Bridging divides Erik Mathijs Amsterdam Rural Forum 11

Bridging divides Erik Mathijs Amsterdam Rural Forum 11 May 2016

Key message Three-fold disconnect as root cause of unsustainability of food system Ecological divide Social divide Cultural/individual divide Three-fold innovation to address root causes and reconnect systems Ecological intensification Social innovation Cultural paradigm shift DANGER OF USING TEMPORARY FIXES NOT ADDRESSING ROOT CAUSES

Source: Scharmer & Kaufer, 2014 ► Nathan Mc. Clintock, 2010, Why Farm the City? Theorizing Urban Agriculture through a Lens of Metabolic Rift ► Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer, 2014, Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego. System to Eco-System Economies, Berret-Koehler Publishers.

Ingredients of the ecological divide • Rupture between cities and countrysides in terms of nutrient cycles • Importing fertility from overseas resulting in pollution of air, water and soil • Shift from current biomass as base for soil fertility to fossil biomass created a “fossil bubble” • Resource degradation and violating the ‘sustainable yield’ rule

Source: EEA

Sutton et al. , 2011. The European Nitrogen Assessment

Ecological fixes • Making soy ‘more sustainable’ • Making animals ‘more sustainable’ • ‘Recycle’ manure • Eco-efficiency • MORE WITH LESS Source: USDA

Ingredients of the ecological reconnect • Getting price signals right, such that external effects are internalised in production and consumption: o Use regional feed and spread animal production over EU o Consume less polluting food • Sufficiency • LESS IS MORE

Ingredients of the social divide • Commodification of land/nature, labour and food has led to a downward pressure on wages and food prices • Poverty persists and even increases • Market-based transactions crowd out other social mechanisms (sharing, reciprocity, redistribution)

Social fixes • Income support to farmers to compensate for low prices • Stimulate social mechanisms such as solidarity rather than take action to tackle poverty

Ingredients of the social reconnect • Partial reintroduction of the commons: o o o Land (community land trust) Seeds, biodiversity Knowledge • Social innovation o o Co-creation and risk sharing between producer and consumer (community-supported agriculture) Specific attention for the poor to have access to sustainable and healthy food

The spiritual-cultural divide • People are disconnected from nature… “The worldviews that dominate our current thinking mentally disconnect human progress and economic growth from the biosphere and life-supporting environment” (Folke et al. , AMBIO) • …and from them-selves.

Ingredients of the spiritual-cultural reconnect • • Urban agriculture Connection with nature Food literacy Peri-urban food hubs Slow food Mindfullnes ‘Inner Transition’ Source: www. transitionnetwork. org

Environment Society Economy Sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987)

Source: Brown (2005) based on Wilber

Concluding thought How can Culture and Art help us to EXPOSE the divides to FALSIFY the fixes to BRIDGE these divides? to FACILITATE reconnection and inner transition