Achieving Circularity in Local and Regional Food Systems Development

Workshop co-sponsored by the North American Food Systems Network (NAFSN)

Date and Time:

Thursday, November 16, 9:00-10:30 am CT / 10:00-11:30 am ET / 3:00-4:30 pm GMT

Registration is required. Following the session, a link to the recording will be sent to all who registered.

Note: The time chosen is to accommodate European and North American participants

BACKGROUND 

Any meaningful progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals is going to require transformative changes in the food system while promoting human and planetary well-being (van Zanten et al., 2023). This will include changes across the food system — in the production, processing, distribution, retailing, consumption, and waste management of food. Moreover, achieving circularity in local and regional food systems will be critical to averting current and future climate-driven social and ecological disasters. 

JAFSCD has drafted a call for papers entitled “Community-Based Circular Food Systems: Meeting current and future food needs through local and regional food systems development,” which can be seen here. Papers in response to the call will be published in a special issue of JAFSCD.

Prior to the formal announcement of the call, they will be conducting a workshop with circularity experts who will address three important questions:

1.    How can or should circularity be defined in the context of local and regional food systems development? 

2.    What are the critical issues for localizing and regionalizing foodsystems circularity that emphasize social justice and community health and well-being, while minimizing waste and protecting shared natural resources? 

3.    How can these goals be achieved together through circularity?

Please mark your calendars, register now, and plan to join them on November 16. Your input during this workshop is welcomed and will help them finalize the call for papers.

Speakers

María Alonso Martínez, Junior Officer, Circular Development, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (Germany)

Dr. Michael Kotutwa Johnson (Hopi), Assistant Specialist, Indigenous Resiliency Center, University of Arizona (USA)

Felipe Cozim Melges, PhD Candidate, Farming Systems Ecology group, Wageningen University (Brazil and Netherlands)

Host: Duncan Hilchey, Editor-in-chief, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (USA)

Facilitator: Dr. Jacob Park, Associate Professor, Vermont State University, Castleton Campus (USA) and Visiting Professor, University of Johannesburg (South Africa)