UNIVERSIDADE DA BEIRA INTERIOR, FACULTY OF HUMAN

SCIENCES, DEPARTMENT INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

GUZUN GRIGORE

FOOD CONSUMPTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE

ESSAY

Teacher: Liliana Domingues Reis Ferreira, Doctor pH

Student: Grigore Guzun

COVILHA, 2018

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 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION………………………………..…….……………………….….…………3

CHPATER 1. HISTORICAL APPROACHES………………………………………………..4

CHAPTER 2. CAUSES, EFFECTS, SOLUTIONS…………………………………………...7

CHAPTER 3. HOW TO PREVENT CLIMATE CHANGE…………………………………11

CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………….………12

CASE STUDY. 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.............13

BILBIOGRAPHY

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 INTRODUCTION
Contemporary1 food production, consumption and climate change
cannot be regarded as sustainable and raises problems with its wide scope
involving diverse actors. Moreover, in the face of demographic change
and a growing global population, sustainability problems arising from
food systems will likely become more serious in the future. For example,
agricultural production must deal with the impacts of climate change,
increasingly challenging land-use conflicts, and rising health and social
costs on both individual and societal levels. The unsustainability of current
arrangements arises from the industrialization and globalization of
agriculture and food processing, the shift of consumption patterns toward
more dietary animal protein, the emergence of modern food styles that
entail heavily processed products, the growing gap on a global scale
between rich and poor, and the paradoxical lack of food security amid an
abundance of food.
These factors are attributable to national and international policies
and regulations, as well as to prevalent business practices and, in
particular, consumers’ values and habits. The most effective ways for
affluent societies to reduce the environmental impact of their diets are to
reduce consumption of meat and dairy products (especially beef), to favor
organic fruits and vegetables, and to avoid goods that have been
transported by air on both individual and institutional levels (e.g., public
procurement, public catering). In examining the unsustainability of the
current food system this article reviews the pertinent literature to derive a
working definition of sustainable food consumption, outlines the major
issues and impacts of current food-consumption practices, and discusses
various policy interventions, including information-based instruments,

1
Sustainable Food Consumption: An Overview of Contemporary Issues and Policies, Article in Sustainability:
Science, Practice, and Policy · July 2013 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279550234

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 market-based initiatives, direct regulations, and “nudges.” It concludes
with a call for integrative, cross-sectoral, and population-wide policies
that address the full range of drivers of unsustainable food production and
consumption.
Climate change2, also called global warming, refers to the rise in
average surface temperatures on Earth. An overwhelming scientific
consensus maintains that climate change is due primarily to the human use
of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
into the air. The gases trap heat within the atmosphere, which can have a
range of effects on ecosystems, including rising sea levels, severe weather
events, and droughts that render landscapes more susceptible to wildfires.
Climate change 3in the world can be caused by various activities.
When climate change occurs; temperatures can increase a dramatically.
When temperature rises, many different changes can occur on Earth. For
example, it can result in more floods, droughts, or intense rain, as well as
more frequent and severe heat waves. Oceans and glaciers have also
experienced some changes: oceans are warming and becoming more
acidic, glaciers are melting, and sea levels are rising. As these changes
frequently occur in future decades, they will likely present challenges to
our society and environment.
CHAPTER 1. HISTORICAL APPROACHES
Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) has been defined by
the Norwegian Ministry of Environment during the Oslo Symposium in
1994, as being: a holistic approach to minimising negative environmental
impacts of the production– consumption systems in society. SCP aims to
maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of products, services, and

2
Food consumption and sustainability, Article in Journal of environmental protection and ecology · January
2012 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235918050
3
Climate Change https://www.ukessays.com/essays/environmental-sciences/causes-of-climate-change.php

