Agroecology and the Transition to Sustainable Food Systems

Around the world, food systems are struggling to provide healthy, diversified diets for all. At the same time, sustainable farming practices that ensure environmental health as well as social well-being urgently need to be implemented.

To address these challenges, agroecology is on the rise around the world.

Agroecology is a promising integrated and holistic approach that aims at transforming food systems. At its core is the sustainable conservation and protection of biodiversity and natural resources through the co-creation and sharing of knowledge. It is based on bottom-up, territorial, and interdisciplinary processes striving to deliver contextualized solutions to local problems. Special emphasis lies on the empowerment of farmers and other food system actors as key agents of change.

Agroecology is not a new concept. It has already been applied for decades in family farmers' practices and has guided both policymakers and grassroots social movements in different countries around the world. However, more recently global discussions on the role of agroecology in food system transformation across its three different dimensions, namely scientific discipline, agricultural practice, and political-social movement became more intense and broader.

This public lecture series provided a variety of perspectives on the topic of agroecology. Experts on various elements of agroecology provided inputs and share state-of-the-art knowledge. They discussed benefits and the potential of agroecology to contribute to sustainable food system transformation but also challenges and limitations. The public lectures were thematically structured along the 13 principles of agroecology, proposed by the High-Level Panel of Experts for Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security. In the fall of 2022, the series of five lectures highlighted the principles of biodiversity, animal health, social values, participation, and land and natural resource use governance.

We thank all the contributors for sharing their knowledge and perspectives in these discussions.