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Experts from around the world share common concerns about food choices, dietary patterns, agricultural production methods, and food insecurity, but they shape National Dietary Guidelines to fit the specific foodways, value chains, environmental challenges, and socioeconomic conditions within different countries. In sharing their priorities and approaches, they provide a global perspective on the role of national dietary guidelines in shaping our planet’s future.
What are the greatest nutritional challenges facing the world today?
by Martin BloemShould governments be responsible for incentivizing healthy, sustainable dietary habits?
by Patrick WebbAre more nutritionists and policy makers drawing connections between dietary and planetary needs to organize and find healthy solutions for both people and the environment?
by Shenggen FanShould health policy and agricultural policy decisions be linked?
by Duncan WilliamsonWho develops national dietary guidelines?
by Isabella SattaminiHow are national dietary guidelines used?
by Liv Elin TorheimWhy are dietary guidelines important?
by Angela M. TagtowWhat are the major obstacles facing a leader or organization attempting to implement a change to national dietary guidelines?
by Warren T. K. LeeShould national dietary guidelines be based solely on nutrition, or should they also be influenced by the environmental impact of food?
by Shauna DownsExperts from around the world share common concerns about food choices, dietary patterns, agricultural production methods, and food insecurity, but they shape National Dietary Guidelines to fit the specific foodways, value chains, environmental challenges, and socioeconomic conditions within different countries. In sharing their priorities and approaches, they provide a global perspective on the role of national dietary guidelines in shaping our planet’s future
Introduction
Today, nearly one in three persons globally suffers from at least one form of malnutrition: wasting, stunting, vitamin and mineral deficiency, overweight or obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases.
Professor of Environmental Health and Engineering / International Health
JOHN HOPKINS CENTER FOR A LIVABLE FUTURE
Globally, we face a double burden of malnutrition – some populations have high prevalence of overweight and obesity, while other populations are undernourished, and both conditions present significant health outcomes and challenges.
In the Global North, with so many high-income countries, we see a lot of activity around overnutrition and the chronic diseases that result from it. But actually, there are more people in the world burdened with undernutrition, which produces health outcomes such as stunting and wasting that devastate nations and economies for generations to come by decreasing human capital.
To complicate matters, there is evidence that undernutrition early in life can predispose people to obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases later in life. Some people even refer to the triple burden of malnutrition, which refers to overnutrition, undernutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies.
The challenges are diverse, but the solution is the same for all burdens, as all these conditions are rooted in poverty. By reducing poverty globally, we increase health, human capital, well-being, and life expectancy.
A health condition resulting from an imbalance between nutrient intake and requirements; includes both undernutrition (too few calories or nutrients) and overnutrition (excessive intake leading to overweight or obesity); can have severe health consequences and impact physical and mental development; addressing involves promoting a balanced diet and ensuring adequate access to nutritious food.
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Developing Sustainable Diets
Unhealthy diets and low physical activity contribute to many chronic diseases and disability; they are responsible for some 2 in 5 deaths worldwide and for about 30% of the global disease burden.
Obesity costs the US health care system $147 billion a year.
Alexander MacFarlane Professor
TUFTS UNIVERSITY
Yes. National and local governments hold a special responsibility in facilitating and protecting public health. That means ensuring that public systems and institutions are not harmed or overwhelmed by health challenges. The world’s greatest single health challenge (non-infectious disease) today is poor-quality diets. These are diets that do not secure minimal nutrient needs for all people around the globe; they are diets that contribute to a growing burden of diet-related chronic diseases; and they are diets underpinned by unsustainable production and processing practices that damage planetary resources as well as the climate. While the private sector is largely responsible for the current nature of the food system, it is up to governments to inform, incentivize, and require system-wide changes that can support appropriate food choices in the future. Healthy and sustainable dietary patterns will deliver improved nutrition, while also significantly reducing the economic and social costs associated with dysfunctional food systems. Those are costs that are borne by the public purse. That’s why governments have to take responsibility for transformative change and improve dietary habits.
Evidence-based recommendations are provided by health authorities or governments to guide individuals in making informed dietary choices that promote overall health and prevent chronic diseases; guidelines offer advice on various aspects of nutrition, including the types and amounts of foods to consume, physical activity recommendations, and strategies for maintaining a balanced diet.
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The same dietary changes that could help reduce the risk of diet-related noncommunicable diseases could also help meet international sustainability goals.
Chair Professor
CHINA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY
Yes, they are drawing connections, but they need to work with others like the private sector, and all actors in food value chains to implement policies, practices, and technologies to find solutions for both human and planetary health.
