Oficina Conjunta de l’Alimentació Sostenible (OCAS)

The production of food in the Barcelona metropolitan region must tend towards ever greater compliance with sustainability criteria. Proximity contributes by reducing the environmental impact of transport, but it is also necessary to advance in three directions: better management of resources, such as water and soil; more sustainable production techniques; and the protection and recovery of local varieties.

Local products often have difficulties reaching the market, outside their immediate environment. To take advantage of the market potential of the Barcelona metropolitan region, we must have adequate marketing channels and points of sale that recognise and value local production. These channels must also bring producers closer to consumers.

Consumers’ individual and collective attitudes are key to promoting local production and the sustainability of the food system in general, which is a basic requirement to make it healthier as well. From the choice of products to their proper use and the minimisation of waste, we must consider our diet from an aware and responsible perspective.

The impact of food on our health and on that of the planet is evident. In this sense, the traditional diet, based on local products (what we generally call the “Mediterranean diet”) is a guarantee of sustainability, providing necessary nutrients and helping to fight against obesity and other pathologies that have emerged with changes in eating habits.

Providing food to people must be a dignified and duly remunerated activity in each link of the food chain and result in fair prices that make it accessible to everyone. The guarantee of the right to food therefore occurs because whoever produces food, whoever distributes it and whoever sells it can make it their way of life, also guaranteeing the essential generational change.