The Center
A healthy world through sustainable food systems
«Our mission is to be a leader in scientific research, education and outreach across the food system that contributes to the key challenges of food and nutrition security, environmental health, and social well-being. We do this by working across temporal and spatial scales and in collaborative partnerships with key stakeholders.»
The World Food System Center at ETH Zurich
The World Food System Center was established at ETH Zurich based on the belief that the real-world solutions needed to tackle the challenges our food system faces require collaboration from global and local stakeholders across the entire food value chain. In order to do this, we support multi- and transdisciplinary approaches to addressing these challenges through research, education, and outreach activities that contribute to sustainable food security.
The Challenge
The question of how to feed the world in a way that ensures human health, environmental sustainability and social well-being is one of the defining and most complex global challenges of our time. ETH Zurich established the World Food System Center in 2011 in order to play a leading role in addressing these challenges.
In the coming decades, our food system will face unprecedented challenges in its ability to feed and nourish the world. These have arguably become the most pressing, complex, and defining challenges of our time.
- There are nearly a billion hungry people on the planet today, and billions more who suffer from the phenomenon of ‘hidden hunger’, which results from a chronic lack of access to sufficient nutrients and vitamins.
- There is also the paradox of high rates of overweight and obesity and the related consequences for human health.
- The environmental basis for food and agricultural production is facing unprecedented strain from phenomena such as climate change, resource constraints, emerging pests and pathogens, and deterioration of soil quality.