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investments in such a manner that the needs of society are met without
jeopardising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
SCP is a practical approach in order to achieve a status of sustainable
development which addresses the economy, society and environment. As
practical purpose SCP aims to reduce emissions, increase efficiencies of
resource utilisation and as a result to prevent unnecessary wastage of
environmental resources. So we have to reanalyse the resources utilisation
through the process of goods and services, which starts with material
extraction, production, distribution, consumption, to waste management.
This concept has a strong social component, that of equity within and
between generations, improvement of quality of life, consumer protection
and corporate social responsibility. The detailed analysis carried out in
Western Europe has shown that food, together with housing and
transportation, is one of those consumption categories which causes the
highest environmental impacts in the light of the whole life. Production of
food has to take into consideration the whole process that starts with the
use of water and land, agriculture technology, all of those accounts for
most of the environmental impact of the food production and consumption
cycle. Moreover, we have to analyse the whole chain of food production
and consumption including the impact of transportation, processing,
packaging and retailing of food, and food wastes generated during
consumption and which is determined by the consumer behaviour.
The history of the scientific discovery of climate change began in the
early 19th century when ice ages and other natural changes in paleoclimate
were first suspected and the natural greenhouse effect first identified.
Greenhouse gases are like a blanket around the Earth, trapping energy in
the atmosphere and causing it to warm In the late 19th century, scientists
first argued that human emissions of greenhouse gases could change the
climate. Many other theories of climate change were advanced, involving

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forces from volcanism to solar variation. In the 1960s, the warming effect
of carbon dioxide gas became increasingly convincing. Some scientists
also pointed out that human activities that generated atmospheric aerosols
could have cooling effects as well. A warmer climate can bring changes
that can affect our water supplies, agriculture, power and transportation
systems, the natural environment, and even our own health and safety.
There are some climate changes that are unavoidable and nothing can be
done about it. For example, carbon dioxide can stay in the atmosphere for
nearly a century, so Earth will continue to warm in the future.
During the 1970s, global warming has really taken effect in the world
over the last century and scientific opinion increasingly favored the
warming viewpoint. By the 1990s, as a result of improving fidelity of
computer models and observational work confirming the Milankovitch
theory of the ice ages, a consensus position formed: greenhouse gases
were deeply involved in most climate changes and human caused
emissions were bringing discernible global warming. Since the 1990s,
scientific research on climate change has included multiple disciplines and
has expanded. Research has expanded our understanding of causal
relations, links with historic data and ability to model climate change
numerically. Research during this period has been summarized in the
Assessment Reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical
distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to
millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions, or in
the distribution of weather around the average conditions. Climate change
is caused by factors that include oceanic processes, biotic processes,
variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics and volcanic
eruptions, and human-induced alterations of the natural world. The latter

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 effect is currently causing global warming, and "climate change" is often
used to describe human-specific impacts.
CHAPTER 2. Causes, Effects, Solutions
The primary cause 4of climate change is the burning of fossil fuels,
such as oil and coal, which emits greenhouse gases into the atmosphere—
primarily carbon dioxide. Other human activities, such as agriculture and
deforestation, also contribute to the proliferation of greenhouse gases that
cause climate change. While some quantities of these gases are a naturally
occurring and critical part of Earth’s temperature control system, the
atmospheric concentration of CO2 did not rise above 300 parts per million
between the advent of human civilization roughly 10,000 years ago and
1900. Today it is at about 400 ppm, a level not reached in more than
400,000 years.
Even small increases in Earth’s5 temperature caused by climate
change can have severe effects. The earth’s average temperature has gone
up 1.4° F over the past century and is expected to rise as much as 11.5° F
over the next. That might not seem like a lot, but the average temperature
during the last Ice Age was about 4º F lower than it is today. Rising sea
levels due to the melting of the polar ice caps (again, caused by climate
change) contribute to greater storm damage; warming ocean temperatures
are associated with stronger and more frequent storms; additional rainfall,
particularly during severe weather events, leads to flooding and other
damage; an increase in the incidence and severity of wildfires threatens

4
Causes and effects of Climate Change https://www.ukessays.com/essays/environmental-sciences/the-causes-
and-effects-of-climate-changes-environmental-sciences-essay.php

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Tom Daschle and Michael Werz, Food Security and Climate Change New Frontiers in International Security,
April 12, 2016 https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/reports/2016/04/12/134865/food-security-and-
climate-change-new-frontiers-in-international-security/

