Governance challenges for sustainable food systems: the return of politics and territories

Abstract

Sustainability is a powerful global framework for implementing transformations in agricultural and food systems. The complexity of the challenges involved leads to giving more importance to questions related to governance. The two recent globalization crises have accelerated this evolution. Experiments in the local governance of systems, carried out on the scale of cities and regions, contribute to reconfiguring the trajectories of these systems. The experiments confirm the positive effects of multiscalar and multistakeholder governance that is inclusive, participatory, and collaborative, while rooted in territories and societies. This literature review revisits the relationships between sustainability, governance, and food systems to encourage moving away from a theoretical and prescriptive position.