Can a shift to regional and organic diets reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the food system? A case study from Qatar

Abstract

Background Qatar is one of the countries with the highest carbon (C) footprints per capita in the world with an increasing population and food demand. Furthermore, the international blockade by some countries that is affecting Qatar—which has been traditionally a highly-dependent country on food imports—since 2017 has led the authorities to take the decision of increasing food self-sufficiency. In this study we have assessed the effect on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of shifting diets from conventional to organic products and from import-based diets to more regionalized diets for the first time in a Gulf country. Results We found that considering the production system, the majority of the emissions come from the animal products, but the differences between conventional and organic diets are very small (738 and 722 kg CO2-eq capita−1 year−1, of total emissions, respectively). Conversely, total emissions from plant-based products consumption might be around one order of magnitude smaller, but the differences in the emissions between the organic and conventional systems were higher than those estimated for animal products, leading to a decrease in 44 kg CO2-eq capita−1 year−1 when changing from 100% conventional to 50% of organic consumption of plant-based products. Regarding the shift to regionalized diets, we found that packaging has a small influence on the total amount of GHG emissions, whereas emissions from transportation would be reduced in around 450 kg CO2 capita−1 year−1 when reducing imports from 100 to 50%. Conclusions However, these results must be read carefully. Due to the extreme adverse pedoclimatic conditions of the country, commercial organic regional livestock would not be possible without emitting very high GHG emissions and just only some traditional livestock species may be farmed in a climate-friendly way. On the other hand, organic and regional low-CO2 emission systems of plant-based products would be possible by implementing innovations in irrigation or other innovations whose GHG emissions must be further studied in the future. Therefore, we conclude that shifting towards more plant-based organic regional consumption by using climate-friendly irrigation is a suitable solution to both increasing self-sufficiency and reducing C footprint. We encourage national authorities to including these outcomes into their environmental and food security policies.

Agricultural Production in Qatar’s Hot Arid Climate

“…• reduces the pressure on Qatar's existing stressed ecosystems that provide important ecosystem services and the promotion of eco-tourism; • reduces the large carbon footprint from importing plant-based produce (sometimes as far afield as North-Western Europe, if not further) [121]; • reduces the financial resources necessary to support food production in a hyper-arid country [79,[82][83][84][85][86]; • improves urban aesthetics and urban shading, thus enhancing urban amenity spaces and improves mental health and well-being [68,[108][109][110]; and • generally, promotes sustainable development, and ensures an environment suitable for long-term habitation.…”

Plant-Based Innovations for the Transition to Sustainability: A Bibliometric and in-Depth Content Analysis

“…Research should focus on technological innovations that improve the net efficiency of activities and reduce the costs of raw materials. Vicente-Vicente and Piorr [76] suggested that using climate-friendly irrigation to move to more organic-vegetable consumption is an appropriate solution to increase self-sufficiency and reduce carbon footprints. National authorities should include these results in their environmental and foodsecurity policies.…”

Foodshed, Agricultural Diversification and Self-Sufficiency Assessment: Beyond the Isotropic Circle Foodshed—A Case Study from Avignon (France)

“…A lack of confidence in conventional market-based agriculture has arisen since the 1990s [1], together with a fear of long-distance food supply disruptions, emphasized by crises such as the covid-19 pandemic [2,3]. Feeding the city on sustainable and healthy agriculture became a local policy concern [4][5][6], and proximity is an effective way to enhance the confidence. Nevertheless, regional self-sufficiency has not been a focus of policy decision-making until recently [7,8].…”

“…Nevertheless, regional self-sufficiency has not been a focus of policy decision-making until recently [7,8]. In other words, social awareness about sustainable regional food security requests an increase in regional-or domestic-food self-sufficiency levels [6,[9][10][11][12][13][14], where dietary patterns, consumer behaviors, and diversified farming play an important role [5,15]. In addition to implementing farming-related concepts, such as ecological intensification, the challenge is to enhance the efficiency of food chains, building upon proximity in all of the diversity of emerging concepts, and linking local agricultural supply to the urban final demand [10].…”