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Abstract

Many technological and behavioral measures have been proposed to transition the food system to be healthier, nature-positive, and inclusive. In targeting one specific sustainability goal, these measures often have positive or negative side-effects on the other sustainability targets. Global integrated assessment models (IAMs) of the food and land system are often used to assess the quantitative direction and magnitude of these side-effects. Within this brief, we synthesize the findings of multiple analyses using the land system model MAgPIE to study the effects and side-effects of different measures taken within the land system, such as improving agricultural productivity, land-sparing for biodiversity protection, bioenergy cultivation, and changing food consumption patterns. We find that side-effects of measures are widespread and often impact multiple SDGs. We conclude that measures must be bundled to achieve a sustainable outcome; due to their interrelatedness, any implemented measure should be accompanied by as many measures as there are sustainability targets that are affected by side-effects. While we found large literature on the impact of measures, their side-effects, and their allocative efficiency, we identified few studies that also considered the policies that would lead to the implementation of these measures. This research gap warrants more research, because the type of policy instrument has a major effect on the distributional outcomes and likelihood of success.