Meat consumption as a wicked problem : evidence from data and policies

Sustainable food production and consumption is fundamental to the achievement of the worldwide UN Sustainable Development Goals. For a food system to be sustainable, it needs to provide adequate nutrition and food security while ensuring that all the conditions necessary for food security and adequate nutrition of future generations are not compromised. Among all economic sectors, food has the most significant impact on the environment, especially with regards to animal products, and meat in particular. Thus, dietary choices, and the levels of meat consumption specifically, have a heavy impact on the use of global resources, making the adoption of more sustainable diets very relevant worldwide. This also makes a fitting case for wicked problems, characterized by a considerable scientific uncertainty, non-linear development and lack of consensus, and for which solutions can only be developed as “better or worse”. The objective of this work is first to contribute, with evidence from data analysis, to an increasing awareness of how meat consumption impacts environmental resources globally and why it should be considered a wicked problem that should be managed adequately. The second aim is to investigate the status of action and awareness in civil society regarding the environmental impacts of meat, and to assess the potential of academia to foster change. For the first part of the analysis, the main input was quantitative data from the statistical database of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Three different indicators considering the amount of land required for animal products production, the amount of (beef, poultry and pig) meat eaten per capita per year, and the number of animals slaughtered per capita per year were analyzed through a statistical converge assessment. The timeframe of the analysis was 1961-2009. Open-source data from Terra-i and PRODES added information on specific aspects related to land use. The first results underlined the fact that meat consumption is already converging globally, with slight decreases in consumption levels in a few Western countries, but major increases in some developing countries. While the number of animals slaughtered per capita has decreased in Northern America, Oceania, and Southern Europe during the last decade, the global average has more than tripled, due to significant increases in Eastern Asia, Central, and South America, especially as regards poultry meat: such developments have resulted in an overall decrease of consistency equal to 260%. Overall, the results supported the hypothesis that different regions are progressing towards the same patterns of meat consumption at different speeds. In a case example, the data concerning land use in the biodiversity hotspot of Madre de Dios in Peru showed how deforestation is driven by the demand for meat; with a considerable percentage of the forest being converted to permanent meadows and pastures, with a noteworthy correlation between the amount of forest cleared and the distance from road infrastructures. It can therefore be concluded that if alternative and more sustainable agricultural practices (including agroforestry) were to be introduced throughout the region, there would be a much greater prospect for biodiversity conservation. The second part of the analysis was carried out as a review of existing food policies and dietary guidelines worldwide, including a literature review and data available from the FAO database. A semi-structured questionnaire was also used to assess the potential role of academia in fostering the change towards more sustainable diets. The review showed that awareness and policy action concerning the impact of meat consumption on environmental resources is relatively scarce. It can be argued that this general lack of policies and supporting guidelines related to sustainable diets hinders a more consistent awareness in civil society concerning the relevance and urgency of this matter: as earlier research has shown, currently, the majority of people still struggle to see the connection between the reduction of individual meat consumption levels and global environmental benefits. This thesis concludes that, when looking at meat consumption as a wicked problem, it then becomes evident that a more widespread cooperation among all sectors and stakeholders would be key to bringing about a significant change, and academia could have a more relevant role in this sense. Participatory and action research approaches in academia could contribute to the adoption of sustainable diets, particularly with regard to reducing meat consumption. The thesis, furthermore, discusses how serious and urgent it is to reduce the environmental impacts generated by meat consumption, and how academia could act as an example for the rest of society.Globaalisti kestävälle pohjalle rakentuva ruokajärjestelmä on yksi keskeisimpiä tekijöitä YK:n kestävän kehityksen ohjelman tavoitteiden saavuttamisessa. Kestävä