The current industrial system of production, transformation and consumption of food is the major driver of planetary destruction. This system, sustained by the normative valuation of food as a commodity, is pursuing resource enclosures and unsustainable exploitation beyond planetary boundaries to satisfy the profit maximization ethos. Because food is only a commodity, for-profit initiatives are fully justified. In this lecture, I propose a different value-based narrative, one based on the multiple dimensions of food relevant to human beings, dimensions that cannot be valued in market monetary terms. Food as a commodity just use the treadeable dimension of food. But what about the others (i.e. a human right, and essential resource, a cultural determinant). Therefore, food shall be valued differently, as a multi-dimensional commons with public good dimensions that require a different kind of governance and allocation mechanisms othern than the market. If we need to change drastically the global food system in crisis, we need to start by having a different narrative and different food values. Here is a first approach to that.

1. 1
JOSE LUIS VIVERO POL
PhD Research Fellow
in Food Governance
FOOD COMMONS
A disruptive narrative
and moral compass
for human survival
Dialogue on Food as a Commons
International University College Torino,
25 March 2017

2. 2
Consideration of
food as commodity
is social construct
that can / shall be
reconceived
WHY?
Creative Commons
Paradigm
Shift

3. Food system is the greatest driver
of Earth transformation
• Food systems accounts for 48% of land use
• 70% of water use
• 33% of total GHG emissions
• 40% relies on agriculture for their livelihood
• Phosphorus & Nitrogen exceeded Planetary
Boundaries
(Ivanova et al., 2015, Clapp, 2012)
3

4. 4
157 million chronically
malnourished
19 million severely
wasted children
HUNGER is largest
contributor (35%)
to child mortality
1.4 BILLION OVERWEIGHT
(300 MILLION OBESE)
2.3 BILLION MALNOURISHED PEOPLE – WE EAT BADLY

5. 5
Food System Paradoxes
FOOD PRODUCERS STAY HUNGRY
800 million hungry people, or more (SPI 2013)
70% are food producers
FOOD KILLS PEOPLE
Food-related diseases are a primary cause of
death (6.5 M deaths per year).
FOOD IS (INCREASINGLY) NOT
FOR HUMANS
47% of food for human consumption,
FOOD IS WASTED
1.3 billion tons end up in the garbage every
year (1/3 of global food production) enough
to feed 600 million hungry people.
Foto: Fringe Hoj Flickr Creative Commons

6. 6
The actual way of
producing & eating
(western diets &
industrial food system)
is unsustainable
It cannot be maintained
for the next 50 years
IAASTD (2008)
UNEP (2009)
UNCTAD (2013)UK Foresight (2011)

7. 7
Commons are material / non-material resources,
jointly developed and maintained by a
community/society and shared according to
community-defined rules, irrespective of their
mode of production (private, public or
commons-based means), because they benefit
everyone and are fundamental to society’s
wellbeing

9. 9
Economic Epistemology on Commons:
reductionist + theoretical + ontological

10. 10
AIR
WATER
FOOD
SUNLIGHT

11. 11
The six food dimensions relevant to humans:
multi-dimensional food as commons VS mono-dimensional food as commodity
Source: Vivero-Pol (in press). http://www.preprints.org/manuscript/201701.0073/v1

12. Food as a commodity
mono-dimensional approach whereby
economic dimension of food prevails and
overshadows non-economic dimensions.
Price (value-in-exchange)
12Photo: Dean Hochman, Flickr

13. Food as a commons
means revalorising different
dimensions relevant to
human beings (value-in use)
& reducing the commodity
dimension (value-in
exchange)
13
Food commons are what a
society does collectively,
through private, state and self-
regulated provision, to
guarantee everybody eats
adequately in quantity and
quality everyday

14. 14
Food is essential
for human life…
… so access to food cannot
be exclusively determined
by the purchasing power

15. 15
Planetary
Boundaries
Climate Change
Oil Peak
Radical change
UK Gov
IAASTD
Business as usual
Increase productivity
Improve access

16. 16
The TRANSITION towards a fairer & more sustainable
food system needs a different narrative
Recognizing & valuing the multiple dimensions of
food = FOOD AS A COMMONS

17. 17
Food as a new old
commons
(innovative + historic)
Sustainable
agricultural practices
(agro-ecology)
Open-source
knowledge (creative
commons licenses)
Polycentric
governance (states,
enterprises, civic
actions)

18. Social Market
Enterprises
Supply-demand
Food as private good
Public
Private
Collective actions
Communities
Reciprocity
Food as common good
Partner State
Redistribution Citizens welfare
Food as public good
Tri-centric
Governance of
Food
Commons
Systems
Incentives, subsidies,
Enabling legal
frameworks
Limiting privatization
of commons
Farmers as civil
servants
Banning food
speculation
Minimum free food for
all citizens
Local purchase
Rights-based Food
banks

19. To guarantee school
meals for all students in
public schools
19

20. Compulsory rooftop
greening for every new
building
(with edibles, non-edibles)
20

21. Establishing bakeries
where every citizen
can get access to a
bread loaf every day
(if needed or willing to)
21

22. Set target for food provisioning in
2030
(Food Council)
• 60% private sector
• 25% self-production (collective
actions)
• 15% state-provisioning (public
buildings, destitute people,
unemployed families) through
Universal Food Coverage
22

23. TERRITORIES OF
COMMONS
Food, heritage, nature,
climate mitigation,
democracy

24. Water Tribunal of
Valencia Huertas One of
the oldest juridical institutions in Europe (Valencia, Spain)

25. 25
Universita Agraria
Medieval institution to govern collective lands (Sacrofano, Italy)

26. Allemansrätten
(Everyman’s right)
(you can walk, run, hike, camp, swim, pick berries or mushrooms
anywhere)
Scandinavian countries
Source: https://somethingswedish.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/allemansratten-and-mushroom-picking/

27. Croft lands
Customary land management, agro-ecology, food production,
nature stewardship (Scotland, UK)
http://www.crofting.org/aboutus

28. Baldios
Communal forest, pasturelands, water reservoirs, cultural
heritage (Portugal)
http://municipio.mondimdebasto.pt

29. Montes Veciñais
en man común
Intergenerational sustainability, collective values,
renewable energy (Galicia, Spain)
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/carballo/corcubion/2016/04/13/pleitos-montes-comunales-
comarca-acumulan-anos-espera/0003_201604C13C1991.htm

30. 30
Territories of
Commons
5% of Europe (12 M Ha of
utilised agricultural area)
More in coastal and forested
areas
9% France
25% of Galicia is onwed in communal
property
Not just private-state duopoly

31. 31
2014: CAP (40% of
EU Budget) 52 Billion
EUR
2013 CAP Reform:No single
mention to commons (water,
territories, land, seeds, food,
knowledge)

32. 32
Considering FOOD as a
COMMONS may be utopical…
But is the right thing to do and
the best goal to aspire
Eduardo Galeano
Uruguayan writer and activist
“Utopia lies at the horizon.
When I draw nearer by two steps,
it retreats two steps.
No matter how far I go, I can never reach it.
What, then, is the purpose of utopia?
It is to cause us to advance.”

33. 33
I am eager to exchange on food as a
commons
Many uncertainties & gaps remain to be
developed in a common way combining
praxis with normative social constructs
@joselviveropol
http://hambreyderechoshumanos.blogspot.com
http://hungerpolitics.wordpress.com
Jose Luis Vivero
Pol
joseluisvivero@gmail.com