Damián Copena Rodríguez

Analysis of the transport of imported food in Spain and its contribution to global warming

Through the process of globalization, food has experienced an intense territorial restructuring process. Local agric-food links have weakened at the same time as daily products arrived from distant lands. There is presently a wide international debate on the importance of transport in the configuration of the agric-food system and its contribution in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG). The direct environmental costs of the transport of imported food, that is the ‘external food miles’, have been estimated in kilometer (km), ton (t), ton-kilometer (t-km) and GHG in Spain between 1995 and 2011. The analysis is made by ten food groups including 136 products, with special attention to the most important ones (cereals and animal feed), as well as by means of transport (air, rail, road and water) and from 113 different countries belonging to six geographical areas. Two phases are identified during this period: an expansive phase (1995–2007), in which the t-km of imported food increased from 81.8 to 147.8 million t-km and environmental pressure rose from 3.1 to 5.4 million CO 2 -eq t, and a recession phase (2007–2011), in which environmental pressure subsided as a consequence of the reduction of imports, even though it still remained above the 1995 level. The article reveals a clear interrelation between amounts, distances and modal distribution when it comes to determining the environmental cost of transporting food imports in the two periods studied. It also reflects on the role of the external food miles in the Spanish agri-food system from a sustainability perspective.

Fighting for a future: an actor-oriented planning approach to landscape preservation in Galicia

Economic optimisation of the gross margin per hectare in agriculture reduces diversity, coherence and identity of cultural landscapes. Hence, landscape preservation calls for changes in the social–ecological organisation of places, which implies complex transitional processes towards new management regimes. These are supported by CAP reforms (Horizon, 2014–2020) that increasingly turn from individual production subsidies to farmers to the collective management of natural resources and the related ecosystem services. This article explores the opportunities for landscape preservation in Galicia, Spain. The central question is: ‘How to develop a successful planning approach in the context of a geographically peripheral area facing severe ecological, social and economic vulnerabilities?’ In the case study area, contrasting viewpoints on landscape preservation among rural dwellers, entrepreneurs and representatives of institutions point to power issues on control over the natural environment, but also provide input for the development of an actor-oriented approach to landscape preservation. This article provides a ‘tool’ for catching up with the EU objectives of sustainable, inclusive and smart growth and contributes to our understanding of how place-based development in EU programs can be combined with landscape management in Galicia.