Actors in the value chains or food systems include smallholder farmers, traders, processors, retailers, wholesalers, and consumers. Women and youth are particularly important to be empowered and reached so that they can benefit from the system.
The policy environment will also be critical. Public investment and public spending must be reprioritized for achieving both human and planetary health. Market and trade must also work to achieve both goals.
Joint initiative between a government entity and a private business or nonprofit to address common goals or deliver public services with shared responsibilities; leverages the strengths of both sectors, combining public resources and private efficiency; common in infrastructure, healthcare, and development projects to enhance service quality, innovation, and cost-effectiveness.
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Diverse diets can reduce micronutrient deficiences.
Global Strategic Lead - Food Systems
FORUM FOR THE FUTURE
Joined up, agricultural and health policies are the cornerstone of a sustainable food system. We need to produce the right food to ensure people have access to healthy, nutritious food in a way that benefits nature, soil, and livelihoods, all while we face global malnutrition and climate crises.
Our food system must be underpinned by diversity — agricultural, biological, cultural, and economic — all providing us with good health. Diverse diets can reduce micronutrient deficiencies by providing a rich source of nutrients all year round and it can also result in increased income sources for farmers. Yet national food systems are supplying less diverse food. This trend is reflected in diets that are monotonous and based on a few staple crops, especially in low-income communities where access to nutrient-rich sources of food, such as animal-source foods and fruits and vegetables is a challenge.
There is a huge disconnect between agricultural policy and our nutritional reality. Current agricultural policies are focusing on producing the wrong sort of foods, with a bias towards calorie crops. Three crops — rice, wheat, and maize — provide more than 50% of the world’s plant-derived calories. At the same time, malnutrition has been rising, as agricultural policy has been focused on productivity, not on nutritional outcomes, and we produce more than enough food to feed over 10 billion people, but this growth in calories has not resulted in better health for all.
One area that shows how different policies can be mutually beneficial is sustainable diets. Almost 10 years ago both WWF’s Livewell and the Barilla Foundation’s food pyramids demonstrated the linkage between nutrition and the environment and since then a growing group of leading organizations, including the Lancet and Eat Foundation, have called for collaborative policymaking to deliver win-win outcomes.
A good, working food system should produce healthy, sustainable food that is affordable and accessible to all. Health and nutritional outcomes should underpin all agricultural and food production policies from what we grow to subsidies.
Encompasses the variety of plant and animal species within agricultural systems, including diverse crops, livestock, and microorganisms that contribute to sustainable farming, resilience against pests, and enhanced nutritional options; vital subset of biodiversity that fosters ecosystem health and food security.
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Dietary Guidelines
In 2017, the Global Burden of Disease Study estimated that dietary risks were responsible for 11 million deaths worldwide
Malnutrition and Food Systems Officer
PAN AMERICAN HEALTH ORGANIZATION
Who develops national dietary guidelines?
National dietary guidelines are developed by the Ministry of Health and usually coordinated by a technical-scientific team of experts. Dietary Guidelines are evidence-based recommendations that take into account a country’s nutrition problems, diet patterns, food environments, and food systems, in addition to globally established diet-health relationships. They provide recommendations about food consumption, but can also include physical activity and sustainability aspects.
In the Dietary Guidelines construction, there should be participation and consultation of social movements such as those of farmers, consumers, parents, educators, and all those who eat, and therefore, everybody in the society. There should not be a chance for financial interests to determine what the Guidelines will recommend, as these should be based on science and the social food habits of the concerned population.
Evidence-based recommendations are provided by health authorities or governments to guide individuals in making informed dietary choices that promote overall health and prevent chronic diseases; guidelines offer advice on various aspects of nutrition, including the types and amounts of foods to consume, physical activity recommendations, and strategies for maintaining a balanced diet.
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Dietary guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations to support a balanced and nutritious diet, helping prevent a range of diet-related diseases. and dairy, contributing to overall health.
Professor of Public Health Nutrition
OSLO METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY
How are national dietary guidelines used?
National dietary guidelines offer guidance to individuals, policymakers, researchers, and the food industry.
Dietary guidelines are often shaped into messages/advice/recommendations communicated to the general population to help people make the right food choices. Dietary guidelines also provide a way to monitor the healthiness of the food intake of the population. If, for instance, the guidelines recommend eating 5 portions of fruits and vegetables per day, one can assess the proportion of the population with a lower intake and see how this varies between population groups. Over time, one can monitor how the situation changes. This information will form the basis for national food and nutrition policies. If the population’s intake deviates from the recommended intake, one can plan strategies and programs to improve the situation and target the most vulnerable groups. National dietary guidelines are also used by the food industry to guide them in making and promoting healthier food products. In the case of the Nordic countries, it is the joint work of creating regional Nordic Nutrition Recommendations that inform all national-level dietary guidelines.
