Foodscapes: toward food system transition

This report introduces foodscapes. Foodscapes are the geographical components of the global food system, a combination of production system and place that represents the world food system spatially. Mapping and analyzing foodscapes reveal the transitions needed on the ground to meet this century’s most pressing challenge: the threats posed by climate change, biodiversity loss, and increased demand on the integrity of the global food system. Foodscapes help all those involved in organizing and reforming the world food system — policymakers, producers, community leaders, researchers, journalists, decision makers in the private and public sectors in general — to take the vital first step of moving from a global analysis to what needs to happen where and how it might come about. That first step revolves around naturebased solutions: ways of managing food production systems that restore and rebuild natural systems, rather than exhaust them. The report maps the world's foodscapes and assesses their current condition. It looks at the threats they face, and the opportunities that exist through nature-based solutions to transition to a food system able to meet demand while conserving biodiversity, rebuilding ecosystem services, mitigating climate change and increasing the resilience necessary to weather climate change impacts. The report includes examination of what the transition could look like in 10 specific foodscapes.