303 Gesellschaftliche Prozesse
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New approaches in securing more sustainable urban food futures: case from Cologne-Bonn region
(2018)
Urban food systems undergo a huge transformation. Many cities worldwide are involved; they start to reconsider their current food supply system. This study will describe some developments in the Cologne-Bonn area, Germany, which have the potential to introduce new pathways for more sustainable food futures. Recent developments in urban food systems in the Cologne-Bonn region are very much “bottom-up”, driven by lively and committed actors (gardeners, farmers, civil society). In this paper potential synergies and conflicts in the emerging urban agriculture activities, focusing on producer-consumer relations and evolving co-productive approaches are discussed. We further try to understand motivations, aims and visions of the diverse participants of such models. By using qualitative methods of empirical social research such as narratives and semi-structured interviews primary data were collected in the case region. Until now there is no consensus in the literature about the optimal institutional set-ups for the permanent adoption of the various forms of urban agriculture. Preliminary governance analysis showed that especially institutionalized forms seem to be robust and sustainable. The further exploration of the cases will also contribute to understand the dynamics coming from the involvement of citizens in the agricultural production. Co-productive or participatory agriculture, which includes the consumer into the production process, has the potential to change the way of urban food supply. It is hypothesized that shared motivations and visions between producers and consumers in favor of a sustainable food system will help to stabilize alternative food systems whereas conflicts need to be anticipated to deepen the understanding of problems in the producer-consumer co-productive process. Our first results demonstrate that co-productive models of today are primarily based on idealism from both sides and also bear the potential of conflicts. It will be up to further research and innovation to address these issues and also check the new approaches on economic viability.
Maize is a food field crop with a highly developed formal seed sector. The study reported here, involving 4 case studies in Malawi, Zambia, the state of Chiapas in Mexico and the state of Bihar in India, indicates that smallholder farmers are increasingly purchasing seed from the formal maize seed system in these different parts of the world. Points of sale vary from seed agent and agro-dealer to the local rural market. Many farmers are growing hybrid varieties, although, in particular, under conditions where higher yields justify seed costs, and with the objective of maize grain sales rather than home consumption, for which traditional varieties continue to be grown. While the findings indicate well-functioning seed value chains in the areas of study, producer surveys and seed value chain analysis also pointed to significant weak links in the formal maize seed systems that need to be improved, such as certification and seed quality control at point of sale, and the availability of financial services to support investments by farmers in quality seed and in seed entrepreneurship.
Adoption of Modern Maize Varieties in India: Insights Based on Expert Elicitation Methodology
(2018)
Adoption of modern varieties of maize, characterised by higher genetic potential, is desirable from the viewpoint of increasing the maize yield level. At present, there is no well-structured and organised system for documenting the popular crop varieties and their area coverage in India. The present study attempts to fill such knowledge gaps by documenting the major maize varieties and estimating the adoption rates under the same, using the expert elicitation methodology. The study finds that maize cultivation in the traditional growing states and tribal belts is mainly dominated by the cultivation of local varieties and composites with a low seed replacement rate, especially during kharif season.
Der vorliegende Fachbericht ist der Abschlussbericht eines im Auftrag des Ministeriums für Umwelt, Landwirtschaft, Natur- und Verbraucherschutz durchgeführten Kooperationsprojekts des LANUV mit dem Internationalen Zentrum für Nachhaltige Entwicklung (Hochschule-Bonn-Rhein-Sieg) zur Untersuchung von Mengen und Gründen für die Entstehung von Lebensmittelverlusten bei Obst, Gemüse und Kartoffeln sowie zur Entwicklung von Vermeidungsstrategien im Winter 2016/2017.
Over the past two decades social protection has gained importance at the international and the national level of many low and middle income countries. Despite reforms in this sector being a global phenomenon, they differ from country to country. Traditional efforts to explain these dif- ferences focus on domestic factors. Yet it remains unclear how international influences and interdependencies contrib- ute to policy change. The study ‘International Policy Learn- ing and Policy Change’ aims at providing an answer to this question, by focusing on ‘soft governance’ via horizontal processes, meaning processes between equal actors. The studie was carried out in two parts. While in Part I the cur- rent state of the art in relevant research fields was assessed, in Part II the findings from Part I were used to conduct a survey which analyses the role of policy networks.
