Big ambitions, modest beginnings: Civil society participation in food system governance in Australia

Abstract

As social, environmental, climate change, and public health challenges mount, there is growing recognition that many of the roots of these con­temporary crises are to be found in the nature and trajectory of the dominant food and agricultural systems. Consequently, a growing number of Australian civil society organizations (CSOs) seek to engage in processes of food system governance to address concerns of health and wellbeing, sustainability, and resilience. This paper summa­rizes a case study that explored the characteristics, values, and activities of seven food-related CSOs and identified the factors that enable or hinder their work. The results revealed that while the abil­ity of CSOs to influence food system governance has been modest to date, some progress is being made, particularly regarding food systems govern­ance processes at the local government level, point­ing to the possibility of more participatory forms of local food system governance developing.