Posted on by Nicole Olweean

Migration and food systems: challenges and opportunities

The number of people living in urban areas globally is projected to increase from about 55% currently to about 68% by 20501,2, largely due to human migration. Indeed, human migration is expected to increase to 2050, with the majority of migrants moving within the borders of their own countries and from rural to urban areas3. With this dramatic increase in urban population, urban food systems need to adapt to make sure everyone has access to a healthy diet produced within planetary boundaries. This adaptation is sometimes called sustainable food systems transitions (SFST). As the key driver of urban population growth, migration presents a number of challenges to SFST — but along with these comes opportunity. In this post, we’ll look briefly at how two of these challenges can be flipped for positive change.

Food insecurity
The challenge

Food insecurity can exist at both ends of the rural-urban migration process. Many people use migration (whether temporary or permanent) as a coping strategy for food insecurity4 by moving to places where food and/or income is more accessible. Therefore, food insecurity can be viewed as a driver of migration. On the other hand, when migrants arrive at their destinations, they are also susceptible to food insecurity depending on their supports and their socioeconomic situation5. Because a sustainable food system provides everyone with access to a nutritious, healthy diet, this food insecurity must be solved in order to achieve SFST.

The opportunity

This dual food insecurity issue gives us a chance to look beyond rural vs urban food security and toward re-establishing healthy relationships between urban areas and rural hinterlands for better food security in both. The degradation of rural-urban relationships is sometimes a driver of food insecurity in rural areas6. This is because urban food procurers have access to a far-reaching and competitive market and can therefore demand that rural farmers sell their products at unprofitable prices7. This can cause financial security in rural areas, which can lead to food insecurity. Therefore, by moving primary food production for urban areas to the rural areas that surround them, food insecurity in rural areas can be reduced, which could also reduce the need for rural-urban migration. At the same time, urban food systems that import food from international sources tend to be more vulnerable to shocks, including food unavailability and price spikes that make food less affordable6,7. These shocks can lead to an increase in urban food insecurity, with vulnerable populations, such as migrants, bearing the brunt6. Reconnecting urban areas with rural hinterlands can increase the resilience of urban food systems, which can have positive impacts on urban food security.

Post-migration dietary changes
The challenge

Migration can be considered a “turning point” for migrant diets7. When they arrive at their urban destinations, migrants can undergo changes to their dietary practices, often ones that bring their diets closer to the typical diet in the destination. This change is known as dietary acculturation8, and is often associated with migrants shifting away from more traditional foods in favor of more globalized foods8,9 (see my post on defining globalized and traditional diets for more background). If urban areas are seeing an increase in population as well as an increase (through in-migration) in the uptake of globalized diets, which tend to be less healthy and less environmentally sustainable9,10, then it can be argued that migration is counter-productive for SFST.

The opportunity

If migrant diets and pre-existing urban diets are integrated properly, urban dietary practices at large can become healthier and more sustainable. As my master’s thesis argues, urban region-specific research comparing migrant dietary practices and pre-existing urban dietary practices can be used to identify “sweet spots” for health and sustainability where the two intersect. In other words, we can ask: how do migrant and pre-existing urban diets compare, where do they intersect, and how can each be adjusted for optimal health and sustainability? Once these questions have been answered, policies and interventions can be created to help move urban dietary practices toward the “sweet spot.” In this approach, migrants do not exacerbate the urban globalized diet problem and instead become key influencers for positive change in urban SFST.

references
  1. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, P. D. (2019). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision (ST/ESA/SER.A/420). https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/files/documents/2020/Jan/un_2018_wup_report.pdf
  2. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, P. D. (2022). World Population Prospects 2022: Summary of Results (UN DESA/POP/2022/TR/NO. 3, Issue. https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/wpp2022_summary_of_results.pdf
  3. IOM. (2021). World Migration Report 2022 (978-92-9268-078-7). https://publications.iom.int/books/world-migration-report-2022
  4. FAO. (2017). Strengthening sector policies for better food security and nutrition results (Rural Migration, Issue. https://www.fao.org/3/i8166e/i8166e.pdf
  5. Carney, M.A., Krause, K.C. Immigration/migration and healthy publics: the threat of food insecurity. Palgrave Commun 6, 93 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-0461-0
  6. van der Gaast, K., van Leeuwen, E., & Wertheim-Heck, S. (2020). City-Region Food Systems and Second Tier Cities: From Garden Cities to Garden Regions. Sustainability, 12(6), 2532. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/6/2532 
  7. Terragni, L., Garnweidner, L. M., Pettersen, K. S. & Mosdøl, A. Migration as a Turning Point in Food Habits: The Early Phase of Dietary Acculturation among Women from South Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Countries Living in Norway. Ecology of Food and Nutrition 53, 273-291 (2014). https://doi.org:10.1080/03670244.2013.817402
  8. Adegboye, A. R. A., Moore, A. P., Stewart, C. & Begum, G. in Social Science Perspectives on Global Public Health     169-178 (Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2022).
  9. Parackal, S. Post-migration food habits of New Zealand South Asian migrants: Implications for health promotion practice. Journal of Migration and Health 7, 100182 (2023). https://doi.org:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmh.2023.100182
  10. Li, J. et al. Dietary acculturation generates virtual carbon flow: The overlaid effects of geographically varied dietary patterns and population migration in urban and materials-flowing China. Journal of Cleaner Production 276, 124283 (2020). https://doi.org:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124283