A level of organization and economic development of a separate regional space that ensures the physical and economic accessibility of food products necessary for an active and healthy lifestyle of the population of the region.
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Food-based dietary guidelines by country.
Founder and Chief Strategist
ÄKTA STRATEGIES, LLC
Why are dietary guidelines important?
Food-based dietary guidance systems are essential for countries to set consistent guidelines for promoting and improving the nutritional health of a population. In the United States, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are important for establishing consistent evidence-based recommendations for healthy diets for all Federal food and nutrition programs as outlined in the 1990 National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act. Furthermore, they are used to inform policies and nutrition education interventions that promote health and reduce the risk of diet-related chronic diseases. Dietary patterns that are aligned with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans primarily promote health — other countries have integrated planetary health/sustainability (Canada, Brazil, Sweden, etc.) in their national nutrition guidance but the US did not in 2015 when the opportunity presented itself.
Food-based dietary guidelines (also known as dietary guidelines) are intended to establish a basis for public food and nutrition, health and agricultural policies, and nutrition education programs to foster healthy eating habits and lifestyles. They provide advice on foods, food groups, and dietary patterns to provide the required nutrients to the general public to promote overall health and prevent chronic diseases.
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Research found that individuals who closely followed national dietary guidelines had a lower risk of developing chronic diseases.
Senior Nutrition and Food Systems Officer
FAO
What are the major obstacles facing a leader or organization attempting to implement a change to national dietary guidelines?
National dietary guidelines, also called Food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs), advise the public to consume food groups or a variety of foods on a daily basis that contribute to healthy diets and minimize the risks of malnutrition. FBDGs also suggest that foods high in fats, sugars, and/or salt be consumed in small quantities in order to reduce the risks of overweight and obesity as well as diet-related non-communicable diseases. FBDGs are also used as a reference to formulate national agriculture, food, and nutrition policies for producing sufficient foods to nourish people.
The success of establishing national dietary guidelines often relies on political commitment and leadership that recognizes raising people’s nutritional status is an integral part of the country’s investment. The smooth operation of FBDG development and implementation requires adequate resource allocation; hence, securing political commitment would facilitate such a process.
FBDG development is a science-based process that requires a team of experts with appropriate technical capacity in human nutrient requirements, food consumption surveys, food composition data, food science, public health, agriculture, economy, and creative designs and communications. Furthermore, the availability of national data or up-to-date national data on nutrition, diet-related health, and diseases, food consumption (including food habits, culture, and taboos), cost of diets and food price, incomes, food production, and food supply, etc. is critically important as a base on which to develop a set of ‘fit for purpose’ FBDGs. In addition, appointing a team leader with relevant experience in the development of nutritional guidelines would be conducive to coordinating the process. Otherwise, setting up an advisory committee with relevant external experts may also help steer the process of guidelines development.
Upon completion of the dietary guidelines development, it would be effective to designate a responsible ministry or a public institution to promote or reinforce the use of the up-to-date FBDGs for food and nutrition policies and programming implementation, nutrition education, and communication, as well as agricultural food product developments and food trade, etc. Documentation of the FBDGs implementation process and a collection of feedback from the public and stakeholders would be useful for future revision and improvement of the FBDGs when new data emerge.
Foods and beverages contain many of the substances needed to support life and growth.
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If emissions associated with pre- and post-production activities in the global food system are included, the emissions are estimated to be 21–37% of total net anthropogenic GHG emissions.
Associate Professor
RUTGERS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Should national dietary guidelines be based solely on nutrition, or should they also be influenced by the environmental impact of food?
A country’s national dietary guidelines can be a powerful tool for influencing the food choices of its citizens. Although most people don’t follow nutrition guidelines closely when making their own individual food choices, these guidelines feed into national policies that have a far reach (e.g., over 30 million children participate in the United States National School Lunch Program). There has been much debate and political pushback regarding the inclusion of sustainability considerations in national dietary guidelines, but these are not motivated by science or the public’s best interest. The food we eat has serious implications for our own health and for the health of our planet. Food production is responsible for approximately 1/3 of greenhouse gas emissions, 70% of freshwater use, and it is the largest contributor to global biodiversity loss. In order to reduce the pressure that’s being placed on the planet’s resources, we need to make changes to the foods we eat. Given the interconnectedness of food choices and sustainability, countries have an opportunity through their national dietary guidelines and associated policies to make strong dietary recommendations that align with planetary health providing their citizens with the guidance to better support a sustainable future for themselves and generations to come. A handful of countries around the world have already incorporated sustainability into their dietary guidelines and it’s time that this practice moves beyond being the exception and becomes the norm.
