LITES - Legal Issues in Transdisciplinary Environmental Studies – serie

The book reflects on the issues concerning, on the one hand, the difficulty in feeding an ever- increasing world population and, on the other hand, the need to build new productive systems able to protect the planet from overexploitation. The concept of “food diversity” is a synthesis of diversities: biodiversity of ecological sources of food supply; socio-territorial diversity; and cultural diversity of food traditions. In keeping with this transdisciplinary perspective, the book collects a large number of contributions that examine, firstly the relationships between agrobiodiversity, rural sustainable systems and food diversity; and secondly, the issues concerning typicality (food specialties/food identities), rural development and territorial communities. Lastly, it explores legal questions concerning the regulations aiming to protect both the food diversity and the right to food, in the light of the political, economic and social implications related to the problem of feeding the world population, while at the same time respecting local communities’ rights, especially in the developing countries. The book collects the works of legal scholars, agroecologists, historians and sociologists from around the globe.

This book presents a thorough analysis of the innovative food commons approach in relation to the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The debates surrounding this pivotal European policy have always been robust, and with the ambitious targets outlined by the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the European Green Deal, they are poised to become even more prominent. To effectively realize these objectives, it is imperative to systematically reassess the fundamental structures of our food systems and enact substantive reforms within EU agri-food law and policymaking. The food commons approach represents not only a novel theoretical framework, but also, and foremost, a dynamic socio-political movement that has garnered attention from both researchers and policymakers due to its pioneering nature. Rejecting the prevailing paradigm of absolute commodification of food, this approach endeavours to reconceptualize our food systems through the prisms of ecology, social inclusion, collective governance, and resilience. The overarching objective of this book is to scrutinize the potential of this novel approach to fundamentally reshape the theoretical underpinnings of EU agri-food law, ultimately facilitating the realization of more sustainable and just food systems.The target audience of this book mainly consists of academic researchers, but also practitioners and policymakers working on agricultural and environmental studies, due to its interdisciplinary approach and the originality of its content. Along the same lines, the book will appeal to NGOs, indigenous peoples, and food sovereignty movements around the world.

This book offers essential insights into the policy and legal implications of the results-based approach in terms of shaping recent agri-environmental and climate commitments in the European Union and encouraging farmers to deliver significant and quantifiable enhancements of the quality of the environment within the EU Common Agricultural Policy.To do so, it addresses several cutting-edge questions: what is the current legal understanding of ecosystem services in the European Union? How has the ecosystem-based approach and its linkage with the multifunctional role of agriculture been recognised in EU agricultural law? How have agri-environmental and climate schemes evolved to adopt the results-based approach? To what extent is the Common Agricultural Policy’s new model encouraging farmers to deliver significant and quantifiable enhancements of the quality of the environment? What is the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy on EU actions concerning ecosystem and nature restoration? And lastly, what is the role of digitalisation and the AKIS in enhancing results-based agri-environmental and climate commitments in the EU?Given its scope, the book will be of interest to a wide readership of researchers, practitioners, professionals, students, and policymakers interested in agricultural law, rural development studies, ecosystem-based management, climate change, environmental studies, political science, and economics.

This book investigates the urban crises of food insecurity and vacant land by examining how community gardens in Berlin and Rio de Janeiro serve as vital mechanisms for realizing the human right to food. Through a comparative study conducted between 2019 and 2023 involving 40 participants, the research explores urban commons’ practices and how they address dimensions of food availability, accessibility, acceptability, and sustainability. The findings reveal distinct motivations and effects shaped by local socioeconomic contexts: while Berlin’s gardens are primarily driven by socialization and environmental concerns, Rio de Janeiro’s gardens focus on food security and social empowerment. Despite the differences, both cities demonstrate a shared commitment to agroecological production as a tool for urban resilience. Ultimately, the study confirms that urban food-sharing practices in these spaces advance the right to food across various dimensions, highlighting the urgent need for urban governance that protects community gardens to foster a global social-ecological transformation.

This book focuses on the social and environmental issues being addressed by agricultural law within the current globalised system.What is agricultural law? Agricultural regulations concern and affect essential human needs and values that must be dealt with by pursuing a comprehensive and coordinated global approach. By tracking the developments in this context, this book explores the new challenges that agricultural law needs to address  in order to frame emerging dilemmas.International governance of natural resources and their role in addressing food insecurity is the object of the first Part of the volume, which deals with sustainable agriculture and agro-ecosystem services in connection with the food security issue.The second Part focuses on the regulation of food as the main product of agricultural activity, and explores the answers that the law can provide in order to accommodate consumers’ interests and concerns (inter alia, novel foods, animal welfare, direct sales and e-commerce). The third Part examines the social, environmental and legal consequences of a renewed interest in agricultural investments. Further, it analyses the evolution and the interplay between different legal systems with regard to land tenure, environmental concerns and investments in agriculture.

The book reflects on the issues concerning, on the one hand, the difficulty in feeding an ever- increasing world population and, on the other hand, the need to build new productive systems able to protect the planet from overexploitation. The concept of “food diversity” is a synthesis of diversities: biodiversity of ecological sources of food supply; socio-territorial diversity; and cultural diversity of food traditions. In keeping with this transdisciplinary perspective, the book collects a large number of contributions that examine, firstly the relationships between agrobiodiversity, rural sustainable systems and food diversity; and secondly, the issues concerning typicality (food specialties/food identities), rural development and territorial communities. Lastly, it explores legal questions concerning the regulations aiming to protect both the food diversity and the right to food, in the light of the political, economic and social implications related to the problem of feeding the world population, while at the same time respecting local communities’ rights, especially in the developing countries. The book collects the works of legal scholars, agroecologists, historians and sociologists from around the globe.

This book focuses on the social and environmental issues being addressed by agricultural law within the current globalised system.What is agricultural law? Agricultural regulations concern and affect essential human needs and values that must be dealt with by pursuing a comprehensive and coordinated global approach. By tracking the developments in this context, this book explores the new challenges that agricultural law needs to address  in order to frame emerging dilemmas.International governance of natural resources and their role in addressing food insecurity is the object of the first Part of the volume, which deals with sustainable agriculture and agro-ecosystem services in connection with the food security issue.The second Part focuses on the regulation of food as the main product of agricultural activity, and explores the answers that the law can provide in order to accommodate consumers’ interests and concerns (inter alia, novel foods, animal welfare, direct sales and e-commerce). The third Part examines the social, environmental and legal consequences of a renewed interest in agricultural investments. Further, it analyses the evolution and the interplay between different legal systems with regard to land tenure, environmental concerns and investments in agriculture.