Urban Food Actions Platform

Food production depends and impacts on ecosystem services and biodiversity, with spillover effects going beyond food. Urban and peri-urban agriculture and food processing can contribute to improving the resilience of territories in the face of climate change, natural disasters and disrupted suppy chains. Urban food consumption can also influence where and how food is produced. 

How can you optimize agriculture production while managing ecosystem services and biodiversity and improving resilience to climate change? Numerous examples are presented, explaining how to implement sustainable urban and peri-urban food production and processing; how these can mitigate the heat island effect, prevent floods, reduce the energy needed for cooling and heating buildings, improve social inclusion, (indirectly) raise awareness on combating food waste, or contribute to better access to healthy, diversified and fresh products. Resources on Urban and Peri-Urban Forestry are also available.

 

Related Resources

Governance and planning, Food production and ecosystem management - Articles
In the context of rapid urbanization, poorer residents in cities across low- and middle-income countries increasingly experience food and nutrition deficiencies. The United Nations has highlighted urban agriculture (UA) as a viable solution to food insecurity, by empowering the urban poor to produce their own fresh foods and make some...
Benin (Africa)
2021 - Coll.
Governance and planning, Food production and ecosystem management, Food supply and distribution - Reports & Case Studies
This factsheet provides information on the general knowledge collected by the City region food system (CRFS) project in its phase 2 regarding the assessment of risks for the CRFS of Antananarivo. The data was collected through literature review and stakeholder consultations. Some priorities are identified to increase the CRFS resilience...
Madagascar (Africa)
2021 - Coll.
Governance and planning, Food production and ecosystem management - Reports & Case Studies
Highly populated, developed areas, such as urban areas, have characteristics that can exacerbate detrimental effects of climate change on soil biodiversity such as, decreased albedo, sealed pavement, soil compaction, and propagation of non-native plant species. Managing urban landscapes for the maintenance of diverse microbial and faunal communities can reduce inputs,...
(Global coverage)
2021 - Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative
Sustainable diets and nutrition, Food production and ecosystem management - Articles
This article shows the results of a two-year pilot study carried out by the University of Sussex on city allotments in Brighton and Hove.The aforementioned study demonstrates the value of urban food production and how it could be used to reduce food deserts by growing food “closer to where people are” while...
United Kingdom (Europe)
2021 - Miranda Bryant
Food production and ecosystem management - Articles
This comic strip is the story of research carried out on individual vegetable gardens over four years in the Montreal region. The reader will discover the importance of urban gardens for food production, for the healthy and greener cities, but also for gardeners. Urban gardens, in fact, represent an important...
Canada (North America)
2021 - Eric Duchemin