ruokajärjestelmä takaa kaikille riittävän ravinnon saannin, sekä ruokaturvallisuuden, kuitenkaan vaarantamatta näiden reunaehtojen toteutumista myös tulevilla sukupolvilla. Eri talouden aloista juuri ruoalla on merkittävin vaikutus ympäristöön. Eläinperäisten tuotteiden, erityisesti lihan, merkitys korostuu ruoantuotannon sekä –kulutuksen ympäristövaikutuksia tarkasteltaessa. Ihmisten ruokavalioihin liittyvät valinnat ohjaavatkin ruoantuotannon hyödyntämien resurssien käyttöä globaalissa mittakaavassa. Erityisesti lihan osalta kestävämpiin tuotanto ja kulutuskäytäntöhin siirtyminen on ensiarvoisen tärkeää niin paikallisella kuin globaalillakin tasolla. Lihantuotantoon nojaavaa ruokajärjestelmää koskevat haasteet ovat oiva esimerkki pirullisesta ongelmasta, jota leimaa tieteellinen epävarmuus, epälineaarisuus sekä konsensuksen puute. Pirulliselle ongelmalle ei ole yksiselitteisiä, ”oikeita tai vääriä” vastauksia. Tämän työ tarkastelee empiirisesti lihan kulutuksen vaikutuksia ympäristöresurssien käyttöön globaalissa mittakaavassa. Edelleen työssä perustellaan miksi nykyistä ruokajärjestelmää koskevia haasteita on syytä lähestyä pirullisina ongelmina, jotta niitä osataan hallita asianmukaisesti. Toiseksi tavoitteena on selvittää, millä tasolla lihankulutuksen ympäristövaikutukset tiedostetaan sekä kansalaisyhteiskunnassa että käytännön ruokapolitiikassa eri puolilla maailmaa. Työssä myös hahmotetaan akateemisen kentän mahdollisuuksia toimia muutosta tukevana voimana matkalla kohti kestävämpää ruokajärjestelmää. Työn ensimmäisessä, kvantitatiivisessa osassa hyödynnettiin Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) ylläpitämää tietokantaa. Analyysissä tarkasteltiin lihantuotannon sekä -kulutuksen globaalia kehitystä 1961 – 2009. Käytetyt kansalliset indikaattorit koskivat eläinperäisten tuotteiden tuotantoon käytettyä pinta-alaa, vuotuista asukaslukuun suhteutettua teurastettujen eläinten määrää sekä vuotuista naudan-, sian ja linnunlihan kulutusta henkeä kohden. Analyysi suoritettiin käyttämällä statistical converge assessment. Lisäksi maankäyttöä koskevia tietoja täydennettiin Terra-I ja PRODES tietokantojen datalla. Tuloksista havaittiin, että kokonaisuudessaan lihan kulutus on kasvanut merkittävästi: vaikka joissain länsimaissa kulutus on hieman vähenynyt, niin vastaavasti kehittyvissä maissa, kuten Kiinassa, kulutus on usein noussut huomattavasti. Myös teuraaksi päätyneiden eläinten globaali keskiarvo on kasvanut yli kolminkertaiseksi viimeisen 10-15 aikana. Kasvu selittyy pitkälti Itä-Aasian sekä Keski- ja Etelä-Amerikan kasvaneella siipikarjan kulutuksella, jossa teurastettujen eläinten määrä on kasvanut 260 %. Pohjois-Amerikassa, Etelä-Euroopassa sekä Oseaniassa määrät ovat sen sijaan vähentyneet. Kaiken kaikkiaan tulokset tukivat hypoteesia siitä, että lihan tuotanto- ja kulutuskäytännöt ovat globaalisti tarkasteltuna yhdenmukaistumassa vaihtelevin nopeuksin alueesta riippuen. Case tutkimusbiodiversiteetiltään monipuolisen Perun Madre de Diosin alueen maankäytöstä toi esiin, miten kasvava lihan kysyntä on yhteydessä metsien häviämiseen. Tuloksista havaittiin,että suuria osia metsää on muutettu pysyvästi laiduinmaiksi sekä niityiksi, hakkuiden korreloidessa merkittävästi tieverkon etäisyyden kanssa. Onkin selvää, että vaihtoehtoisten, kestävämpien maanviljelykäytäntöjen käyttöönotto parantaisi huomattavasti alueen biodiversiteetin suojelumahdollisuuksia. Lihan tuotanto- ja kulutuskäytäntöjen lisäksi tässä väitöksessä vertaillaan vallitsevia ruokapoliittisia linjanvetoja sekä virallisia ruokasuosituksia. Tämä globaali vertailu suoritettiin hyödyntämällä keskeisiä kansallisia ruokapolittisia ja ravintosuosituksia koskevia dokumentteja sekä FAO:n tietokannan tietoja. Lisäksi alan opiskelijoille tehdyn puolistrukturoidun kyselyn perusteella arvioitiin akateemisen yhteisön potentiaalia kohti kestävämpiä ruokavalioita suuntautuvan muutoksen fasilitoijana. Vallitsevan ruokapolitiikan sekä ravintosuositusten vertailu osoitti, että lihankulutuksen ympäristövaikutusten tiedostaminen sekä huomioiminen käytännön toimissa on globaalilla tasolla verrattain vähäistä. Kestävien ruokapoliittisten linjanvetojen sekä käytännön ohjenuorien puutteen voikin nähdä esteenä ongelman mittakaavan sekä kiireellisyyden laajemmalle tiedostamiselle – myös aiemman tutkimuksen mukaan tällä hetkellä suurin osa ihmisistä ei nää yhteyttä yksilöllisen lihankulutuksen vähentämisen sekä globaalien ympäristöhyötyjen välillä. Lihankulutusta olisikin syytä käsitellä pirullisena onglemana, jolloin olisi helpompi tunnistaa, että entistä laaja-alaisempi yhteistyö keskeisten sidösryhmien kesken on avainasemassa muutoksen aikaansaamisessa. Edelleen myös akateemisella yhteisöllä voisi olla aiempaa keskeisempi rooli kestävämpien ruoankulutuskäytäntöjen omaksumisessa esimerkiksi toimintatutkimuksen kautta. Lisäksi väitöskirjassa pohditaan, kuinka kiireellinen asia lihankulutuksen vähentäminen ympäristön kannalta on, ja miten akateeminen kenttä voisi toimia esimerkkinä yhteiskunnan muille osa-alueille

Key Trends of Climate Change in the ASEAN Countries : The IPAT Decomposition Analysis 1980–2005

Decomposition analyses of energy consumption and CO2 emissions have mainly focused on effects of changes in economic activity, energy intensity and fuel mix, and structural changes in energy consumption in different countries or different sectors of the economy. This e-Book introduces a different perspective by identifying five globally relevant factors affecting CO2 emissions. Changes in carbon intensity of primary energy, efficiency of the energy system, energy intensity of the economy, level of economic development, and the amount of population have been identified by extending the well-known IPAT identity

Global meat consumption trends and local deforestation in Madre de Dios: assessing land use changes and other environmental impacts

AbstractMeat consumption is becoming one of the most relevant sectors in terms of environmental impacts globally. In the Brazilian Amazon the effects of this process are seen in the ongoing deforestation and land-use change (about 65% of deforestation can be linked to cattle ranching). One of the main causes of this trend is the increased efficiency of the transport infrastructure: along both sides of the Brazilian Inter-Oceanic highway, about 50km of rainforest have been converted to cattle ranching. In 2011 the Inter-Oceanic highway was finalized also on the Peruvian side: the region of Madre de Dios is neighboring the Brazilian Amazon, therefore the risk is that this area will undergo the same kind of development.The objective of this analysis is to highlight the contribution of global meat demand trend as cause of land use change and deforestation in the Madre de Dios region. This focus has been chosen since, nowadays, the magnitude of cattle ranching activities is hidden by more evident and damaging activities (e.g., gold mining), and its near-future effects risk to be underestimated. By starting with investigating the preliminary signals of cattle ranching contribution to the local deforestation process, this analysis will serve as basis for more comprehensive future works on local data, including monitoring campaigns of local biodiversity and GHG emissions. Land-use change is, thus, analyzed through FAO data and also through data acquired with remote sensing carried out within other projects. Meat consumption and production outcomes are obtained from the FAOSTAT database. By integrating trends in the regional meat consumption with the emerging trading effects, which are incremented by the new highway, it is possible to highlight the risk that the global convergence in meat consumption trends can locally influence the deforestation in Madre de Dios