A holistic production management system that promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health including biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity; organically grown food is food that is grown and processed using no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides; pesticides derived from natural sources (e.g., biological pesticides) may be used in producing organically grown food.
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Food Choices
The total free sugar intake should be less than 10% of energy.
Chief Analytics & Science for Food & Nutrition
WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME
What is a healthy eating pattern?
A diet that complies with food-based dietary guidelines, in terms of including a diversity of foods from different categories, to ensure that nutrient needs (protein, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals) and health needs (low sugar, low salt, good amount of fiber, etc.) are met. Furthermore, the combined quantities of the different foods should provide the amount of energy that an individual needs (maintain body weight, or for children to grow in length and weight as per growth curve); intake of empty calorie foods (i.e. high in sugar and/or fat and not a good source of vitamins or minerals) should be low; and the main fluids consumed should be water (and unsweetened tea or coffee). The total free sugar intake should be less than 10% of energy. For example, for an adult who consumes 2400 kcal/d, that means they should not consume more than 60 g of sugar, which is equivalent to 1 can of a sugar-sweetened beverage or juice, a sweet yogurt, or slice of cake.
Added sugars include any sugars or caloric sweeteners that are added to foods or beverages during processing or preparation; can include natural sugars (e.g., white sugar, brown sugar, honey) as well as other caloric sweeteners that are chemically manufactured (e.g., high fructose corn syrup).
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Healthy US-style study found pattern that was associated with between 34% and 43% greater energy use, due in part to increased intakes of fruits and vegetables
Food Security and Nutrition Advisor
FAO
What are some of the best ways to follow a healthy, sustainable dietary pattern?
My best advice would be:
Foods and beverages containing many of the substances needed to support life and growth.
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A balanced diet of all can prevent heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes by 80%
Managing Partner
COHERE
What is a balanced diet?
A balanced meal usually means a combination of fresh fruits and vegetables, complex grains, and some animal protein. The specific blend of balance is often debated between stakeholders, causing public confusion. For me, Michael Pollan defines it best – “Eat good food, whole food, real food, mostly plants, not too much.” Eating as Pollan suggests supports more than sound nutrition. It supports ingredient diversity important to soil health and ecosystem resilience. Meals built around diverse ingredients deepen our connections to various food cultures and support micro-economies around the world. Meals centered on organic heirloom varieties alleviate the pressure on the environment from industrialized food production. As a chef, meals built on the fundamentals of fresh, clean, pure flavor simply taste better.
A collection of agricultural practices that regenerate topsoil, increase biodiversity, improve the water cycle, enhance ecological benefits and ecological benefits, and support biosequestration to increase resilience to climate change and enhance the health of humans, livestock, and ecosystems.
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Leading Causes of Death. CDD/National Center for Health Statistics. Accessed April 9, 2020.
Poor Nutrition. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Accessed April 9, 2020.
Program Officer, Food Communities & Public Health
JOHNS HOPKINS CENTER FOR A LIVEABLE FUTURE
What role can making the right food choices play in preventing and treating chronic illnesses?
Finding the right balance and making the right food choices have the potential to prevent and, in some cases, reverse the progression of diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, certain cancers, and obesity. Of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States, seven of them are diet-related. Diets high in red and processed meats are associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. However, a balanced diet, with whole grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and lower in salt is not only salient for optimal health but necessary for the prevention of chronic illnesses and maintaining a healthy weight. Additionally, foods that are high in omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, nuts, and seeds), low in saturated and trans-fat, and high in fiber (fruits and vegetables) are good choices for decreasing your risk of those chronic conditions.
The understanding and knowledge of food, including its sources, production, processing, and impact on health; improving food literacy increases an individual's ability to make informed and healthy food choices, and also increases their ability to understand food labels and navigate food systems.
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Intensive livestock production is associated with antibiotic resistance and increasing incidence of emerging diseases. Therefore, a “reversed” diet transition back to less animal protein could make a difference.
A dietary transition from primarily animal to plant protein products is required. Fortunately, new dietary guidelines are increasingly taking sustainability into account and the contours of a diet transition are slowly emerging.
Former Associate Professor in “Sustainability & Food”
VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM
How are plant-based proteins part of a healthy, sustainable diet?
Many people think that sustainability is cast in stone. However, it is a highly dynamic issue, since ambient conditions determine what can be sustained for prolonged periods of time. Trends such as increasing global levels of population, income, and urbanization (all leading to changing diets) are currently threatening several planetary boundaries. In fact, the rates of biodiversity loss and nitrogen cycle acceleration both exceed carbon cycle acceleration (leading to climate change). Moreover, these three boundaries are strongly interlinked by the way we produce animal protein in intensive systems (such as CAFOs).
