Portugal imports 73% of food and is the Mediterranean country with the largest food footprint per capita, concludes a study by the University of Aveiro (UA), released this Monday. “Food weighs 30% in the Portuguese ecological footprint, more than transport or energy consumption, a percentage that makes Portugal the Mediterranean country with the largest food footprint per capita”, Say the researchers.
According to the data contained in that scientific work, the national ecological footprint, per inhabitant, is superior to the biocapacity of the country or the planet itself. “It means that if all the people in the world were to consume like the Portuguese, we would need 2.3 Earth planets”, says the study, revealing that 20% relate to transport and 10% to housing.
“The food footprint assesses in global hectares (gha) the amount of natural resources we need to produce what we eat in one year. Knowing that the country has an annual ‘natural budget’ of 1.28 gha per inhabitant [valor de 2016], we realized that just to eat ‘we spend’ 1.08gha, that is, 84% of that budget ”, points out Sara Moreno Pires, professor at the Department of Social, Political and Territory Sciences of the AU.
Researchers Filipe Teles, Sara Moreno Pires and Armando Alves
DR
According to the researcher, a large part of the biocapacity needed to feed the Portuguese population comes from other countries, such as Spain, France, Ukraine or even China and Senegal, which implies pressure and dependence on these ecosystems. “Portugal is, for these reasons, the worst country in 15 Mediterranean countries with regard to the food footprint”, he warns.
Portugal is the third largest consumer of fish in the world, with around 61.7 kilos consumed per person in 2017, and 60% of the biocapacity to produce this fish comes from other countries, with Spain being one of the main trading partners. “The high intensity of the ecological footprint of fish such as tuna, swordfish and cod and their cultural strength in Portuguese food further underline the high impact of fish consumption on the food footprint”, highlights the work.
The study identifies the dependence on foreign countries’ biocapacity (such as Spain, France, Brazil, or even China) to produce food resources, in order to satisfy the demand of the Portuguese, with the most dependent categories being “bread and cereals” (where almost 90% of the global hectares required for their production are imported), “sugar, honey, sweets and chocolate” (with an import of around 80%) or “dietary fats” (with around 73%).
In addition to the commercial relationship with European countries, the study points out the dependence of countries like Uruguay on meat, West Africa and Senegal on fish, USA on milk and dairy products, Argentina, Canada and Brazil on dietary fats or fruits and China on fruits and on vegetables.
The study entitled Transition sustainable food in Portugal: an assessment of the footprint of food choices and gaps in national and local food policies, signed by researchers from the AU and the Global Footprint Network, concludes that the Portuguese food standards are unsustainable and the still fragile structure of public policies to reverse this trend. In addition to Sara Moreno Pires, Armando Alves and Filipe Teles signed for the University of Aveiro.
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