The way we produce and consume food sits at the heart of our most pressing global challenges. Current food systems are responsible for driving biodiversity loss, accelerating climate change, and contributing to both widespread malnutrition and rising rates of diet-related disease. Even if we eliminated all non-food greenhouse gas emissions, our food systems alone would push us past the 1.5°C warming threshold. At the same time, 2.6 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet, while unsustainable agricultural practices continue to degrade the ecosystems we depend on.
That means we need to transform our food systems, and dietary diversification is a powerful lever to do that. Developed by Climate Focus, WWF, and ProVeg International, a new guide – The Diets Toolkit: An NDCs and NBSAPs Guide for Health and Sustainable Diets – provides policymakers with a menu of policy measures to catalyze food system transformation through sustainable and healthy diets. Rather than prescribing one-size-fits-all solutions, it offers decision-makers actionable options they can adapt to their national contexts and and integrate in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and their implementation. The toolkit demonstrates how when we shift what we eat and how food is produced, we can trigger cascading benefits across agriculture and food systems: reducing emissions, restoring biodiversity, supporting small-scale farmers, and improving public health.