We need protein primarily because it supplies our metabolism with nitrogen as a macronutrient. Our bodies contain 3-5% nitrogen, which is indispensable as a constituent of DNA, for example. Protein consists of 20 amino acids, some of which must be in our food as such because our metabolism cannot synthesize them. Different foods contain varying levels of these “essential” amino acids. Therefore, strictly vegan diets require some more effort for a balanced intake than vegetarian or flexitarian diets. However, balanced diets are healthy irrespective of the proportion of plant proteins and animal proteins.
Unfortunately, few people are eating according to national dietary guidelines. This reality leads to unnecessary pressure on public and environmental health. Reducing our overall intake of protein, particularly from animal foods, would benefit our health as well as sustainability. The latter derives from the fact that intensive animal systems are wasting precious resources such as land, water, and energy, because 6 kg of plant protein is required to yield 1 kg of animal protein, on average. Replacing feed crops with food crops can sustain about 1 billion more people. And how about wildlife? Are you aware that currently, 2/3 of all terrestrial invertebrates are livestock? Merely 5% are living in the wild, which may drop to 1% by 2050 if we don’t return to more plant-based diets soon. Back to the future!
Food items primarily sourced from plants, including fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds; plant-based diets emphasize these foods, often excluding or minimizing animal products, and are associated with health benefits, environmental sustainability, and ethical considerations.
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Food insecure children and adults tend to consume diets of lower quality, have less healthy eating behaviors, and have lower intakes of produce.
Senior Technical Advisor Nutrition
WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME
What impact does food insecurity play in the food choices people make?
Food insecurity restricts people’s access to food, i.e. the availability of food may be limited or its affordability may be the problem. Often, people still have access to basic foods, but the availability and variety of fresh foods is more limited, and their prices are relatively high. This lack of access restricts the choice options people have. People prioritize the foods that provide them energy such as maize porridge, rice, bread or potatoes. When people do not know whether they will be able to prepare a second meal that day, they will try to make the one meal as filling as possible.
The lack of availability, access, utilization, and stability. Availability refers to sufficient quantities of food of appropriate quality, supplied through domestic production or imports, including food aid.
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About
The National Dietary Guidelines Platform is produced by The Lexicon, an international NGO that brings together food companies, government agencies, financial institutions, scientists, entrepreneurs, and food producers from across the globe to tackle some of the most complex challenges facing our food systems.
Team
The National Dietary Guidelines Platform was developed by Green Brown Blue, an invitation-only food systems solutions activator produced by The Lexicon with support from Food at Google. The activator model fosters unprecedented collaborations between leading food service companies, environmental NGOs, government agencies, and technical experts from across the globe.
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We have no idea who grows our food, what farming practices they use, the communities they support, or what processing it undergoes before reaching our plates.
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Over half the world’s agricultural production comes from only three crops. Can we bring greater diversity to our plates?
In the US, four companies control nearly 85% of the beef we consume. Can we develop more regionally-based markets?
How can we develop alternatives to single-use plastics that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly?
Could changing the way we grow our food provide benefits for people and the planet, and even respond to climate change?
Can we meet the growing global demand for protein while reducing our reliance on traditional animal agriculture?
It’s not only important what we eat but what our food comes in. Can we develop tools that identify toxic materials used in food packaging?
Explore The Lexicon’s collection of immersive storytelling experiences featuring insights from our community of international experts.
The Great Protein Shift
Our experts use an engaging interactive approach to break down the technologies used to create these novel proteins.
Ten Principles for Regenerative Agriculture
What is regenerative agriculture? We’ve developed a framework to explain the principles, practices, ecological benefits and language of regenerative agriculture, then connected them to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Food-related chronic diseases are the biggest burden on healthcare systems. What would happen if we treated food as medicine?
How can we responsibly manage our ocean fisheries so there’s enough seafood for everyone now and for generations to come?
Mobilizing agronomists, farmers, NGOs, chefs, and food companies in defense of biodiversity in nature, agriculture, and on our plates.
Can governments develop guidelines that shift consumer diets, promote balanced nutrition and reduce the risk of chronic disease?
Will sustainably raising shellfish, finfish, shrimp and algae meet the growing demand for seafood while reducing pressure on wild fisheries?
How can a universal visual language to describe our food systems bridge cultural barriers and increase consumer literacy?
What if making the right food choices could be an effective tool for addressing a range of global challenges?
