Sustainability
Food Security
Health Equity
THINK, EAT & GROW GREEN
GLOBALLY
Food Sovereignty
JERRY SPIEGEL
BRENT MANSFIELD
School of Population & Public Health
Land & Food Systems; TEGS project
+ Liu Institute for Global Issues
Co-Chair, Vancouver Food Policy Council
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
GLOBAL HEALTH
RESEARCH PROGRAM
jerry.spiegel@ubc.ca
brentmansfield@gmail.com
FOOD FOR ALL: A Conference on Poverty and Global Food Security
Messages
1. Food is fundamental to health and health equity
– as is poverty
2. Food security & poverty must be viewed at a global scale
- and not framed as individual attributes
3. To ensure security, food systems must respect sovereignty
- and not be framed as a purely technical matter
“We realized you couldn’t do health without
doing something about hunger and poverty…”
– Prabhu Pingali, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
So…What is poverty?
Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a
violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to
participate effectively in society. …
It means…
- not having enough to feed and clothe a family,
- not having a school or clinic to go to,
- not having the land on which to grow one’s food
- …… or a job to earn one’s living,
- not having access to credit.
It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals,
households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence,
and it often implies living in marginal or fragile environments,
without access to clean water or sanitation.
- UN Statement, June 1998
… and what drives it?
VULNERABILITY
INEQUALITY
SOME BY THE YEAR 2000
HEALTH FOR ALL
RISKING DEATH TO GIVE LIFE
Maternal Mortality Ratio (1995)
(per 100,000 live births)
VERY HIGH - 600 or more
HIGH - 300-599
MODERATE - 100-299
LOW - less than 100
Source: WHO,UNICEF, UNFPA, Maternal Mortality in 1995: Estimates developed by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA. Geneva, 2001
No data
So…
What does food security entail?
Is the problem of food insecurity just found in
improving access to food?
What about the circumstances regarding
how food is grown?
how decisions are made?
how people are involved?
Scholarly articles on “Food” + “Health”
multi-scalar environmental, social context
“growing”
political /
economic
regulatory
context
8
agribusiness,
marketing,
sales
growing/
eating
1
occupational
exposures
2
environmental change
3
threats to traditional
livelihoods, cultural
continuity
4
intake of contaminants
5
nutrition
6
Social determinants
(agency, income, social
capital)
7
health
impacts
“eating”
linking global and local
SUSTAINABLY MANAGING ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RISKS IN ECUADOR
A community-based, intercultural and interdisciplinary initiative to promote human and
ecosystem health.
MANEJO SUSTENTABLE DE RIESGOS DE SALUD AMBIENTAL EN ECUADOR :
UPCD TIER 1 UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP ($5 million, 6 years)
ECOSYSTEM APPROACH TO HUMAN HEALTH
- our common vision Socio-cultural
factors
•Transdisciplinarity
•Equity
•Participation
•Sustainability
Behavioural
factors
Natural Resource
Management
Knowledge
Understanding the
Determinants of
Ecosystem and
Human Health
Global
change
Source: Forget and Lebel, 2001
Economic
factors
IMPROVED
HEALTH
Societal Response
To Health and Human
Development Needs
Development
of Policies
Empowerment
Environmental
factors
Human Resource
Management
A process for building equitable solutions
Key Achievements
– 29 Community action research theses completed
• International master’s at 3 Ecuadorian universities
• 15 communities; impacts being evaluated
• Benefits to graduates documented
– 2nd Master’s initiated in 2009
Master’s at
U de Cuenca
• Ecuadorian university led; UBC support
• 18 students
• Certificate program from modules
– PhD program launched in 2009
• Collective Health, Environment & Society
• 19 students
• Base for Andean Commission on Social Determination of Health
– MOU with UBC / students
– Workshops (e.g. mining, food, pesticides)
– Certificate Programs
• (Ecosystem approach to Antibiotic Resistance)
– New Research partnerships
• Dengue (3 years)
• Food Systems & Health Equity (5 years)
PhD
at UASB
Project Example :
Tucayta community (pesticides/water)
Indigenous Agricultural Community
in the province of Cañar,
projects addressed:
1) Sustainable management of ‘paramo’
(upper highland) water sources;
2) Health and ecosystem impact of
pesticide use; and
3) Evaluation of residual/waste water
contamination and options for
community response.
Impact:
-Reduced Pesticide exposure
-Improved water management
OUTCOME: strengthened leadership
PACHAMAMA
RECURSOS
CAPITALISTA
SUMAK KAWSAY – BUEN VIVIR
ENMANUEL CHIMBO, TUCAYTA, ECUADOR Jerry Spiegel, SPPH 581, Sept 2011
Food Systems & Health Equity Research Program Overview
GLOBAL DRIVERS
WHAT DO WE KNOW?
