unoconcinco, towards a sustainable food system in Spain

For those of you who know the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, for those people and organizations who discover us today, we could not begin this article about unoconcinco, the first Sustainable Food meetings in Spain that we organized on October 27, without mentioning that since our inception in 2014 we have focused our efforts on accelerating the transition to sustainable food systems in the sense proposed by the UN for Food and Agriculture (FAO): “To be sustainable, agriculture must meet present and future needs, while ensuring profitability, environmental (and people’s) health, and social and economic equity.” All this in a context of emergency and social crisis of which the food system is part of the cause, but also the solution. It is part of the solution because food is much more than food.

Food is the basis of life, it is no coincidence that the word food derives from the Latin “alere” (to grow) and “mento” (medium). A means to grow as people and as a society, because food is a system that connects people, organizations, companies and administrations, whose decisions influence how food is produced, distributed and consumed. The food system is the backbone of the territory, a catalyst for various economic sectors and a provider of health and well-being.

Let’s not fool ourselves, the food system is also the cause of numerous environmental impacts on our ecosystems, such as greenhouse gas emissions, loss of biodiversity and overexploitation of natural resources. That is why, from its very title, unoconcinco alludes to the fact that it is possible to address these challenges by working to limit the average increase in global temperature to 1.5ºC.

Diet (or rather poor diet) is also a consequence of social inequalities and a determining factor in the prevalence of various diseases. This dual nature of food as a generator of impact and, at the same time, a means of growth, makes this sector an extraordinary engine of transformation that can contribute to addressing some of the most important challenges facing society: climate emergency, social justice, public health or rural depopulation.

In short, the transition to sustainable food systems can help us as a society and as a planet to achieve all the Sustainable Development Goals, which are fundamental for building a greener, fairer and more inclusive society.

Now more than ever it is necessary to share and continue to discover organizations and projects committed to the transition to sustainable food. unoconcinco is an objective that unites us as a society, that of limiting global warming, also a meeting space to weave alliances and understand, share, discover and connect in order to build together a fairer and more resilient food system.

The programming of unoconcinco is underway. We are finalizing details that we will share very soon with you with the main actors that will make this change possible of which you are also a part. unoconcinco and its expert voices will pose challenges, challenges and solutions in different formats that will lead us to reflect, activate, participate, feel and discover initiatives for the construction of more sustainable and respectful food models for people and ecosystems and, in addition, to experience food through art.

Header photo: Zoe Schaeffer @ Unsplash