Just enough: biophysical optimisation scenarios for human and planetary health

Food systems affect health and the environment; they struggle to remain productive amid climate change and population growth, and their benefits and harms are unevenly distributed worldwide. This thesis applies a computer model of the global food system to ask: how can we feed everyone healthily within the limits of our planet?

By tracking nutrient flows through the food system, the thesis combines several solutions: eating differently, growing the right crops in the right places, and reusing leftovers and nutrients in a circular way. It assesses how these mechanisms could keep food production within planetary limits, what a nutritious, low-impact diet would look like, and how much land could be freed up to protect nature. It also estimates how much of their own food countries could produce, and what trade-offs a food-exporting country like Uruguay faces.

Laura Gerwien

Candidate of the promotion "Just enough: biophysical optimisation scenarios for human and planetary health".