Let’s start with climate change. While it presents our planet with existential challenges, biodiversity loss, desertification, and water scarcity should be of equal concern—they’re all connected.
Instead of seeking singular solutions, we must develop a holistic approach, one that channel our collective energies and achieve positive impacts where they matter most.
To maximize our collective impact, EBF can help consumers focus on six equally important ecological benefits: air, water, soil, biodiversity, equity, and carbon.
We’ve gathered domain experts from over 1,000 companies and organizations working at the intersection of food, agriculture, conservation, and climate change.
The Lexicon™ is a California-based nonprofit founded in 2009 with a focus on positive solutions for a more sustainable planet.
For the past five years, it has developed an “activator for good ideas” with support from Food at Google. This model gathers domain experts from over 1,000 companies and organizations working at the intersection of food, agriculture, conservation, and climate change.
Together, the community has reached consensus on strategies that respond to challenges across multiple domain areas, including biodiversity, regenerative agriculture, food packaging, aquaculture, and the missing middle in supply chains for meat.
Lexicon of Food is the first public release of that work.
Over half the world’s agricultural production comes from only three crops. Can we bring greater diversity to our plates?
In the US, four companies control nearly 85% of the beef we consume. Can we develop more regionally-based markets?
How can we develop alternatives to single-use plastics that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly?
Could changing the way we grow our food provide benefits for people and the planet, and even respond to climate change?
Can we meet the growing global demand for protein while reducing our reliance on traditional animal agriculture?
It’s not only important what we eat but what our food comes in. Can we develop tools that identify toxic materials used in food packaging?
Explore The Lexicon’s collection of immersive storytelling experiences featuring insights from our community of international experts.
The Great Protein Shift
Our experts use an engaging interactive approach to break down the technologies used to create these novel proteins.
Ten Principles for Regenerative Agriculture
What is regenerative agriculture? We’ve developed a framework to explain the principles, practices, ecological benefits and language of regenerative agriculture, then connected them to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Food-related chronic diseases are the biggest burden on healthcare systems. What would happen if we treated food as medicine?
How can we responsibly manage our ocean fisheries so there’s enough seafood for everyone now and for generations to come?
Mobilizing agronomists, farmers, NGOs, chefs, and food companies in defense of biodiversity in nature, agriculture, and on our plates.
Can governments develop guidelines that shift consumer diets, promote balanced nutrition and reduce the risk of chronic disease?
Will sustainably raising shellfish, finfish, shrimp and algae meet the growing demand for seafood while reducing pressure on wild fisheries?
How can a universal visual language to describe our food systems bridge cultural barriers and increase consumer literacy?
This game was designed to raise awareness about the impacts our food choices have on our own health, but also the environment, climate change and the cultures in which we live.
First, you can choose one of the four global regions and pick a character that you want to play.
Each region has distinct cultural, economic, historical, and agricultural capacities to feed itself, and each character faces different challenges, such as varied access to food, higher or lower family income, and food literacy.
As you take your character through their day, select the choices you think they might make given their situation.
At the end of the day you will get a report on the impact of your food choices on five areas: health, healthcare, climate, environment and culture. Take some time to read through them. Now go back and try again. Can you make improvements in all five areas? Did one area score higher, but another score lower?
FOOD CHOICES FOR A HEALTHY PLANET will help you better understand how all these regions and characters’ particularities can influence our food choices, and how our food choices can impact our personal health, national healthcare, environment, climate, and culture. Let’s Play!
The FOOD CHOICES FOR A HEALTHY PLANET game allows users to experience the dramatic connections between food and climate in a unique and engaging way. The venue and the game set-up provides attendees with a fun experience, with a potential to add a new layer of storytelling about this topic.
Starting the game: the pilot version of the game features four country/regions: Each reflects a different way people (and the national dietary guidelines) look at diets: Nordic Countries (sustainability), Brazil (local and whole foods instead of ultra-processed foods); Canada (plant-forward), and Indonesia (developing countries).
Personalizing the game: players begin by choosing a country and then a character who they help in making food choices over the course of one day. Later versions may allow for creating custom avatars.
Making tough food choices: This interactive game for all ages shows how the food choices we make impact our health and the environment, and even contribute to climate change.
What we eat matters: at the end of each game, players learn that every decision they make impacts not only their health, but a national healthcare system, the environment, climate and even culture.
We’d love to know more about you and why you think you will be a great fit for this position! Shoot us an email introducing you and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!
Providing best water quality conditions to ensure optimal living condition for growth, breeding and other physiological needs
Water quality is sourced from natural seawater with dependency on the tidal system. Water is treated to adjust pH and alkalinity before stocking.