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF FOOD SECURITY AND SOVEREIGNTY FOR:
GROWERS
EATERS – GROWERS
Consequences for growers
& communities from global
pressures?
Does commodification of
food alter cultural vitality?
HOW IS KNOWLEDGE APPLIED?
EFFECTS ON HEALTH EQUITY
EATERS
How can negative pressures
on healthy food choices &
practices be countered ?
Food Systems & Health Equity Research Program Overview
GLOBAL DRIVERS
Knowledge Synthesis
1
3a
4a
2a
Canadian agro-production
e.g. Okanagan, Fraser Valley
Northern BC
Aboriginal Population
Think&EatGreen@School
3
4
2
GROWERS
cases
EATERS – GROWERS
(indigenous)
EATERS
schools
3b
Ecuadorian agro-industry
& small producers
4b
Ecuadorian Indigenous communities
Tucayta / Ecuarunari
2b
Think&EatGreen@School
- Ecuador
5
Research to Action
EFFECTS ON HEALTH EQUITY
5 year research program on health equity funded by CIHR – one of 10 funded programs
Food Systems & Health Equity Research Program Overview
Tim Takaro(SFU)
GLOBAL DRIVERS
Jaime Breilh Jerry Spiegel
Hannah Whitman (SFU)
Knowledge Synthesis
1
Anne Marie Nicol
Annalee Yassi
Gerardo Otero (SFU)
Margot Parkes (UNBC)
Laurie Chan (UNBC)
Jennifer Black
Gwen Chapman
Sarah Carten
Brent Mansfield etc.
3
4
2
GROWERS
Cases
EATERS – GROWERS
(indigenous)
EATERS
Schools
Jaime Breilh – Annalee Yassi
Alejandro Rojas
Jaime Breilh
Ramiro Merino
Dario Cepeda
Rafael Alulema
Wilma Freire
Jaime Breilh Jerry Spiegel
5
Andrea Cortinois (U of T)
Research to Action
EFFECTS ON HEALTH EQUITY
RESEARCHERS
Deepthi Jayatilaka
(PHSA)
Food Systems & Health Equity Research Program Overview
GLOBAL DRIVERS
Knowledge Synthesis
1
United Food & Commercial
Workers
Northern Health
Aboriginal Communities
Think&EatGreen@School
3
4
2
GROWERS
cases
EATERS – GROWERS
(indigenous)
EATERS
schools
Ecuadorian Indigenous communities
Tucayta / Ecuarunari
Think&EatGreen@School
- Ecuador
UROCAL
FENOCIN
SIPAE
Agriculture Dept of Health 5
PHSA
U of T Research to Action UBC
EFFECTS ON HEALTH EQUITY
ORGANIZATIONS
Think&EatGreen@School
• Vancouver-based 5 year community based action
research project (2010-2015)
• Partnership of academic researchers from UBC ,
Vancouver School Board, Vancouver Coastal Health,
Vancouver Food Policy Council, non-profit food and
environmental organizations , SFU & Ryerson University
• Funded by a Strategic Grant of the Environment of
Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of
Canada (SSHRCC) Community University Research
Alliances (CURA) program
Think&EatGreen@School
• Project Objectives
– Short term: To engage students in the learning
through the food cycle (growing, preparing,
sharing food and managing food waste) at school
– Intermediate term: To promote the development
of a healthy, sustainable food school food system
in Vancouver
– Long term: To contribute to enhance regional
food security, food system sustainability and
institutional adaptations to climate change
Think&EatGreen@School
Activities
• Focused work in 14 Vancouver schools (but involved through
university students in 30) through grants
• Forms of Engagements with School Food System
– UBC student involvement
• 400 UBC undergraduate each year and graduate students
• 6 UBC courses & one youth internship
– Professional development for teachers and staff
• 3-day Summer Institute
• On-going workshops
– Policy and Board-level Support
•
•
•
•
VSB Sustainability Framework – Food Action Plan
VSB School Food Garden Policy
Procurement
Etc.
Closing observations
1. Food is fundamental to health and health equity
– as is poverty
2. Food security & poverty must be viewed at a global scale
- and not framed as individual attributes
3. To ensure security, food systems must respect sovereignty
- and not framed as purely technical matters
Food sovereignty …..
taking control over food-producing resources, markets and agricultural policy.
-Wittman et al, Food Sovereignty in Canada (November 2011)