Im Projekt wurde anhand medienanalytischer Verfahren, Befragungen und Experimenten untersucht, wie sich Verbrauchergruppen über das Thema Tierwohl informieren und welche Argumente die Diskussion bestimmen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen: Insgesamt herrscht eine positive Einstellung zu Tierwohl-Initiativen; finanzielle Aspekte sind ein zentrales Thema. Mehr Transparenz bei den Kosten wäre wünschenswert. Das Internet kann dies unterstützen. Aber nicht alle Zielgruppen werden damit erreicht.
Smallholder farmers as a backbone for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals
(2018)
This paper reviews the role of smallholder farmers with respect to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Their double function in the adoption of the SDGs and their socio‐economic limitations have made it difficult for them to fulfil the expectations as promoters of sustainable development. Our analysis showed that 13 SDGs and respective targets address these socio‐economic limitations. We identified that the satisfaction of basic human needs is a central issue for smallholder farmers. Other essential issues are (a) innovative education and training options for producers; (b) new organisational forms such as cooperatives and start‐ups along the value chain from production to logistics and marketing; (c) financial support; (d) access to farming information; (e) suitable, low‐cost, and simple technological solutions and innovations; and (f) an enabling institutional environment. We grouped these issues under the categories “social,” “environment,” “economic,” and “governance.” To assess the double function of smallholder famers, we proposed to apply the handprint approach. This approach focuses on positive sustainability performance and on the social dimension, after modification for food and agriculture. It can therefore illustrate the potential of smallholder farmers as a backbone for sustainable development.
Current global challenges such as climate change, lack of resources, desertification, land degradation as well as loss of biodiversity can ultimately be due to human actions. Reasons are excessive production and consumption of goods and services, along with using and consuming natural resources, causing emissions and waste products. Demand in the form of consumption and supply in the form of production are closely intertwined.
Large sections of the German society are able to buy and consume meat on a daily basis due to progress in the agri-food sector. However, the way meat is produced, traded and consumed increasingly has become an issue that is controversially discussed by the media, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), lobbyists, the industry itself and consumers – often with a negative connotation. The meat industry reacts to this. By creating information campaigns and animal welfare initiatives it aims to stress that it is going to take its corporate social responsibilities (CSR) for consumers and animal welfare seriously. But, the industry’s actions are still criticised as being not sufficient to improve animal welfare levels significantly. Much of this criticism can be observed in online news portals, where articles about the issue get published and commented by readers. This makes online portals a valuable source for information that is to be tapped in this study. It aims to better understand the multifaceted discussions concerning animal welfare initiatives in online portals. By applying qualitative content analysis and web mining techniques to a sample of documents taken from three major German news sites it can be shown that online discussions refer to various aspects of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Findings also indicate that the discussions are framed by financial aspects.
Der verantwortungsvolle Konsument – Einstellungen von Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftlern
(2015)
An den wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultäten der Technischen Hochschule Köln (TH Köln) und der Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (HBRS) sind im Verlauf des Jahres 2013 Befragungen zu nachhaltigen, zertifizierten Lebensmitteln durchgeführt worden. Ziel war es, die Bedeutung von Fairtrade und Bio auf der Basis von Konsumenteneinschätzungen zu analysieren. Dazu wurden Wahrnehmung, Bekanntheitsgrad und Vertrauen, Kaufverhalten, Zahlungsbereitschaft sowie Glaubwürdigkeit in Bezug auf Fairtrade- und Bio-Produkte abgefragt. Der Kreis der Befragten umfasste die Gruppe der Studierenden, Mitarbeiter/innen und Professor(inn)en. Darüber hinaus konnten Differenzierungen nach Geschlecht, Einkommen und Alter vorgenommen werden. Die Ergebnisse sind in der Reihe „Forum NIL“ veröffentlicht worden. In der vorliegenden Studie sollte untersucht werden, ob Sozialwissenschaftler ein verantwortungsvolleres Konsumentenverhalten aufweisen als Wirtschaftswissenschaftler. Aus diesem Grunde, wurde die gleiche Befragung an der Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaften der TH Köln durchgeführt. Ein Vergleich der Befragungsergebnisse zeigte einerseits, dass Studierende, Mitarbeiter/innen und Professor(inn)en in den Sozialwissenschaften ein teilweise höheres Verantwortungsbewusstsein aufweisen. Dies gilt insbesondere in Bezug auf das bewusste Achten auf nachhaltige Produkte, die Zahlungsbereitschaft und den tatsächlichen Kauf von Fairtrade- und Bio-Produkten. Allerdings war auch bei den Befragten der Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften ein durchaus verantwortungsvolles Konsumentenverhalten erkennbar. Darüber hinaus konnte der generelle Vorwurf, dass sich eine Ökonomieausbildung negativ auf die Einstellung zu einem verantwortungsvollen Handeln auswirkt, anhand der Studienergebnisse nicht bestätigt werden. Vielmehr zeigte sich, dass nahezu keine Unterschiede zwischen den Antworten der Studienanfänger und Studierender höherer Semester an der Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften feststellbar waren.
