Governance Challenges in 'Telecoupled' Food Systems

Food systems are increasingly influenced by distal connections: production or consumption choices in one geographic context produce externalities and unintended consequences in distant locations. While these linkages are not new, economic globalization, urbanization and the dynamics of consumer preferences have accentuated these ‘telecoupled’ relationships in food systems. Telecoupling refers to the unexpected causal interactions among multiple systems in the absence of governance arrangements that effectively account for the multiple social, environmental or economic outcomes produced by the interactions. The global food crisis of 2007-08 illustrated the potential for significant social harm and even political violence that can occur when these telecoupling relationships are not acknowledged. This paper presents a framework for evaluating telecoupling processes and outcomes in food systems, focusing on how the disparate scales of drivers and outcomes, diverse values of actors involved, and spatial distance combine to challenge the governance of telecoupled food systems. We draw from two examples of food systems (coffee and maize) to argue that telecoupling as “problem” for food systems emerges when the institutions and mechanisms of governance acting over one system do not account for the consequences and interactions involving the more distant system. Telecoupling can stimulate new forms of governance, such as the development of codes of conduct and certification schemes, with positive impacts on food and livelihood security. We conclude with a discussion of generalizable strategies for improving food system governance to account for telecoupling.