{"id":349503,"date":"2025-11-08T07:34:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T02:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?page_id=349503"},"modified":"2025-11-08T07:34:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T02:04:25","slug":"answered-examine-the-concept-of-justice-in-food-systems-as-proposed-by-the-eat-lancet-commission-justify-the-necessity-of-a-global-transition-to-healthy-affordable-diets","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-examine-the-concept-of-justice-in-food-systems-as-proposed-by-the-eat-lancet-commission-justify-the-necessity-of-a-global-transition-to-healthy-affordable-diets\/","title":{"rendered":"[Answered] Examine the concept of &#8216;justice in food systems&#8217; as proposed by the EAT-Lancet Commission. Justify the necessity of a global transition to healthy, affordable diets."},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Introduction<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>2024 EAT-Lancet Commission warns<\/strong> that global food systems <strong>drive 30% of greenhouse emissions and breach five planetary boundaries<\/strong>, making \u201cjustice in food systems\u201d central to ensuring sustainability, equity, and nutrition security.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Justice in Food Systems: Meaning and Dimensions<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>The <strong>EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems (2024)<\/strong> defines <em>justice in food systems<\/em> as ensuring that production, distribution, and consumption of food are <strong>environmentally sustainable, nutritionally adequate, economically fair, and socially inclusive<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Justice implies:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Healthy diets for all<\/strong> (nutritional justice)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fair prices and affordability<\/strong> (economic justice)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sustainable agriculture that protects ecosystems<\/strong> (environmental justice)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dignity and rights for farmers, workers, and consumers<\/strong> (social justice)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>Currently, global food systems violate these principles.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><strong>Why Justice is Necessary: The Current Food System Crisis<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Environmental Unsustainability<\/strong>: Food systems contribute <strong>30% of global GHG emissions<\/strong> (FAO, 2023). Agriculture breaches <strong>five of six planetary boundaries<\/strong> \u2014 climate, biodiversity loss, freshwater use, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles <strong>(EAT-Lancet, 2024). Animal<\/strong>-based foods dominate emissions, while cereal monocropping drives excessive groundwater extraction and nutrient imbalance. <strong>Example: <\/strong>Global agriculture produces <strong>twice the safe nitrogen surplus<\/strong>, contaminating soil and water.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Nutritional Inequality and Diet-Related Diseases<\/strong>: WHO reports <strong>2.3 billion adults overweight or obese<\/strong>, while <strong>735 million people face hunger<\/strong>. India faces a <em>triple burden<\/em>: undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency, rising obesity. NFHS-5 (2019-21): 35% children stunted and 57% women anaemic. This reflects <strong>dietary injustice<\/strong>, where calorific sufficiency hides nutritional deficiency.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Affordability and price shocks<\/strong>: The Commission notes that shifting to fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts\u2014essential for healthy diets\u2014may <strong>increase consumer costs<\/strong>, especially in import-dependent regions. RBI (2024) shows that <strong>vegetable inflation<\/strong> disproportionately affects poor households.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Social and Structural Injustice<\/strong>: Market concentration gives large corporations power over seeds, inputs, and pricing. Small farmers lack bargaining power and remain indebted. In India, <strong>86% of farmers are small\/marginal (Agriculture Census, 2015\u201316)<\/strong>, yet they bear the highest climate risk. Hence, justice demands:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>fair prices<\/li>\n<li>worker protections<\/li>\n<li>consumer participation in regulation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Pathways Toward Just and Sustainable Diets<\/strong><\/h2>\n<table width=\"587\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"134\"><strong>Dimension<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"453\"><strong>Required Actions<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"134\"><strong>Environmental justice<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"453\">Crop diversification, regulation of nitrogen\/phosphorus fertilizers, water-efficient agriculture (e.g., millets).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"134\"><strong>Economic justice<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"453\">Fiscal incentives to lower prices of healthy foods; rationalising subsidies that promote water-intensive crops.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"134\"><strong>Nutritional justice<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"453\">Public procurement of diverse foods for ICDS and Mid-Day Meals, replacing cereal-heavy diets.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"134\"><strong>Social justice<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"453\">Empowering farmer cooperatives; ensuring fair wages in food processing and cold chain infrastructure.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>India\u2019s <strong>2023 International Year of Millets<\/strong>, PM-POSHAN\u2019s inclusion of millets, and FAO-backed <strong>climate-resilient agriculture<\/strong> are aligned interventions.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why Global Transition to Healthy, Affordable Diets Is Urgent<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Reduces <strong>non-communicable diseases<\/strong> (diabetes, cardiovascular diseases).<\/li>\n<li>Cuts agricultural emissions and <strong>restores planetary boundaries<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Enhances <strong>food sovereignty<\/strong> and resilience against global shocks (climate events, pandemics, wars).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>A sustainable diet is not just <strong><em>environmental necessity<\/em>, but a <em>moral imperative<\/em><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Eating is a political act. Justice in food systems demands equitable access, sustainable production, and dignified livelihoods\u2014ensuring health for people and the planet together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction The 2024 EAT-Lancet Commission warns that global food systems drive 30% of greenhouse emissions and breach five planetary boundaries, making \u201cjustice in food systems\u201d central to ensuring sustainability, equity, and nutrition security. Justice in Food Systems: Meaning and Dimensions The EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems (2024) defines justice in food&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-examine-the-concept-of-justice-in-food-systems-as-proposed-by-the-eat-lancet-commission-justify-the-necessity-of-a-global-transition-to-healthy-affordable-diets\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">[Answered] Examine the concept of &#8216;justice in food systems&#8217; as proposed by the EAT-Lancet Commission. Justify the necessity of a global transition to healthy, affordable diets.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-349503","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/349503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/349503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}