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habitats, homes, and lives; and heat waves contribute to human deaths and
other consequences.
Another problem closely rlated to food consumption, is “Food
wasted”. The causes of food wasted are :
1. Lack of appropriate planning - people buy lots of food without
appropriately making plans on when and how the food will be prepared
for consumption.
2. Purchase and preparation of too much food - most of the time, food is
also wasted because of purchasing or preparing too much.
3. Errors in industrial processing and keeping up with food safety policies
- the food safety protocols give no room for error in industrial processing
or any other compromise that diminish quality of the final food products.
As such, the confusions and errors during industrial processing of food
mean that all food items that don’t meet the set standards are wasted.
4. Managerial, financial and technical constrains - this is mainly a
challenge contributing to food wastage in the developing countries. The
wastage takes place because of the constraints to do with lack proper
management, inadequate finances, and technical difficulties in the lines of
harvesting methods, storage and cooling problems in adverse weather
conditions, processing, packaging, infrastructure, and marketing systems.
5. Over-merchandizing and over-ordering in food stores and
supermarkets- the over-merchandizing of food items and products in retail
centers, wholesale markets, and supermarkets often result in food wastage.
Foodservice operations are habitually more focused on over-
merchandizing in food stores and supermarkets by using beautiful and
attractive displays thereby creating the idea of abundance in an attempt to
promote sales and customer satisfaction. The overlooked aspect of over-
merchandizing is its association with increased food waste. When people
buy more than needed, the excess will often end up in the trash bin. Over-

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 ordering also leads to expiry of food staff with limited shelf life as some
of it will remain unsold.
6. Consumer behavior - different customers have different preferences and
this highly influences consumer purchasing behavior on food items.
Particularly, the consumer behavior on focus here is the tendency of
having a keen insight for good judgment which results in those who only
prefer unblemished vegetables and fruits, and the restrictive must display
for shelf life dates.
The effects6 of food wasted are:
1. Biodiversity loss - food wastage impacts on biodiversity loss at a global
level. In order to maximize agricultural yields, farmers have
increasingly invaded wild areas in search for more fertile lands which
has led to loss of biodiversity.
2. Wastage of the 1/3 of the world fertile land areas - By looking at this
from a well thought analytical angle, the world is wasting 30 percent
of the world’s fertile land which could be used for other meaningful
purposes such as environmental research.
3. Blue water footprint - The volume of water used in agricultural food
production is immense. Therefore, if 30 percent of all the food
produced goes to waste, then it means that more than 30 percent of
freshwater used in the production and processing of food also goes to
waste. This contributes to blue water footprint which refers to the
amount of consumed surface and groundwater resources that goes to
waste.
4. Increased carbon footprint and the acceleration of climate change -
The food produced and then later goes to waste is estimated to be
equivalent to 3.3 billion tons of greenhouse gas emission, accelerating

6
Causes, Effects and Solutions of Food Wasted https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-
solutions-food-waste.php

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 the impacts of climate change. Research also has it that food waste is
the third biggest emitter of green house gases.
5. Economic consequences - In addition to the environmental impacts,
food wastage also results in direct economic costs. According to FAO’s
report estimates, the economic losses associated with food wastage is
about $750 billion dollars per annum.
The solutions for combating food wastage :
1. Balancing food production with demand - Foremost, precedence
should be centered on balancing food production with demand to
reduce the problem of food wastage. The first thing is to cut back
on the use of natural resources in food production. In hotels,
restaurants and the food service industry, risk management tools
can be applied.
2. Bettering food harvesting, storage, processing and distribution
processes - The second strategy should be placed on developing
efficient technologies and production systems that better storage,
harvesting, processing and the distribution processes.
Redistribution can be the initial strategy for supplying or
distributing more food to where there is need and reducing supply
where food is in surplus. Harvesting, storage and processing should
also be improved by governments and NGOs by availing subsidies
and training on better production practice, especially in developing
countries.
3. Food recycling - Food recycling efforts are already underway but
the technologies and methods used should be bettered. Starch-rich
foodstuff such as crisps, bread, biscuits and breakfast cereals can
for instance be recycled into high quality feeds for livestock. The
recycling of the food packaging materials can equally reduce over-
exploitation of virgin material. If it’s completely unfit for

