The 10 Elements of Agroecology: enabling transitions towards sustainable agriculture and food systems through visual narratives

Background

Agriculture and food systems around the world are failing to deliver the desired outcomes for food security and nutrition, creating an urgent need for transformative change to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Addressing this challenge requires stakeholders to adopt holistic approaches that integrate population, diet, and food production, moving beyond a narrow focus on technological advancements and productivity. Agroecology, which incorporates social, political, and economic dimensions, provides a promising pathway to build sustainable and equitable food systems.

Goals and Methods

This paper presents the 10 Elements of Agroecology framework as a tool to guide the transformation of agriculture and food systems toward sustainability. Experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) developed this framework through a multi-stakeholder process conducted between 2015 and 2019. The study uses a nexus approach to explore interactions among sectors within the broader food system and relies on visual narratives grounded in the 10 Elements to illustrate pathways for change. Key examples include the biodiversity-nutrition-climate change nexus, the consumers-markets-health nexus, and the education-governance-youth employment nexus.

Conclusions and Takeaways

The paper concludes that the 10 Elements of Agroecology framework supports context-specific solutions tailored to diverse local conditions, allowing stakeholders to pursue various pathways toward sustainability. The framework emphasizes systems thinking beyond the farm level, encouraging stakeholders to adopt a holistic perspective that incorporates landscapes and communities. Despite the complexity and variability of its components and the challenges in assessing sustainable development trajectories, the authors assert that the framework provides an effective structure for understanding the complexities of food and agricultural systems. This structure helps stakeholders identify challenges, build consensus, share knowledge, and collaborate to achieve shared goals.