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 - Articles
All urban and peri-urban forest ecosystems of Africa are – to varying but steadily increasing degrees – under pressure from their city populations. The first part of this report offers an overview of the woodfuel situation in Africa, addressing the key factors, the typology and the challenges and new issues...
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Nigeria, South Africa (Africa)
2012 - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); International Cooperation Centre on Agrarian Research for Development (CIRAD)
Food production and ecosystem management - Methodology and Training Materials
This training handbook is a field guide for training urban and peri-urban vegetable farmers in safe practices when using wastewater in vegetable production. It is designed to provide complete information, knowledge and skills for safer and successful production of vegetables in urban and peri-urban farming systems. Once you have gained...
(Global coverage)
2012 - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Governance and planning, Sustainable diets and nutrition, Social and economic equity, Food production and ecosystem management, Food supply and distribution, Food loss and waste - Reports & Case Studies
The report is primarily a descriptive analysis of the food system serving Bristol. In addition, the report gives some global context, and in later chapters there is a discussion of resilience in relation to inputs, outputs and threats. It includes an analysis of the positive powers that Cities have in...
United Kingdom (Europe)
2011 - Joy Carey
Food production and ecosystem management - Policy Briefs
To boost the overall supply of horticultural produce to the world’s developing cities, FAO promotes the sustainable intensification of commercial market gardening on urban peripheries. In densely populated areas, it has a complementary strategy: to help low-income households improve their food and nutrition security by growing their own vegetables in...
(Global coverage)
2011 - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Food production and ecosystem management - Policy Briefs
The ongoing exodus of rural people to urban areas in developing countries has led to rapid and massive increases in the urban population. Often rural emigration results in the transfer of poverty, hunger and malnutrition from the countryside to towns and cities, a process known as the “urbanization of poverty”....
(Global coverage)
2011 - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)