HEALTH POLICIES FOR SUSTAINABLE NUTRITION: THE GLOBAL EXPERIENCES

Food production and consumption are important for spatial planning, ecology, public health, and animal welfare. This is a multisectoral entity, for which no single, coherent, and consistent ‘food policy’ exists (1). Defined as low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and healthy life for present and future generations , sustainable nutrition is an essential prerequisite for sustainable development, poverty elimination and food insecurity (2). Further, sustainable diets help promote sovereignty and preserves traditional and culturally sensitive norms on acceptable foods. Current and emerging dietary patterns threaten human health in all countries and negatively affect long-term food security. (1)Conventional models of consumption and industrialization fail to support the nutritional needs of world’s ever-growing population (3). Innovative approaches are therefore required to improve the efficiency of food production, which in turn renders a more equitable balance of power to change eating patterns and reduce food waste along the whole supply chain (4). The FAO defines sustainable diets as those with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and healthy life for present and future generations (4). By this or any other definition of sustainability, no country has achieved a sustainable diet. There are many potential interventions to change the way we eat, including regulation and legislation, fiscal measures, changing the environment of (and possibilities in) choice, enabling and support, education, information and awareness raising (4). For four reasons, sustainable diet is a cumbersome political endeavor. First, the industry leaders may not tolerate any food criticism and sustainability requirement that some foods are better than others. Second, sustainability has potential to move dietary guidance from a system based on food groups (e.g., fruits, vegetables, and protein) to individual foods within a food group (e.g., chicken versus beef). Third, the sustainability debate has a potential to forge new political coalitions, which may endanger the status quo. Fourth, and perhaps the most important point, if the government adopts the existing guidelines for sustainability, it may sanction and elevate discussion of sustainable diets, for instance through greater demand for organic foods, which in turn may have cost and other implications for sustainability itself. There are some global examples of integrated policy making to reach sustainable diet. For instance, in 2014, the European Union (EU) formulated a new ‘Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)’ for the period of 2014-2020. EU member states need to formulate their own agricultural policy within the boundary of CAP, which emphasizes the need for the combination of high productivity and battling the challenges of climate change, while increasing sustainability. Innovation is the key requirement of these three focus areas (5). As an example, the member state of the Netherlands has defined policies in various areas including sustainable food production and consumption, processing and retailing, and waste management (5.) In addition, the country has made efforts to raise consumer awareness and promote behavioral changes through the implementation of environmental sustainability initiatives within schools and universities (5).This paper will introduce some pioneer global policies in the health system and beyond, i.e. legislation, food labeling, guidelines, consumer education, and increased intersectoral collaboration, etc., to achieve sustainable diet (6).