ON THE QUESTION OF THE METHODOLOGY FOR STUDYING HUMAN RIGHT TO FOOD IN SUSTAINABLE AGRI-FOOD SYSTEM

Abstract

Unsustainable patterns of food production and consumption have become a significant part of the most complex problems facing humanity today. The global food crisis affects not only the right to food – such as the availability and accessibility of food – but also a range of other human rights, including the right to a decent livelihood, clean environment, fair and favorable working conditions, health care, social protection etc. The military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the aggravation of the negative consequences of climate change, extreme weather events, economic downturns and crises have increased the existing inequality in the world food system, therefore, food security issues require the fastest systemic solution in the global dimension.

The modern UN paradigm of global food security formation is based on a fundamentally new methodological understanding of this phenomenon, crystallized in the concept of sustainable agri-food systems, which is guided by the recognition of the integrated nature of the relationships between the systems underlying food production, food supply chains, food environment, the behavior of individual consumers, dietary patterns, as well as nutrition indicators and general results of systems’ functioning, which become the basis for their further development. A sustainable agri-food system encompasses all elements (environment, human resources, factors of production, processes, infrastructure, organizations, etc.) and all activities related to the production, treatment, distribution, processing and consumption of food, as well as the results of such activities, including socio-economic and environmental consequences. The guaranteed right to food, adequate nutrition of individuals and their communities is a key indicator (result) of the functioning of sustainable agri-food systems, in which food products are considered mostly a public good, and not a commercial commodity. Guaranteeing Ukrainians the right to food and ensuring the availability of domestically produced healthy food without harming the environment require a fundamental reconstruction of the existing agri-food system in accordance with modern global trends.