Validation and Verification of High-Fidelity Simulations of Thoracic Stent-Graft Implantation

Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair (TEVAR) is the preferred treatment option for thoracic aortic pathologies and consists of inserting a self-expandable stent-graft into the pathological region to restore the lumen. Computational models play a significant role in procedural planning and must be reliable. For this reason, in this work, high-fidelity Finite Element (FE) simulations are developed to model thoracic stent-grafts. Experimental crimp/release tests are performed to calibrate stent-grafts material parameters. Stent pre-stress is included in the stent-graft model. A new methodology for replicating device insertion and deployment with explicit FE simulations is proposed. To validate this simulation, the stent-graft is experimentally released into a 3D rigid aortic phantom with physiological anatomy and inspected in a computed tomography (CT) scan at different time points during deployment with an ad-hoc set-up. A verification analysis of the adopted modeling features compared to the literature is performed. With the proposed methodology the error with respect to the CT is on average 0.92 +/- 0.64%, while it is higher when literature models are adopted (on average 4.77 +/- 1.83%). The presented FE tool is versatile and customizable for different commercial devices and applicable to patient-specific analyses

Guidelines on the diagnosis, treatment and management of visceral and renal arteries aneurysms: a joint assessment by the Italian Societies of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (SICVE) and Medical and Interventional Radiology (SIRM)

: The objective of these Guidelines is to provide recommendations for the classification, indication, treatment and management of patients suffering from aneurysmal pathology of the visceral and renal arteries. The methodology applied was the GRADE-SIGN version, and followed the instructions of the AGREE quality of reporting checklist. Clinical questions, structured according to the PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome) model, were formulated, and systematic literature reviews were carried out according to them. Selected articles were evaluated through specific methodological checklists. Considered Judgments were compiled for each clinical question in which the characteristics of the body of available evidence were evaluated in order to establish recommendations. Overall, 79 clinical practice recommendations were proposed. Indications for treatment and therapeutic options were discussed for each arterial district, as well as follow-up and medical management, in both candidate patients for conservative therapy and patients who underwent treatment. The recommendations provided by these guidelines simplify and improve decision-making processes and diagnostic-therapeutic pathways of patients with visceral and renal arteries aneurysms. Their widespread use is recommended

Fostering empathy towards effective sustainability teaching: from the Food Sustainability Index educational toolkit to a new pedagogical model

Teaching sustainability in higher education is far from being an easy task. The idea of sustainability itself risks remaining an abstract and out-of-reach concept unless it is taught to develop practical solutions. Lecturers approaching sustainability in higher education, often do not have the overall knowledge and resources to effectively present the topic to their students. This chapter presents the principles needed to develop a new pedagogy for sustainability accounting for the role of empathy. The teaching approach is developed starting from the use of the Food Sustainability Index (FSI) as an educational tool – named FSI Edu – for teaching food sustainability in higher education settings. FSI assesses food sustainability adopting a systematic approach and showing the complexity of food sustainability issues. After a theoretical introduction, the chapter describes two experiments based on the FSI Edu at the Bachelor and Master Degree level. These experiments built the starting point for an educational model – named EOE – to foster the empathic process: its three steps are key for sustainability teaching in higher education

Empathy, food systems and design thinking for fostering youth agency in sustainability: A new pedagogical model

To be fully grasped, the concept of sustainability needs to be brought to life through practical applications. Food represents an ideal starting point to examine the complexity of sustainability; the integration of dimensions such as nutrition, environment, society, and economics, and related perspectives, is fundamental for a sustainable transition. New transdisciplinary competences are needed to go beyond the state of the art. In this context, empathy and design thinking (DT) can effectively contribute in teaching sustainability of food systems. This chapter presents three case studies to test an innovative pedagogical model based on the coupling of DT with a systemic and empathic approach (including empathy toward yourself, toward others, and the whole planet). This proves to be effective in increasing both the understanding of the complexity of food sustainability and the agency of youth. Furthermore, the chapter presents recommendations for integrating such approach into food sustainability education