Sustainable foraging and permaculture as degrowth practices in Singapore
Loading...
URL
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Business |
Master's thesis
Unless otherwise stated, all rights belong to the author. You may download, display and print this publication for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Authors
Date
2024
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Creative Sustainability
Language
en
Pages
65
Series
Abstract
Our current food systems contribute up to a third of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture, land use, transport, waste management, packaging, etc. (Crippa et al., 2021) with Singapore importing over 90% of its food, threatening local food security as well as negatively affecting the environment from transportation emissions (Deloitte & A*STAR, 2019b). In line with Singapore’s ’30 by 30’ goal to locally produce 30% of the population’s nutritional needs by 2030 (Singapore Food Agency, 2023b), various initiatives have been introduced to encourage people to grow edible plants (National Parks Board, 2023). Interest in growing edibles in community gardens has been on the rise (Montefrio et al., 2021; National Parks Board, 2024), and the practice of foraging is gaining newfound attention, despite being a long-standing tradition among indigenous communities (Johari, 2021). Permaculture community gardens and foraging present viable alternatives to the current unsustainable food system. This thesis explores how permaculture community gardens and foraging communities in Singapore promote sustainable practices and degrowth principles. It also aims to understand tensions that exist between these practices and a growth-oriented society, and how these tensions are managed within these communities. The research takes an ethnographic approach involving semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in permaculture community gardens and foraging in Singapore and the data was collected and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings show that permaculture community gardens and foraging communities play a vital role in promoting local food production, social equity through accessibility of food, relationships between communities and human-nature connection. However, these practices face challenges such as regulatory restrictions, loss of spaces, and disconnectedness of society from food sources. The tensions are addressed by creating more accessible spaces, engaging in collaboration, raising awareness and education, driving systemic change from bottom-up initiatives and facilitating experiences and experimentation. This study contributes to the literature on degrowth and sustainable food systems by highlighting practical examples in an urban context within Singapore.Description
Thesis advisor
Rintamäki, JukkaNesterova, Iana
Keywords
degrowth, sustainable food systems, foraging, permaculture, community, urban community gardens, post-growth