All countries have a high opportunity to apply the transformation lever of Increasing Diversity. There is a clear reciprocal relationship between this lever, from a production perspective, and Promoting Traditional Foods from a diet’s perspective. Providing Financial Incentives And Taxes to support healthy and sustainable eating, can also lead to Increased Diversity.

Strengthening Research And Development around food loss and waste and healthy and sustainable diets in TYPE I (Brazil and Colombia) countries can help accelerate the transformation levers ofOptimising Land Use, Restoring Biodiversity, Increasing Carbon Storage and Developing Nature-positive Supply Chains. 

There are also many human health and social co-benefits that can be delivered in all food system types by implementing certain transformation levers.

Shifting to healthier and more sustainable diets, which ensure no overconsumption of animal-source foods, can be win-win for people and planet. With that in mind any combination of the levers, perhaps most particularly Increased Public Awareness, Providing Financial Incentives And Taxes and Improving National Dietary Guidelines, can help deliver benefits for health and social goals, both in terms of reducing premature mortality and reduced incidence of diet-related disease. 

Many actions to improve production practices would also provide social benefits, such as increasing farmer profits and reducing food insecurity. For example, Increasing Carbon Storage can reduce emissions and land use, and increase profitability. Applying levers to reduce food loss and waste, like Strengthening Research And Development and Improving Data Collection And Measurement can also help deliver health and social goals.

Increased emissions

Some transformation levers could negatively impact biodiversity and climate goals if not carefully managed. For instance, application of certain High-tech Methods intended to reduce agricultural land use could increase emissions in other ways. 

Likewise, Developing Infrastructure to tackle food loss and waste, specifically scaling up critical cold storage technologies, could increase greenhouse gas emissions. The majority of the energy needed to run cold storage infrastructure is derived from fossil fuels. 

Adopting High-tech Methods and Developing Infrastructure should be accompanied by a transition to clean, renewable or low emission energy sources. This could mitigate the trade-off in terms of increased emissions.

Increased food loss and waste

Although Promoting Traditional Foods, Financing School Food And Public Procurement Programs and Providing Financial Incentives And Taxes To Improve Consumption can help improve health and reduce agricultural land use, the levers could lead to an increase in food loss and waste. A higher proportion of fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, roots and tubers go uneaten than meat and other animal products. Though often less healthy, heavily processed goods are also less prone to damage or decay in the supply chain than fresh foods. 

Levers to improve consumption should be accompanied by actions to reduce food loss and waste to mitigate potential negative impacts.

Even if some transformation levers advance climate, biodiversity, and health goals, there could be trade-offs, if not carefully managed, in certain dimensions including culture, traditions, food security, jobs, livelihoods, equity, and wellbeing.

Job losses

Applying a combination of levers can reduce the overconsumption of animal-source foods, in particular meat, but the livestock sector plays a significant role in food systems worldwide. Such a change, if not carefully managed, could lead to a loss of jobs, livelihoods, income, and community wellbeing, especially for livestock farmers and rural communities in low- and middle-income economies.

Increased consumption leading to increased emissions

In food system types where a large number of people under consume calories (e.g. TYPE II - Kenya), achieving a healthier diet may require a slight increase in consumption of resource and emissions-intensive foods - specifically meat and dairy. 

Decreases in food availability and affordability

Where producers are shifting production practices and making changes on their farms and in their supply chains, for instance to Restore Biodiversity or Increase Diversity or are receiving Redirected Subsidies to produce different foods, there could be adverse impacts on short-term food availability if not carefully managed. Yields could be reduced and the quantity, affordability and accessibility of food could be affected, with supplies being concentrated in wealthier countries or communities who can afford to pay more. Over the long-term, the implementation of nature-positive production practices could lead to certain nutrient-dense foods becoming more expensive.