Producers that own and manages the farm operating under small-scale farming model with limited input, investment which leads to low to medium production yield
All 1,149 of our farmers in both regencies are smallholder farmers who operate with low stocking density, traditional ponds, and no use of any other intensification technology.
Safe working conditions — cleanliness, lighting, equipment, paid overtime, hazard safety, etc. — happen when businesses conduct workplace safety audits and invest in the wellbeing of their employees
Company ensure implementation of safe working conditions by applying representative of workers to health and safety and conduct regular health and safety training. The practices are proven by ASIC standards’ implementation
Implementation of farming operations, management and trading that impact positively to community wellbeing and sustainable better way of living
The company works with local stakeholders and local governments to create support for farmers and the farming community in increasing resilience. Our farming community is empowered by local stakeholders continuously to maintain a long generation of farmers.
Freezing seafood rapidly when it is at peak freshness to ensure a higher quality and longer lasting product
Our harvests are immediately frozen with ice flakes in layers in cool boxes. Boxes are equipped with paper records and coding for traceability. We ensure that our harvests are processed with the utmost care at <-18 degrees Celsius.
Sourcing plant based ingredients, like soy, from producers that do not destroy forests to increase their growing area and produce fish feed ingredients
With adjacent locations to mangroves and coastal areas, our farmers and company are committed to no deforestation at any scale. Mangrove rehabilitation and replantation are conducted every year in collaboration with local authorities. Our farms are not established in protected habitats and have not resulted from deforestation activity since the beginning of our establishment.
Implement only natural feeds grown in water for aquatic animal’s feed without use of commercial feed
Our black tiger shrimps are not fed using commercial feed. The system is zero input and depends fully on natural feed grown in the pond. Our farmers use organic fertilizer and probiotics to enhance the water quality.
Enhance biodiversity through integration of nature conservation and food production without negative impact to surrounding ecosysytem
As our practices are natural, organic, and zero input, farms coexist with surrounding biodiversity which increases the volume of polyculture and mangrove coverage area. Farmers’ groups, along with the company, conduct regular benthic assessments, river cleaning, and mangrove planting.
THE TERM “MOONSHOT” IS OFTEN USED TO DESCRIBE an initiative that goes beyond the confines of the present by transforming our greatest aspirations into reality, but the story of a moonshot isn’t that of a single rocket. In fact, the Apollo program that put Neil Armstrong on the moon was actually preceded by the Gemini program, which in a two-year span rapidly put ten rockets into space. This “accelerated” process — with a new mission nearly every 2-3 months — allowed NASA to rapidly iterate, validate their findings and learn from their mistakes. Telemetry. Propulsion. Re-entry. Each mission helped NASA build and test a new piece of the puzzle.
The program also had its fair share of creative challenges, especially at the outset, as the urgency of the task at hand required that the roadmap for getting to the moon be written in parallel with the rapid pace of Gemini missions. Through it all, the NASA teams never lost sight of their ultimate goal, and the teams finally aligned on their shared responsibilities. Within three years of Gemini’s conclusion, a man did walk on the moon.
FACT is a food systems solutions activator that assesses the current food landscape, engages with key influencers, identifies trends, surveys innovative work and creates greater visibility for ideas and practices with the potential to shift key food and agricultural paradigms.
Each activator focuses on a single moonshot; instead of producing white papers, policy briefs or peer-reviewed articles, these teams design and implement blueprints for action. At the end of each activator, their work is released to the public and open-sourced.
As with any rapid iteration process, many of our activators re-assess their initial plans and pivot to address new challenges along the way. Still, one thing has remained constant: their conviction that by working together and pooling their knowledge and resources, they can create a multiplier effect to more rapidly activate change.
Co-Founder
THE LEXICON
Vice President
Global Workplace Programs
GOOGLE
Who can enter and how selections are made.
A Greener Blue is a global call to action that is open to individuals and teams from all over the world. Below is a non-exhaustive list of subjects the initiative targets.
To apply, prospective participants will need to fill out the form on the website, by filling out each part of it. Applications left incomplete or containing information that is not complete enough will receive a low score and have less chance of being admitted to the storytelling lab.
Nonprofit organizations, communities of fishers and fish farmers and companies that are seeking a closer partnership or special support can also apply by contacting hello@thelexicon.org and interacting with the members of our team.
Special attention will be given to the section of the form regarding the stories that the applicants want to tell and the reasons for participating. All proposals for stories regarding small-scale or artisanal fishers or aquaculturists, communities of artisanal fishers or aquaculturists, and workers in different steps of the seafood value chain will be considered.
