Applying a climate-biodiversity-health framework to support integrated food systems planning and policy

Participatory System Mapping for Food Systems: Lessons Learned from a Case Study of Comox Valley, Canada

“…Additional stakeholders and organizations were identified via the snowball sampling techniques. The greater research project began with a series of interviews, which informed the development of a system map, and the methods and outcomes of this research are reported elsewhere [45]. This study focuses on the testing and revising of the system map using a participatory workshop-based research approach.…”

“…The objective of the research is to develop an understanding of how communities can actively participate in integrated food systems and sustainable community development planning. The project aims to include producing practical outcomes by developing frameworks and tools that practitioners can employ to address their planning requirements and by generating findings and recommendations for integrated food systems planning and policy [45,46].…”

“…The map captures relationships among different food systems strategies (green nodes) and outcomes (orange nodes), and it shows how various strategies align or conflict with different CBH imperatives and can be used to support integrated community sustainability planning efforts. More information on how the system maps were developed can be found in [45].…”

“…After revising the system maps' visualization method and content based on the test workshops, the finalized versions were prepared for the stakeholder workshops. Recruitment was carried out by sending invitation emails to the stakeholder list prepared for the interview phase of the greater research project [45]. The stakeholders included those who work in the areas of food systems, climate action, biodiversity conservation, and/or human health, and they include people who work at various scales, from the local to the provincial levels.…”