Investigating the impacts of shifting to a plant-based diet on society and the environment

人们现在承认，全球粮食、水和能源需求的增加，沿着预计的全球人口增长和气候变化，使自然资源面临比以往任何时候都更大的压力。粮食和能源需求不断增长的核心是有限的土地资源的可用性和可持续利用，这些资源提供多种生态系统服务。随着全球对肉类和奶制品的需求不断增加，其产量在过去50年中翻了两番，环保主义者主要关注甲烷生产对生态系统的影响。与此同时，素食主义者和动物福利活动家呼吁转向更道德的植物性饮食。在英国，纯素食者的数量在过去十年中增加了350%。由于人类活动会加剧自然灾害，因此值得探讨如何更好地管理不同的生态系统，以支持人类健康和保护生物多样性。全球72%的农业用地用于畜牧业，管理我们的生态系统可以控制传染病的爆发和虫害控制。本研究项目旨在了解转向植物性饮食对以下指标的影响：1.人类健康：向植物性饮食过渡对传染病和抗生素耐药性的传播有哪些潜在的共同利益？2.供应链：目前的消费者需求是什么？这种转变将如何影响欧盟境内可能不种植的植物性食品的供应链？3.作物选择和基于植物的替代品：这种饮食转变将如何决定种植什么作物？4.耕作方法：这种转变是否需要改变土地使用方式，替代耕作方法是否能支持更可持续的耕作？5.对土地和土地用途：以植物为基础的农业会影响土壤质量和生物多样性吗？方法环境方面：这些问题与社会目前面临的气候变化问题有着内在的联系。由于大多数能源和粮食安全依赖于可持续的土地使用，全球很可能会发生相当大的直接和间接的土地使用变化。该项目的一部分将着眼于土壤的变化，可能遵循从转变到植物性饮食。超越传统干预措施以实现变革的动力以及对创新种植方法的投资使垂直农业成为一种具有吸引力的替代方案，因为它有可能减少作物占用的土地面积。社会经济方面：该项目进一步旨在了解当前素食主义和植物性饮食方面的社会和社会景观。其目标之一是评估目前的饮食习惯，并评估人们对气候变化问题和转向影响较低的植物系统的态度。此外，我的目标是评估饮食变化将给消费者带来的成本变化，以及这将如何影响供应链和生产成本。由于饮食结构的这种转变将影响肉类和奶制品行业，因此本项目还将致力于为生产者开发新的替代市场的潜力。健康方面：关于环境干预对牛的潜在健康益处，几乎没有进行过调查。值得注意的是，导致住院或死亡的食源性感染通常与动物性食物而不是蔬菜性食物有关。环境研究人员现在开始与公共卫生专家合作，研究环境、动物和人类健康之间的关系。传染病威胁到个人的福祉，并在生态和经济上，在地方和国际上构成重大的公共卫生负担。我计划调查饮食变化、消费者健康和长期社会健康之间的关系。

It is now acknowledged that the global rise in food, water and energy demand, along with the predicted increase in global population and climate change are putting natural resources under more pressure than ever before. At the core of this increasing demand for food and energy is the availability and sustainable use of a limited land resource that delivers multiple ecosystem services. With the ever-increasing global demand for meat and dairy, production of which has quadrupled over the past 50 years, environmentalists have focused primarily on the consequences of methane production on the ecosystem. At the same time, vegan and animal welfare activists are calling for a shift towards a more ethical, plant-based diet. In the UK, the number of vegans has risen by 350% in the past decade.As human activities can exacerbate natural disservices, it is worth exploring how better management of distinct ecosystems could support human health and preserve biodiversity. With 72% of agricultural land devoted to livestock globally, managing our ecosystems may regulate outbreaks in infectious diseases as well as pest control. This research project will aim to understand the impacts of shifting towards a plant-based diet on the following indicators:1. Human health: What are the potential co-benefits of transitioning to a plant-based diet on the spread of infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance?2. Supply chain: What is the current consumer demand and how will this transition affect the supply chain of plant-based foods that may not be grown within the EU?3. Crop choice and plant-based alternatives: How will this dietary shift determine what crops will be cultivated?4. Cultivation method: Will this shift require a change in land use and could alternative cultivation methods support a more sustainable farming?5. What are the impacts on the land and land use: Will a plant-based agriculture affect soil quality and biodiversity? MethodologyEnvironmental aspect: These questions are inherently linked to the issue of climate change society is currently facing. As most energy and food security rely on sustainable land use, it is likely that considerable direct and indirect land use change will occur globally. Part of this project would look at the soil changes that could follow from a shift to a plant-based diet. The drive to look beyond conventional interventions to achieve change and investing in innovative cultivation methods places vertical farming as an attracting alternative for its potential to reduce the area of land occupied by crops.Socio-economic aspect: This projects further aims to understand the current social and societal landscape with respects to veganism and plant-based diets. One of its goals it to appraise current eating habits and assess the attitude of the population regarding the issue of climate change and the shift towards lower-impact plant-based systems. In addition, I aim to evaluate the change in costs a dietary shift will bring to consumers, and how this will impact the supply chain, as well as productions costs. As such transition in diet will impact the meat and dairy industry, this project will also aim to address the potential for new alternative markets for producers.Health aspect: Little investigation has been done in terms of potential health co-benefits of environmental interventions with respects to cattle. Notably, food-born infections that result in hospitalisation or death are more often associated with animal-based than vegetable-based foods. Environmental researchers are now starting to collaborate with public health experts to look at the interface between environmental, animal and human health. Infectious diseases threaten individual well-being and represent a major public health burden, both ecologically and economically, locally and internationally. I plan to investigate the relationship between diet change, consumer health and long-term societal health.