Suchergebnisse

The future EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) requires coherence with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the international commitments in the fight against climate change. Next to ensuring stable food supply by supporting farmers and enhancing agricultural productivity, environmental sustainability is a core aspect of the proposed future CAP. At the same time, new policies must not compromise socio-economic development in low-income countries, especially in Africa, as stated in the European consensus on development. On the contrary, the extensification of agriculture in the EU may create trade opportunities for African countries. We apply a global agri-economic model to assess trade-related impacts of potential, environmentally motivated changes of CAP policies in the EU and Africa. Our findings suggest that EU production levels of meat would change with a stronger environmental focus of the CAP. These changes reduce the EU's share in agri-trade flows to Africa. However, food supply in Africa is not projected to deteriorate, as imports from other world regions and, to a limited extent, increasing domestic production can fill the gap. In how far potentials for domestic production growth can be used in African regions depends at least partly on their competitiveness vis-á-vis substituting importers. A sensitivity analysis on reduced transport costs shows that infrastructure investments could contribute to a stronger integration of Africa in international markets. On a global level, our analysis reveals the need to balance sustainability trade-offs in terms of avoiding leakage effects from EU agricultural production changes versus facilitating economic growth potentials in low- and middle-income countries.

In this paper, we explore the extent to which the evolution of the EU food system to 2030 is likely to contribute to achieving dedicated SDGs considering also interactions, synergies, and trade- offs with the rest of the world. Given the multiplicity of the SDGs, we examine a subset of goals and indicators, related to major social, economic, and environmental issues. In particular, we trace the developments of representative SDG indicators up to 2030 in order to identify possible synergies and trade-offs towards meeting these goals using a modelling toolbox comprised of economic agricultural sector models. FIT4FOOD2030 deliverable 2.1 (Wepner et al., 2018) has discussed several foresight drivers in detail and in isolation. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015, are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - as they recognize the importance of working together to combat the growing challenges facing the world. The multiple development goals with a focus on sustainability cover a wide range of social, economic, and environmental topics including, but not limited to, ending poverty, improving health and education, reducing inequality, spurring economic growth, tackling climate change, and preserving natural resources. As the heart of the 2030 agenda, these well-inclusive policy goals provide a shared blueprint for prosperity for all people on the planet, with a clear-targeted, traceable, and measurable approach. There is an expanding literature that has assessed the importance of food systems transformation in achieving the global goals. Agricultural development is essential for the reduction of poverty and hunger (World Bank 2008). Natural resource use related to agriculture and food is inequitable at present, and the benefits from the food system are unequally distributed (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), 2018). In order to achieve the SDGs there is a need for combined action towards a food supply that is ...