City region food systems and food waste management: Linking urban and rural areas for sustainable and resilient development
This policy brief (PDF) from GIZ, RUAF en FAO describes the results of 13 case studies on city region food systems and food waste management. It provides lessons learned on the institutionalisation of city region food policies and programs; provisioning of national and legal frameworks embedding city region food systems in broader legislation, on strengthening of coordination and collaboration across horizontal and vertical government levels, and on design of specific programs and policies for sustainable city region food systems. The brief concludes that City region food systems (CRFS) are vital to the implementation of the New Urban Agenda in three key ways. First the benefits of CRFS are multiple and stretch far beyond the food system to key policy areas of concern to the NUA, including local economic development and urban governance, spatial and economic planning, public health, and ecosystem protection. Second, the development of CRFS can generate positive political support for wider urban-rural linkages through coalition building centered on food. And thirdly, CRFS merit attention in their own right, given the importance of addressing more sustainable urban food systems and rural development.