Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar 11:9:773746.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.773746. eCollection 2022.

Nature-Based One Health Approaches to Urban Agriculture Can Deliver Food and Nutrition Security

Bassey Ebenso  1 , Akaninyene Otu  1   2   3   4 , Alessandro Giusti  5 , Philipe Cousin  6 , Victor Adetimirin  7 , Hary Razafindralambo  8 , Emmanuel Effa  2   3 , Vasileios Gkisakis  9 , Ousmane Thiare  10 , Vincent Levavasseur  11 , Sonagnon Kouhounde  12 , Kifouli Adeoti  13 , Abdur Rahim  14 , Majid Mounir  15
Affiliations

Nature-Based One Health Approaches to Urban Agriculture Can Deliver Food and Nutrition Security

Bassey Ebenso et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

The increasing global human population is projected to reach 9.7 billion people by 2050. This population growth is currently linked to the trends of world-wide urbanization, growth of megacities and shifting dietary patterns. While humankind faces the daunting challenge of feeding and providing healthy lives for its teeming populations, urban agriculture holds promise for improving the quality of life in cities. Fortunately, policymakers and planners are accepting the need to support peri-urban farmers to increase the resilience of food systems while efficiently managing already strained natural resources. We argue that for urban agriculture to significantly increase food yields, it is crucial to adopt a One Health approach to agriculture and environmental stewardship. Here, we propose six nature-based and climate-smart approaches to accelerate the transition toward more sustainable food systems. These approaches include reducing the reliance on synthetic agricultural inputs, increasing biodiversity through producing locally adapted crops and livestock breeds, using probiotics and postbiotics, and adopting portable digital decision-support systems. Such radical approaches to transforming food production will require cross-sectoral stakeholder engagement at international, national, and community levels to protect biodiversity and the environment whilst ensuring sustainable and nutritious diets that are culturally acceptable, accessible, and affordable for all.

Keywords: climate-smart; food and nutrition security; nature-based; one health; postbiotic; urban agriculture.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

PC was employed by the company SENSEEN. AR was employed by the company WAZIUP. AG was employed by the company CyRIC-Cyprus Research and Innovation Center Ltd., Nicosia, Cyprus. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Use of probiotics and postbiotics to manage animal and human disease.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Output from the AGRODIAG mobile artificial intelligence (IA) app showing for instance total organic matter, agronomic potential, pH to give soil assessment for taking measures. Photo Credit: Ver de Terre Digital.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Example of disorders analyzed by Eh-pH on soil, plant, and livestock.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Low-cost NIR spectrometer prototype for measuring Eh-pH.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Agroecological methods generating ecosystems services related to health of ecosystems, animals, and people.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. UN.Org. The Sustaiable Development Goals Report 2020. New York, NY: United Nations; (2020).
    1. UN-OCHA. Global Humanitarian Overview 2021: United Nations Coordinated Support to People Affected by Disaster and Conflict. New York, NY: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) (2021).
    1. De Winne J, Peersman G. The adverse consequences of global harvest and weather disruptions on economic activity. Nat Clim Change. (2021) 11:665–72. 10.1038/s41558-021-01102-w - DOI
    1. Ray DK, West PC, Clark M, Gerber JS, Prishchepov AV, Chatterjee S. Climate change has likely already affected global food production. PLoS One. (2019) 14:e0217148. 10.1371/journal.pone.0217148 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Treìmolieres J. Les Bases de L’alimentation Les Éditions ESF. 7th ed. Paris: ESF; (1980).

LinkOut - more resources