Stories should show the important role that these figures play in building a more sustainable seafood system. To help with this narrative, the initiative has identified 10 principles that define a more sustainable seafood system. These can be viewed on the initiative’s website and they state:
Seafood is sustainable when:
Proposed stories should show one or more of these principles in practice.
Applications are open from the 28th of June to the 15th of August 2022. There will be 50 selected applicants who will be granted access to The Lexicon’s Total Storytelling Lab. These 50 applicants will be asked to accept and sign a learning agreement and acceptance of participation document with which they agree to respect The Lexicon’s code of conduct.
The first part of the lab will take place online between August the 22nd and August the 26th and focus on training participants on the foundation of storytelling, supporting them to create a production plan, and aligning all of them around a shared vision.
Based on their motivation, quality of the story, geography, and participation in the online Lab, a selected group of participants will be gifted a GoPro camera offered to the program by GoPro For A Change. Participants who are selected to receive the GoPro camera will need to sign an acceptance and usage agreement.
The second part of the Storytelling Lab will consist of a production period in which each participant will be supported in the production of their own story. This period goes from August 26th to October 13th. Each participant will have the opportunity to access special mentorship from an international network of storytellers and seafood experts who will help them build their story. The Lexicon also provides editors, animators, and graphic designers to support participants with more technical skills.
The final deadline to submit the stories is the 14th of October. Participants will be able to both submit complete edited stories, or footage accompanied by a storyboard to be assembled by The Lexicon’s team.
All applicants who will exhibit conduct and behavior that is contrary to The Lexicon’s code of conduct will be automatically disqualified. This includes applicants proposing stories that openly discriminate against a social or ethnic group, advocate for a political group, incite violence against any group, or incite to commit crimes of any kind.
All submissions must be the entrant’s original work. Submissions must not infringe upon the trademark, copyright, moral rights, intellectual rights, or rights of privacy of any entity or person.
Participants will retain the copyrights to their work while also granting access to The Lexicon and the other partners of the initiative to share their contributions as part of A Greener Blue Global Storytelling Initiative.
If a potential selected applicant cannot be reached by the team of the Initiative within three (3) working days, using the contact information provided at the time of entry, or if the communication is returned as undeliverable, that potential participant shall forfeit.
Selected applicants will be granted access to an advanced Storytelling Lab taught and facilitated by Douglas Gayeton, award-winning storyteller and information architect, co-founder of The Lexicon. In this course, participants will learn new techniques that will improve their storytelling skills and be able to better communicate their work with a global audience. This skill includes (but is not limited to) how to build a production plan for a documentary, how to find and interact with subjects, and how to shoot a short documentary.
Twenty of the participants will receive a GoPro Hero 11 Digital Video and Audio Cameras by September 15, 2022. Additional participants may receive GoPro Digital Video and Audio Cameras to be announced at a later date. The recipients will be selected by advisors to the program and will be based on selection criteria (see below) on proposals by Storytelling Lab participants. The selections will keep in accordance with Lab criteria concerning geography, active participation in the Storytelling Lab and commitment to the creation of a story for the Initiative, a GoPro Camera to use to complete the storytelling lab and document their story. These recipients will be asked to sign an acceptance letter with terms of use and condition to receive the camera.
The Lexicon provides video editors, graphic designers, and animators to support the participants to complete their stories.
The submitted stories will be showcased during international and local events, starting from the closing event of the International Year of Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022 in Rome, in January 2023. The authors of the stories will be credited and may be invited to join.
Storytelling lab participation:
Applicants that will be granted access to the storytelling Lab will be evaluated based on the entries they provided in the online form, and in particular:
Applications will be evaluated by a team of 4 judges from The Lexicon, GSSI and the team of IYAFA (Selection committee).
When selecting applications, the call promoters may request additional documentation or interviews both for the purpose of verifying compliance with eligibility requirements and to facilitate proposal evaluation.
Camera recipients:
Participants to the Storytelling Lab who will be given a GoPro camera will be selected based on:
The evaluation will be carried out by a team of 4 judges from The Lexicon, GSSI and the team of IYAFA (Selection committee).
Incidental expenses and all other costs and expenses which are not specifically listed in these Official Rules but which may be associated with the acceptance, receipt and use of the Storytelling Lab and the camera are solely the responsibility of the respective participants and are not covered by The Lexicon or any of the A Greener Blue partners.
All participants who receive a Camera are required to sign an agreement allowing GoPro for a Cause, The Lexicon and GSSI to utilize the films for A Greener Blue and their promotional purposes. All participants will be required to an agreement to upload their footage into the shared drive of The Lexicon and make the stories, films and images available for The Lexicon and the promoting partners of A Greener Blue.
