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Transforming China's food system: Researchers assess potential pathways for sustainability

According to a study in Nature Food, China's current trajectory is misaligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Researchers assessed potential pathways for achieving the SDGs in China by transforming its food system, focusing on dietary changes, climate change mitigation, ecological conservation, and socio-economic development.

"Action across all areas of the food system is required to achieve a sustainable food system and efficiently address the wide range of social and environmental challenges such as reducing malnutrition, mitigating climate change, protecting biodiversity, and ensuring livelihoods," says lead author Xiaoxi Wang, scientist at PIK and ZJU.

"We found that transitioning to healthy diets resulted in the fewest trade-offs, improving nutrition, health, the environment, and livelihoods," says PIK scientist Benjamin Bodirsky, author of the study. These trade-offs can be minimized by bundling measures aimed at public health, environmental sustainability, and livelihood improvement into a comprehensive approach. This emphasizes the importance of coordinated efforts to achieve a sustainable food system.

Using an integrated modeling framework that evaluated 18 outcome indicators, the scientists quantified the impacts of various policy measures and the trade-offs associated with pursuing public health, environmental sustainability, and livelihood improvements separately.

"Our findings suggest that a holistic approach to food system transformation, addressing these challenges together, is essential for steering China towards its SDG targets," says PIK scientist Hermann Lotze-Campen, author of the study.