Challenges and opportunities of the telecoupled agro-food systems to promote transformative biodiverse and equitable governance pathways

Telecoupled agro-food systems like coffee, cacao, banana, meat, and soy, which are produced in developing countries of the Global South and consumed in developed regions of the Global North, embody promoting multiple socioenvironmental impacts, such as biodiversity loss, poverty, and negative equity impacts among local populations in the producing countries. Therefore, in this research we explore how to achieve transformative change through more effective levers and processes, recognizing plural values. Taking plural ways of thinking as a point of departure, implies there are multiple pathways and visions for transformative change in agro-food systems. In addition, the acknowledgment of telecoupled landscapes, which explores entities always under the permission of an interacting system approach, adds to the plurality and complexity of transformative change. The aim of this work is, thus, to analyze the strategies, actions, and policies from a global north consumer perspective that are currently affecting telecoupled agro-food systems and to identify leverage points that need to be implemented by multiple actors to strengthen the existing governance mechanisms and promote the adoption of biodiverse and equitable practices of these telecoupled agro-food systems. For this, a systematic literature review will be conducted to analyze the actors, institutions, and mechanisms that are involved in the decision-making and governance of selected telecoupled agro-food systems, as well as those who are excluded from these processes, and the types of governance that are predominant among the agro-food systems. A discussion will be presented on the pros and cons of different proposed pathways as well as the challenges and opportunities proposed in the literature for strengthening positive biodiversity and equity impacts of telecoupled agro-food systems. Note: This research is part of the 2022 Horizon Project: “TC4BE Ph.D. European transformative Governance pathways for biodiversity and equity” which is being implemented mainly in Kenia. Cameroon, Colombia, and many European Universities and by many researchers.