Measuring the impact of life on land on food system productivity and sustainability

Human activities have encroached into preserved spaces of the terrestrial ecosystems to meet growing food demands, hence a growing concern about striking a balance between life on land and ensuring food security. This chapter reviews methods to measure the impacts of life on land on food systems to shape stakeholder policies, programs and businesses toward sustainable life on land and food systems. The findings are that life cycle and water footprint assessments measure food systems’ effects on land life. Multi-criteria evaluation, land degradation neutrality and integrated assessment methods evaluate the impact of life on land on food systems. The progress made so far remains unsubstantial, given that the twelve targets for SDG15 have not been met, implying that a lot still needs to be done to achieve sustainable food security. Public policy should consider agricultural practices that meet food security targets whilst maintaining healthy ecosystems.