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
The rapid expansion of cities in West Africa has implications for urban cropland.This study aimed to assess the dynamics of cropland in West African cities overtime and space, to identify key drivers, and to report the effects of changing cropland on farmers and farmers’ resilience strategies. Cities studied were Accra...
Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali (Africa)
2020 - Karg H, Drechsel P, DittrichN, Cauchois A.
Governance and planning, Food production and ecosystem management - Articles
Interest in urban gardening is growing as a means of enhancing social contact and reusing urban spaces. This practice, in fact, has positive effects in social and environmental terms. Because of these effects, urban gardening has spread especially in extensively urbanized and metropolitan areas where land consumption and pollution are...
Italy (Europe)
2020 - Valentina Cattivelli
Governance and planning, Food production and ecosystem management - Articles
This webpage lists past and forthcoming global, regional events on Urban and Peri-Urban Forestry organized by a broad range of partners. Cconference papers and proceedings, agendas are available (some in English and some in Spanish).  
(Global coverage)
2020 - FAO
Governance and planning, Food production and ecosystem management, Food supply and distribution - Directories
The FLEdGE network (Food: Locally Embedded, Globally Engaged) includes researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, and community partners working together to make food systems more sustainable. On this page you will find resources and publications resulting from that collaborative, community-driven work. FLEdGE aims to create and share useful tools, stories from the field,...
Canada (North America)
2020 -
Food production and ecosystem management, Food supply and distribution - Articles
As a contribution to the World Food Day, Mazingira Institute supported by Water Land and Ecosystems (WLE) has published a photo story on the informal food operations in Nairobi in times of COVID-19. With photos, the narrative illustrates the experiences and coping mechanisms of farmers, traders, urban poor consumers, and...
Kenya (Africa)
2020 - Samuel Ikua