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Influencing Scotland's National Food Strategy |
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Written by Osbert Lancaster
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Thursday, 05 June 2008 |
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Osbert
Lancaster, CHE Fellow, recently called on the Scottish Government to
implement the principles of sustainable food in every area of public
sector food purchasing.
In CHE's submission to the government's consultation on the development of Scotland's first national food strategy, Osbert
welcomed the thrust of the proposals, while arguing the scale of the
environmental, social and economic challenges facing Scotland need to
be explicitly recognised. In particular in the light of the Scottish
Climate Change Bill's targets of 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by
2050, "the strategy must set how government will support and encourage
emissions reductions across the food chain - from production methods
through to food choices."
Osbert
encourages government to lead by example, and by adopting a sustainable
food purchasing policy, to help create and stimulate the market and
industry changes required for a transition to a sustainable food
economy.
The submission - Scotland's Food, Sustainability & Public Procurement - is based on research Osbert has been carrying out for CHE with funding from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. In the final phase of the project Osbert plans to produce a short series of briefings highlighting key issues relating to sustainable food procurement.
The document (pdf) can be downloaded here. |
