8 In What Ways are Food Systems and Sustainability Relevant to Practitioners?
Food systems sustainability is relevant to everyone, and Dietitian and Nutrition (D-N) practitioners are very well positioned to contribute positively through various roles in food systems. D-N practitioners around the world define these titles slightly differently, depending on the region and place, but commonly work to improve the nutritional health of individuals and groups, from the household to the global level. The sustainability of food systems has direct impacts on D-N work in many ways.
Learning Activities
8.1 Watch
Start by watching this video to see some examples of the different ways dietitians can contribute to building a sustainable food system (~3 minutes).
How Registered Dietitians are Leading the Sustainable Nutrition Movement [1]
Transcript – How Registered Dietitians are Leading the Sustainable Nutrition Movement [PDF]
8.2 Read
In this section, we encourage you to learn from dietitians sharing about how this knowledge is highly relevant to improved service provision in nutrition and dietetics.
- Read about examples of roles that D-Ns can, and are, taking to contribute to sustainable food systems. For this, we redirect you to Part 2 on pages 6-14 of the Canadian publication, The Role of Dietitians in Sustainable Food Systems and Sustainable Diets [PDF] [2](~30-minute read).
- Chose one or more of the SDG Briefs that interest you. These briefs outline not only the relevance to practice but also generate suggestions for potential roles for dietetics. Choose one or two briefs that interest you. SDG Briefs of Nutritionist-Dietitian Roles are available online (~15-minute read).
8.3 Reflect
After listening and reading, reflect on the following questions. (~10 minutes)
Questions for practitioners:
- In what ways is contributing to SFS relevant to the goals you have in your practice? Think of ways that your clients or your employer benefits from making more sustainable choices. This could be about human, ecological, or social sustainability – or all of them!*
- What are three ways that you could contribute to SFS in your current role as a D-N?*
- Other than the ones relevant to you, what are three additional roles or actions that D-N practitioners can use to contribute to SFS?*
Questions for students:
- In what ways will you contribute to SFS in your future practice and career?*
- What are three ways you can contribute to SFS as a student in your community?*
- Name three roles or actions that D-N practitioners can use to contribute to SFS?*
8.4 Extend Your Learning
If you wish to deepen your understanding, explore the following:
For those interested in diving deeper into the intersections of food systems, sustainability, and cultural practices, the following podcasts offer rich insights from experts in the field. These optional listening resources provide diverse perspectives, helping to broaden your understanding of how these topics are applied in practice.
- Voices: Stories about Practice in Sustainable Nutrition is available online. This podcast talks with D-N practitioners from around the world who share stories about deepening connections between people and food systems and educating future dietitians to face real-world challenges. There are three episodes altogether. They were recorded with support from the ICDA SFS Toolkit, but the views expressed are of the speakers themselves.
- Food Sleuth radio with Melinda Hemmelgarn and guest A-dae Romero-Briones (Cochiti/Kiowa), Director of Programs for the First Nations Development Institute, is available online. This podcast explores Indigenous foodways, food sovereignty, and the significance of storytelling in agriculture, offering valuable insights into the history and nature of Indigenous agricultural systems.
- Start or join a sustainability-related committee in your workplace or school to continue to learn from others, gain new perspectives, and practice applying your knowledge of food systems and sustainability.
Congratulations on finishing Chapter 8!
Media Attributions
- 13 Climate Action © UN-Habitat
- Home [Internet]. Food + Planet. Available from: https://foodandplanet.org/ ↵
- The Role of Dietitians in Sustainable Food Systems and Sustainable Diets (role paper) [Internet]. Dietitians of Canada; 2020. Available from: https://www.dietitians.ca/DietitiansOfCanada/media/Documents/Resources/Sustainable-Food-Systems-Dietitians-Roles-(Role-Paper).pdf?ext=.pdf ↵
We recognize our audience is a combination of all protected terms and therefore are using the title Dietitian-Nutritionist as per ICDA’s definition: “A Dietitian-Nutritionist is a professional who applies the science of food and nutrition to promote health, prevent and treat disease to optimise the health of individuals, groups, communities and populations.” -ICDA, 2014
From a Strategic Sustainable Development perspective (see Sustainability definition), a sustainable food system does not contribute to violation of the 8 Sustainability Principles. Within these parametres, myriad possibilities exist. — Broman & Robert, 2017
Food and Agriculture Organization and the United Nations High Level Task Force on Global Food and Nutrition Security define “a sustainable food system [a]s a food system that delivers food and nutrition security for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised.” — FAO
Dietitians of Canada also recognizes the importance of a Food Justice perspective in achieving such “social bases”: “Food justice seeks to ensure that the benefits and risks of where, what and how food is grown, produced, transported, distributed, accessed and eaten are shared fairly. Food justice represents a transformation of the current food system, including but not limited to eliminating disparities and inequities…” and that “key to achieving food justice is to have communities who have experienced injustices empower themselves to participate in the political process.” — Dietitians of Canada, 2020
See Part 1, Chapter 1, which explores the question: What are Sustainable Food Systems and Diets?
