CET Lunch: Reimagining Food Systems for Climate change adaptation, mitigation, and social justice
Welcome to this CET Lunch seminar with Ragnhild Overå, Professor at the Department of Geography, UiB
Low-cost fossil fuels have enabled an explosive growth of food production. Although this has enhanced economic growth and reduced malnutrition, industrialised global food systems are a major contributor to climate change, while the highly processed foods that they promote are displacing traditional foods.
Small fish such as herring, anchovies, and sardines are the most sustainable and nutritious seafood, yet they are undervalued in strategies for global food security and health. Small fish have a low environmental and carbon footprint, and they provide both income and nutritious food in low-income countries. However, there is increasing competition for small fish for the industrial production of fishmeal and fish oil, key ingredients in salmon feed, with Norway being one of the world’s largest importers. We discuss consequences for global food security and climate impact.
About the speaker
Ragnhild Overå is a human geographer mainly working in African countries. Research interests include gender, small-scale fisheries, fish trade, food systems, food and nutrition security, territorial markets, informal economies, entrepreneurship, urban development, globalization, political ecology.