agroécologie : innover pour des systèmes agricoles et alimentaires durables

This executive summary from Friends of the Earth International argues for a paradigm shift in global agricultural and food systems, promoting agroecology as a holistic, sustainable alternative to the dominant industrial model. It provides a comprehensive framework of 13 criteria to evaluate innovations and offers specific policy recommendations to overcome barriers to the expansion of agroecology and the achievement of food sovereignty.

• The current dominant model of intensive agriculture and the agri-food industry is identified as a primary cause of global crises, including hunger, environmental degradation, climate change, and threats to the human right to adequate food and nutrition.
• Innovation in food systems should not be limited to technology or productivity but must be holistic and multidisciplinary, encompassing social, economic, cultural, environmental, and political processes to benefit small-scale producers and workers.
• The document proposes a framework of 13 interconnected evaluation criteria to determine if an innovation is sustainable. These are divided into three dimensions: Social, Economic and Institutional (including participatory governance, social/economic justice, hunger eradication, health/nutrition, benefits for small producers, and gender justice); Environmental (including energy justice, environmental justice, and climate justice); and Implementation Processes (including availability, ease of use, and scalability).
• Agroecology is presented as a science, aS a set of practices, and a social movement that integrates ecological dimensions with the ancestral and customary knowledge of peasants and indigenous peoples to transform the entire food system.
• The report warns against 'false solutions' such as 'climate-smart agriculture' and 'sustainable intensification,' arguing that these concepts often serve specific interests and risk maintaining the industrial status quo rather than transforming the system.
• The document asserts that agroecology and industrial agriculture are fundamentally incompatible and cannot coexist because they represent opposing visions of development and well-being.
• To scale up agroecology, the document recommends several public policy actions: securing collective land rights and opposing land grabbing; ensuring gender justice and women's access to resources; supporting youth access to land; and redirecting subsidies away from industrial agriculture and biofuels toward agroecological practices.
• Food sovereignty is defined as the right of peoples, nations, and states to define their own food, agriculture, livestock, and fishing systems, and to develop policies on how food is produced, distributed, and consumed.

APA

Ortega-Espès, D. (2018). agroécologie : innover pour des systèmes agricoles et alimentaires durables. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Agroecologie-innovation-resume-FR.pdf

Chicago

Ortega-Espès, Delphine. agroécologie : innover pour des systèmes agricoles et alimentaires durables. Friends of the Earth International, 2018. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Agroecologie-innovation-resume-FR.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ortega-Espès |first1=Delphine |title=agroécologie : innover pour des systèmes agricoles et alimentaires durables |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=November 2018 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Agroecologie-innovation-resume-FR.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ortegaesps2018agrocologie, author = {Ortega-Espès, Delphine}, title = {{agroécologie : innover pour des systèmes agricoles et alimentaires durables}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2018}, month = nov, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Agroecologie-innovation-resume-FR.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }