Urban food security, urban resilience and climate change - weADAPT

Australian food policy debates reflect these current discourses to some extent, but asthe recently published Green Paper on the National Food Plan illustrates, there is apreoccupation with large scale agricultural production and its capacity to develop newmarket opportunities beyond Australia. The belief that Australia has a ‘strong, safe andstable food system with a high level of food security’ (Australian Government, 2012)supports a focus on feeding the rest of the world, rather than helping Australians feedthemselves better.With this national level focus, it is not surprising that little policy attention is paid tothreats to urban food supply lines or to broader conceptions of urban food security andfood sovereignty. The experience of the Victorian government’s promotion of a moreholistic approach to state-wide food policy in recent years demonstrates the potentialfor state action to enable and encourage exemplary and innovative action at theneighbourhood scale in cities and peri-urban areas. That same experience alsodemonstrates the fragility of these policy initiatives.The enthusiasm and commitment of an increasing number of people to local foodproduction, processing, sale and consumption in cities, often as part of broaderprograms to build urban resilience, can be supported by public policy from all levels ofgovernment if there is political will to do so and if the information on the contributionthat urban food supply can make to an urban area is accurate (see James et al., 2010for a discussion on this).This policy support does not have to be at the expense of other areas of foodproduction, although there may be tensions between measures that support large scaleagriculture and the maintenance of a highly concentrated food retail sector and thosethat support small scale, local alternatives. However, for public policy measures of thistype to develop, there has to be a greater degree of awareness and appreciation thatAustralian city dwellers may not be as food secure as is assumed. In addition to thosegroups commonly recognised as facing difficulties in accessing and affording nutritiousfood (people living in remote Indigenous communities, people on low incomes andpeople with limited mobility), it is important to recognise also that the food supply linesto all Australian cities are vulnerable to a number of threats, especially those increasedby climate change, such as floods, fires and storms.With this recognition, alongside an acknowledgement that urban and peri-urbanagriculture in all its forms can play a part making Australian cities more food secure,there is scope to develop a set of policy measures across all levels of government thatsupport and enhance local initiatives.We offer some initial suggestions for such measures below:support for temporary land uses for suitable urban agricultural purposes;recognition in metropolitan plans of the existence and value of agricultural landwithin urban footprints and in peri-urban areas;recognition of the value of communal gardening spaces in the assessment ofdevelopment applications for residential subdivisions;collection and use of organic food waste for composting;Urban food security, urban resilience and climate change 69