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

Food production and ecosystem management - Reports & Case Studies
Faced with the acceleration of urbanization, climate change, and the limits of our current food system and determined to bring about a reinvention of food policies, urban agriculture is emerging as one driver for this new-look approach. Although urban agriculture cannot feed whole cities – potential yields are too low...
(Global coverage)
2019 - Coll.
Food production and ecosystem management - Reports & Case Studies
ONLY IN FRENCH This video presents Douala's food system as well as new forms of local production and marketing that aim to meet the food market of the metropolis of Douala: urban market garden farms, urban fish farms, and short circuits.The Douala Food System (SYSTALDO), initiated by the Urban Community of...
Cameroon (Africa)
2019 - Julien Pain
Governance and planning, Food production and ecosystem management - Articles
Cities need forests. The network of woodlands, groups of trees and individual trees in a city and on its fringes performs a huge range of functions, such as regulating climate; storing carbon; removing air pollutants; reducing the risk of flooding; assisting in food, energy and water security; and improving the...
(Global coverage)
2018 - Coll.
Food production and ecosystem management, Food loss and waste - Reports & Case Studies
Farmers, fresh produce markets, food manufacturers and food retailers routinely generate surplus foods, meaning a food that is still perfectly edible and safe for human consumption, but exists, for example, because it has failed to meet aesthetic specifications, or is past its ‘sell by’ or ‘best before’ dates. Much of this food...
South Africa (Global coverage)
2018 - Coll.
Food production and ecosystem management - Reports & Case Studies
This film provides useful insights from urban and peri-urban practises experiences and researches in West African cities.
Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali (Africa)
2018 - Coll.