Global map and indicators of food system sustainability

Abstract

This paper presents the first global map of food systems sustainability based on a rigorous protocol. The
choice of the metric dimensions, as well as the individual indicators included in the metric, were initially
identified from a thorough review of the existing literature. A rigorous inclusion/exclusion protocol was
then used to refine the list and shorten it to a sub-set of 27 indicators. An aggregate sustainability score
was then computed based on those 27 indicators organized into four dimensions: environment, social,
food security & nutrition and economic. The paper shows how the availability of data (or lack therefore)
results in an unavoidable trade-off between number of indicators and number of countries, and
highlights how optimization can be used to present the most robust metric possible given the existence
of this trade-offs in the data space. The process results in the computation of a global sustainability map
covering 97 countries and 20 indicators. The sustainability scores obtained for each country are made
available over the entire range of indicators.