The Whole Food System: Jessica Fanzo looks at how food is connected to everything else
Jessica Fanzo will join the Columbia Climate Institute faculty in July.
Jessica Fanzo has always been fascinated by food — something she says may have something to do with her Italian-American upbringing, where food was central to her family and culture.Now a leading scholar in the interdisciplinary field of food systems, she will join the Columbia Climate Institute in July.
Fanzo comes to the Climate Institute from Johns Hopkins University, where she was the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Global Food Policy and Ethics and director of the Hopkins Global Food Policy and Ethics Program.
She specializes in the interconnections between agriculture, health and the environment. Her research aims to improve food systems to provide healthy, equitable and environmentally sustainable diets. She has more than two decades of research and field experience in global food systems policy and food security. In addition, she has served as a consultant to United Nations organizations such as USAID, World Health Organization, World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization and United Nations Committee on Food Security, Rockefeller Foundation and World Bank.
Her new position will be her fourth term at Columbia, as she previously worked at the Earth Institute (now the core of the Climate Institute), where she served as director of nutrition policy at the Center for Globalization and Sustainable Development, as well as the Director of Nutrition at the Center for Global Health and Economic Development. She also held positions at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the School of International and Public Affairs, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Physicians and Surgeons in 2000.
Can you share more about your research focus?
My research covers four main areas. The first is food systems analysis, which involves gathering data to help policymakers understand the state of food systems and make more informed policy decisions about how to ensure food systems deliver healthy, equitable and environmentally sustainable food.I am working on two major initiatives in this area, including Food System Dashboard and Food Systems Countdown Initiative. Dashboard compiles food system data in a visually appealing, easily accessible format, giving decision makers an understanding of a country’s food system and its greatest challenges. And, The Food Systems Countdown is a collaborative effort of more than 60 researchers to identify the most relevant metrics to track food system performance and its success over the next decade. The framework can inform better policies and programs to address food security, diets, nutrition, health and climate change.
Another area I’m working on is understanding how food landscapes affect diets, for example how different geography, land or urban environments affect the dietary choices of local communities. Geopolitics, climate change and urbanization are transforming many places, which in turn affects the kinds of food grown, available and accessible. We therefore want to better understand how places and the drivers shaping these environments are changing, and how these changes affect diets. For example, we have a project in Cambodia looking at how climate change and political decisions (such as building more dams) affect the flow of the Mekong River—and how changes in flow affect food security and the dietary choices of communities that depend on the river. A related four-year project is the better integration and use of climate services into public health programs to prevent and treat malnutrition in climate-prone riverine and pastoral communities in Cambodia and Ethiopia, respectively.
A third area of research is how to shift to healthier, more sustainable diets — and what this means for the livestock industry and the growing demand for animal-sourced foods. I am part of EAT-lancet The commission set broad global goals, but the question now is how to transform food systems in a way that does not create more inequity and injustice, while ensuring the health of people and the planet. This is the great challenge of our time. The role of agricultural biodiversity, local and traditional crops and diversification of production systems will be crucial.
A fourth area of research examines ethical debates in food system policy, examining how human rights can be integrated into food systems. For example, we know that climate change and the way food systems are governed are placing constraints on marginalized and vulnerable groups. So how do we work with policymakers to protect the food security and agriculture-based livelihoods of these populations and ensure their rights are protected, especially those working in food systems in post-conflict and resource-constrained settings? We have a five-year project – “People-Centred Food Systems” – integrating human rights into policy dialogues in Cambodia, Ethiopia, Honduras and Uganda.
Fanzo talks to a farmer in Malawi.Photo courtesy of Jessica Fanzo
What drew you to this field?
I’m fascinated by food and how the body uses it to stay healthy. My undergraduate degree was in Agriculture, but I completed my MS and PhD in Nutrition. I started my career as a scientific nutritionist trying to understand how the body responds to nutrients at the cellular molecular level. Over time, I switched to a more public-facing career in international development – working in nutrition but gaining a broader perspective on how agriculture, climate change and food systems are linked to diet, nutrition and health . When I started my studies and subsequent studies in nutrition it was a niche field and no one had much interest in food. Food is now everywhere – and food systems are seen as an important field of study as they touch every sector, system and person on Earth. Every day we participate in the food system and make decisions that affect the global food system. Now, with so many challenges facing the food system, not least climate change, we have to figure out how to keep people food secure and healthy without damaging the environment. It doesn’t get more fun and challenging than this!
What would you like to teach at the Columbia Climate School?
I think students are genuinely eager to have more classes on food and climate. I will definitely be teaching food and climate classes. And, I explored the kinds of food systems courses currently being offered to see how I might contribute. I’m also considering a class on food equity and ethics that would look at why some people are not food safe or suffer disproportionately. We’ll examine the ethical challenges of feeding the world, including climate change and the political economy of food, and consider the injustices that coexist with food insecurity — and how to overcome them. I think this generation of students, like the students of the counterculture movement in the 1960s, is very concerned with injustice and how to try to build a more equitable society.
What drew you to Columbia Climate Institute? This post is actually going back to Columbia for you, right?
I love Colombia. This will be my fourth time here and I want to stay.
I am very excited to be joining the Climate Institute, especially after being part of the Earth Institute. There is room to build a robust food systems programme, especially in the context of climate change. I will be leading the interdisciplinary Food for Humanity initiative that will engage schools across the campus. This is a unique opportunity to deepen Columbia’s work on food and climate and build a strong collaborative program, with the Climate Institute leading this important work. There are so many people across the University who are doing amazing work on food and the food system – the Climate Institute can be a convener and bring everyone together to do impactful work in this city and globally.
Fanzo is in Timor-Leste for a community meeting.Photo courtesy of Jessica Fanzo
What are your hopes for building the Food for Humanity Project?
Once I got to Columbia, so many ideas and collaborations happened. This will be a truly collaborative effort where everyone can feel a sense of ownership. I would spend the first year really listening to my collaborators and meeting everyone who is researching or interested in getting involved with food issues – to find out what they are doing and what their hopes are. I do see three pillars for building collaborative projects: research, education, and policy.
Columbia is located in New York City, a model city where many seek innovation and a hub of activity on global policy issues. We have the potential to set a strong example for food and climate policy initiatives and engage with and engage with a wide range of talent working in food systems.
Why is interdisciplinary collaboration such an important part of this work?
super necessary. I call climate change “everything is changing” because every sector, every system, every community, every person is and will continue to be affected by climate change. And, food systems are very similar in that they are a multifactorial problem and we influence and participate in food systems every day in some way, shape or form. The way food systems are linked to health, the environment, livelihoods and equity is a central issue worldwide. It’s hard to ignore food systems and climate and their connection to the way the world develops today. It is therefore crucial to bring together multiple disciplines to tackle the thorny challenges of climate and food. We need all expertise and all people coming together to solve food and climate problems.
