Food Systems, Sustainability and Climate Change Food Systems, Sustainability and Climate Change Glossary

Benefits people derive from ecosystem. Ecosystem services are typically grouped in four broad categories: provisioning, such as the production of food and water; regulating, such as the control of climate and disease; supporting, such as nutrient cycles and crop pollination; and cultural, such as spiritual and recreational benefits. (Source: Wikipedia)

This term was defined by Congress in 2008 as an area in the USA with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly such an area composed of predominantly lower income neighborhoods and communities

The USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) defines food insecurity as a household characteristic. Food insecure households are those for which “consistent access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money and other resources at times during the year” (See more at: USDA-ERS).

The state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. During the first decade of this century, more than 800 million people live every day with hunger or food insecurity as their constant companion (see also National Academy of Science definitions).

Food losses refer to the decrease in edible food mass throughout the part of the supply chain that specifically leads to edible food for human consumption. Food losses take place at production, post-harvest and processing stages in the food supply chain. Food losses occurring at the end of the food chain (retail and final consumption) are rather called “food waste”, which relates to retailers’ and consumers’ behavior.

Food security exists “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.” According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the three pillars of food security are: availability, access and (safe) utilization. In addition you can learn about the four dimensions of food insecurity at the FAO website.

Food waste is a component of food loss and occurs when an edible item goes unconsumed as a result of human action or inaction, such as food discarded by retailers as a result of appearance or plate waste by consumers.

Any of the atmospheric gases, both natural and anthropogenic, that contribute to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation produced by solar warming of the Earth's surface. Water vapor (H₂O), carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (NO₂) and ozone (O₃) are the primary greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Heat trapping effect of greenhouse gases in the troposphere (lowest portion of the earth's atmosphere)

Enabling a person to discover or learn something for themselves. Techniques, activities or lessons that allow someone to discover something for himself or by finding solutions through experiments or loosely defined rules.

LCA addresses the environmental aspects and potential environmental impacts (e.g. use of resources and the environmental consequences of releases) throughout a product's life cycle from raw material acquisition through production, use, end-of-life treatment, recycling and final disposal (i.e. cradle-to-grave). There are four phases in an LCA study: a) the goal and scope definition phase, b) the inventory analysis phase, c) the impact assessment phase, and d) the interpretation phase (ISO 2006).

Study directed toward gaining (scientific) knowledge to meet a recognized need

Study directed toward gaining (scientific) knowledge primarily for its own sake

The capacity of a system to buffer shock and stresses. The ability to recover from setbacks, adapt well to change, and keep going in the face of adversity.

Sustainability is a holistic concept that built on three inter-related pillars: environmental, social and economic. To be sustainable, any entrepreneurial activity must be economically viable, ecologically healthy and socially equitable. A universal definition of sustainability was given for the first time by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in the Brundtland report published under the auspices of the United Nations in 1987.

Narrowly defined, SI refers to increase food production from existing farmland in ways that place far less pressure on the environment and that do not undermine our capacity to continue producing food in the future. However, Garnett et al. (2013) added the following four premises underlying SI: (a) The need to increase production; (b) Increase production must be met through higher yields because increasing the area of land in agriculture carries major environmental costs; (c) Food security requires as much attention to increasing environmental sustainability as to raising productivity; and (d) SI denotes a goal but does not specify a priori how it should be attained or which agricultural techniques to deploy.