The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Agriculture and Food (TEEB AgriFood) report aims to develop an understanding of the wider economic, social and environmental impacts of the global food system, from farm to plate. Too often these aspects are considered in isolation resulting in a range of hidden costs and benefits that are not reflected in the decisions across the food chain. TEEB AgriFood highlights these hidden impacts and has developed an integrated framework for evaluation.
The Framework has three guiding principles – universality, comprehensiveness and inclusion.
It is ‘universal’ as it can be used in any geographical, ecological or social context, at the level of society, the firm, or the individual.
The Framework is ‘comprehensive’ in that it does not ignore any significant impacts of the food system, or any material dependencies, no matter whether they are economically visible or invisible. This comprehensiveness refers to the entire value chain, and to all significant outcomes and impacts within an agri-food system.
It has ‘inclusion’ as it supports multiple approaches to assessment. Although its ‘accounting based’ nature directly supports economic analysis including valuation of impacts on human well-being, this may not be possible or appropriate for all aspects of human well-being.