BUILDING SUSTAINABLE AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS UNDER THE DIVIDED WORLD

Abstract

After the UN adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), many countries and various sectors have been inclined to be involved in the internalization of SDGs. The first two SDGs show a strong will of the international community to end extreme poverty and hunger, which are the most severe problems that the Millennium Development Goals had attempted to tackle for 15 years without achieving satisfactory results. Both problems are the basic necessities of sustainability. However, current global agri-food systems based on neo-liberalism thought are unlikely to address poverty and hunger deeply. On the contrary, the current mainstream agri-food system accelerates inequality between the rich and the poor. What mechanisms are working to create a divided world? What is required to change the situation? These questions are major concerns of this paper. The divided society cannot achieve sustainable development. Accordingly, the special topic of this paper is to explore alternative movements toward a connected world while reducing global disparities, which can initiate sustainable development. This paper focuses on the development of the concept of Sustainable Development, change in agri-food systems, and critical evaluation of multinational bio-related agribusinesses. After summarizing these topics, this paper highlights the Fairtrade movement as an alternative movement, in particular, and a comparative analysis of consumers’ awareness about buying behaviors in different countries. There are no any comparative researches about this topic. Based on the unique research, this paper concludes that the Fairtrade movement can help achieve the SDGs despite many challenges.