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 consumption, it can still be converted for other uses instead of being
taken to the landfills to emit methane gas.
4. Consumers to buy and prepare food with a plan - The use of meal
plans in preparing food can go a long way in ending food wastage.
Consumers should only buy food according to their plans or in small
batches to reduce the food that goes to waste due to expiration after
long storage periods.
CHAPTER 3. PREVENTION OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Global warming is a big social and environmental issue which
needs to be solved on urgent basis by the end of each and every person.
We should stop all the activities causing increase in the environmental
temperature and level of carbon oxide including other green house
gases in the air. We are releasing poison to the air after each drive.
There are lots of activities of all of us causing increase in the
environmental temperature however we are totally unaware of. Use of
hot water for many purposes, use of ordinary bulbs, unnecessary use
of electronic devices, cutting plants, burning wood during winter or
other seasons for other purposes, burning fuel in transportation, and
many more. We should measures which are highly efficient and eco
friendly to the environment.
We should not cut plants instead we should do more planting in
order to lessen the CO2 level in the atmosphere. Deforestation
completely disturbs the ecology balance and affects the whole world.
The rise in the environmental temperature is going at a faster rate in
few last decades. According to the NASA and National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it is evaluated that the primary
cause of increasing global temperature is human behaviour, activities
and life styles. We should reduce our energy use whether at home or
work place because high level energy use contributes high level of

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 carbon dioxide. Fossil fuels are burned to get energy for many purposes
but releases lots of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. So, reducing
our energy use we can contribute towards reducing the personal carbon
footprint.
Use of compact fluorescent or LED lights in place of ordinary
bulbs reduces the energy use up to 75 percent and lasts longer. We
should make sure that we are not wasting energy by any means
unnecessarily. We should reduce our dependence over fossil fuels,
electric lights, etc instead use green power which produces energy from
the renewable sources such as solar light or wind. Transportation of
materials from outside or other cities causes emission of more CO2.
So, we should buy locally manufactured goods with minimal
packaging in order to reduce CO2 emission and wastes. We should
make habit of recycling goods or donate them instead of throwing
them.
Instead of using our personal means of transport, we should use
public transport means like bus, train, etc to reduce the emission of
poisonous chemicals and pollutants to the air and lessen the risk of
global warming. We should minimize our use of appliances and
maintain our automobiles as well as make habit of reduce needs, reuse
and recycle things.
CONCLUSION
The production of good policy requires both policy-minded
researchers and research-minded policy makers, which is all the more
important in the food domain where drafting effective policies to foster
sustainable food consumption requires an understanding of the entire food
system and all its interactions and dependencies. Its opposite, the tendency
to view single aspects of sustainability as unrelated—to dissociate food
production from nutritional behavior, economic aspects from social

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 aspects, health aspects from environmental aspects, and everyday meal
planning from other life areas like employment, housework, and leisure—
is responsible for the limited success of many approaches tried so far. A
first priority, therefore, is to develop integrative, cross-sectoral,
population-wide policies that address such issues as agriculture and food
supply, availability and access to food, physical activity, welfare and
social benefits, fiscal policies, and information and marketing, all
important elements discussed in this article.
While consensus among nearly all scientists, scientific organizations,
and governments is that climate change is happening and is caused by
human activity, a small minority of voices questions the validity of such
assertions and prefers to cast doubt on the preponderance of evidence.
Climate change deniers often claim that recent changes attributed to
human activity can be seen as part of the natural variations in Earth’s
climate and temperature, and that it is difficult or impossible to establish
a direct connection between climate change and any single weather event,
such as a hurricane. While the latter is generally true, decades of data and
analysis support the reality of climate change—and the human factor in
this process. In any case, economists agree that acting to reduce fossil fuel
emissions would be far less expensive than dealing with the consequences
of not doing so.
CASE STUDY. 2009 United Nations Climate Change
Conference in Copenhagen and Upcoming Conference in Amman,
Jordan on 20th August 2018.
Many international commentators have seen the Climate Change
Conference7 in Copenhagen in December 2009 as a failure of the
international community to find an agreement on CO2 reductions. Even