Food-borne disease is an ever-present threat and is often associated with the consumption of fresh food such as horticultural products. Apart from chemicals, heavy metals, fungi and viruses, bacteria are the most common cause for food poisoning. A serious outbreak in Germany and neighbouring countries in 2011 when 3,950 people were affected and 53 died, was induced by a novel strain of E. coli bacteria and suggested fresh vegetables as the source of infection. However, due to global food logistics it is an increasing challenge to trace back the source of infected food. A German-Dutch team of scientists analysed the EHEC outbreak from 2011 in order to provide new insights about risk assessment and crises control as well as communication infrastructure and strategies between responsible authorities and to the public, even across borders. Besides preventive measures to avoid contamination of horticultural products and to impede the spreading of human pathogens, the team analysed deficits in the field of crisis communication in order to develop a communication plan for decision-makers in a crisis situation. Technical innovations that can be used for decision-relevant information at the right time, with the required quality, will support the communication strategy. In order to develop a communication plan tailored to the different stakeholdersRSQUO needs and their knowledge, the informational needs of the public should also be taken into account. Thus, combining preventive measures with state of the art communication strategies, will reduce the time between the alerts and the scientific basis and proof.
The Forum Nachhaltigkeit im Lebensmittelhandel (NIL; Sustainability in Food Retailing) is a collection of scientific papers dealing with various aspects of sustainability in the area of food retail trade.
This paper gives an overview of the development of Fair Trade in six European countries: Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. After the description of the food retail industry and its market structures in these countries, the main European Fair Trade organizations are analyzed regarding their role within the Fair Trade system. The following part deals with the development of Fair Trade sales in general and with respect to the products coffee, tea, bananas, fruit juice and sugar. An overview of the main activities of national Fair Trade organizations, e.g. public relation activities, completes the analysis. This study shows the enormous upswing of Fair Trade during the last decade and the reasons for this development. Nevertheless, it comes to the conclusion that Fair Trade is still far away from being an essential part of the food retail industry in Europe.
Der Begriff der Nachhaltigkeit ist heute weit verbreitet, und seine Nutzung erstreckt sich auf alle Gesellschaftsbereiche. Als abstraktes Leitprinzip bleibt oftmals unklar, wie der Begriff definiert und ausgelegt wird. Seine Unbestimmtheit trägt zur Verwässerung und inflationären Verwendung bei. Erschwerend wirkt zusätzlich die unzureichende Trennung des politischen vom alltagssprachlichen Begriff der Nachhaltigkeit.
In den letzten Jahren ist das Thema Nachhaltigkeit zu einem Schlüsselthema in vielen wissenschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Diskursen geworden. Ausgehend von natur-, technik-, politik- und zunehmend wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Auseinandersetzung mit Fragestellungen im Kontext von Nachhaltigkeit, sind diese in den Mittelpunkt gesellschaftlicher und politischer Wahrnehmung gerückt.
Der richtige Umgang mit Kritik ist in vielen Unternehmen noch eine große Herausforderung. So fehlt Vorgesetzten oft jegliche Sensibilität gegenüber diesem Thema. Daher schrecken die meisten Mitarbeiter davor zurück, sich an einem kritischen Dialog im Betrieb zu beteiligen. Dabei könnten hierdurch wichtige Potenziale an Kreativität in Betrieb und Gesellschaft ausgeschöpft und deren innere Stabilität erhöht werden.
Durch eine zusammenfassende Matrix bietet das Buch im Falle von Konflikten sowohl für junge als auch schon erfahrene Mitarbeiter sowie Vorgesetzte einen Leitfaden für das eigene Verhalten. Der Autor greift hierbei neben einem geschichtlichen Rückblick auf die Erfahrungen eines langen Berufslebens in einer international tätigen Institution zurück.
