing to its sustainability. Agro-food systems are – by definition1 – the target system type for circularity in favour of sustainable agriculture. But Agro-food systems are not given and have no given scale. Increasing circularity though involves logistics and thus spatial constraints. The combination of these two characteristics calls for the contrary of a dogmatic, uniform approach to circularity: An approach that, based on potential and need, adapts scale and location. The presentation then developed the principles of such adaptation for three main categories of needs: • The ambition to Reduce Inputs, induced by goals that relate to autonomy, resilience, sustainability or carbon footprints; • The ambition to Increase Productivity, mainly induced by food security goals; • The ambition to Reduce Losses, induced by goals that relate to profit, economic development or the reduction of negative impacts. Emphasis was put on the Reduce Losses ambition, since this circularity ambition dominates in APEC economies. Types of situations where losses in the form of waste are identified as problematic are: • Negative externalities (e.g., degradation of water or soil quality) • Loss of value (or costs) (e.g., waste with good calorific potential) • Obstacle to the development of (third-party) activities (e.g., regulated effluents) CIRAD recommends using such situations as a starting point to encompass a sufficient range of activities to ensure the identification of systemic and sustainable solutions. This was illustrated for the case of the Metropolitan Region of Santiago de Chile. The presentation concluded on the need to activate the (existing) capacity for circularity in APEC economies. That should not be regarded as a search for silver bullet business models, but as promoting a rigorous approach to identify the right innovation, delivering the right impact, for the right place2. In many APEC economies, a large, growing " circularity capacity " allows to envisage the progressive, structural transformation of City-Region Food Systems. This requires the strengthening of the Science-Policy Interface: Science can (only) legitimately catalyse and inform, while Public Authorities can engage stakeholders in planning and design policy measures. This complementarity means that together they can bring about transformative change.

Mots-clés libres : Economie circulaire, Système alimentaire, APEC, Science-policy interface, Métabolisme territorial

Auteurs et affiliations

• Wassenaar Tom, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR Recyclage et risque (FRA) ORCID: 0000-0002-0098-5503

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/611264/)

Métriques

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