7
Copenhagen Accord https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/cop15/eng/11a01.pdf

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 though negotiators reached aso-called “Copenhagen Agreement”, experts
believe that it is not enough to give a sustainable future to the
world.Sustainable development is a matter of global concern
.Environmental damage or poverty-induced migration flows do not make
halt atnational borders. Hence, it is common to talk about environmental
damage in terms of negative externalities. Citizens all over the world bear
the cost of pollution, but regulations can only be implemented on a
national level. This makes it necessary for the global community to work
together and to find common agreements.Yet, the international system is
often described like a system of anarchy where national interests
predominate. As a result, it depends on skillful negotiators to reach an
agreement in which all states can assert their interests.
Journalists, policy-makers and scholars have cited the national
interests of China as a particular reason for the failure of the conference.
As a fast industrializing country, China aims to drive forward industrial
development and growth of its economy, potentially to the detriment of its
own environment. In opposition to China8, the European Union acted as
the most fervent supporter of sustainable environmental development and
pushed for ambitious emission reductions. However, it was remarkably
unsuccessful in convincing China of stronger environmental
commitments in Copenhagen.
A preliminary assessment published in November 2010 by the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) suggests a possible
"emissions gap" between the voluntary pledges made in the Copenhagen
Accord and the emissions cuts necessary to have a "likely" (greater than
66% probability) chance of meeting the 2 °C objective.The UNEP

8
The EU-China cooperation in sustainable development https://www.scribd.com/document/62443268/The-EU-
China-cooperation-in-sustainable-development

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assessment takes the 2 °C objective as being measured against the pre-
industrial global mean temperature level. To having a likely chance of
meeting the 2 °C objective, assessed studies generally indicated the need
for global emissions to peak before 2020, with substantial declines in
emissions thereafter.
On 20th august 2018, in Amman, Jordan will take place an
International Conference on Food Security and Climate Change in dry
areas. The main themes for this conference are following :
1. Current status of climate change in the dry areas: simulations and
scenarios
2. Impacts of climate change on natural resource availability
(especially water), agricultural production systems and environmental
degradation in dry areas
3. Impacts of climate change on food security, livelihoods and
poverty in dry areas
4. Mitigation, adaptation and ecosystem resilience strategies: natural
resource management, crop improvement, etc
5. Policy and institutional options to ensure an enabling environment
to cope with climate change impacts.
Many specialists have said that objectives are relative with the
themes, because it is very important in present context and it is about
human, wild life the most important thing. Some of them have said that
the probability to achieve a common accord is very small.
1. Share and exchange experiences with national and international
experts and other stakeholders on food security issues expected to be
impacted by climate change especially in the dry areas.
2. Identify technologies, economic/policy options, and development
priorities in target regions to cope with climate change through the

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 implementation of strategies for mitigation, adaptation and ecosystem
resilience.
3. Identify effective mechanisms of partnerships for cooperation
between national, regional and international organizations.
4. Mobilize human and financial resources to enhance regional and
international cooperation and support research and development activities
to cope with climate change .
More information:
https://www.preventionweb.net/events/view/12602?id=12602

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Sustainable Food Consumption: An Overview of Contemporary Issues and Policies,
Article in Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy · July 2013
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279550234
2. Food consumption and sustainability, Article in Journal of environmental protection
and ecology · January 2012 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235918050
3. Tom Daschle and Michael Werz, Food Security and Climate Change New Frontiers in
International Security, Center for American Progress, April 12, 2016
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/reports/2016/04/12/134865/food-
security-and-climate-change-new-frontiers-in-international-security/
4. The EU-China cooperation in sustainable development
https://www.scribd.com/document/62443268/The-EU-China-cooperation-in-
sustainable-development
5. Copenhagen Accord https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/cop15/eng/11a01.pdf
6. Climate Change https://www.ukessays.com/essays/environmental-sciences/causes-of-
climate-change.php
7. Causes, Effects and Solutions of Food Wasted https://www.conserve-energy-
future.com/causes-effects-solutions-food-waste.php
8. Causes and effects of Climate Change
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/environmental-sciences/the-causes-and-effects-of-
climate-changes-environmental-sciences-essay.php

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