Publications

Dr. Marta Antonelli has contributed to the international debate over sustainable food systems and natural resource security with over 50 publications in scientific journals, reports, books, and articles on media outlets (e.g., The Guardian, the MIT Technology Review, National Geographic, Food Tank, Diplomatic Courier, ES GLOBAL, Huffington Post Italia, The Brussels Media).

The main topics include food security, water policy, virtual water trade and water footprint, urban food policy, food waste, food supply chains.

Antonelli’s research has been featured, among others, on Inter Press Service, Marie Claire UK, RSI – Radiotelevisione Svizzera Italiana, Food Tank, Il Sole 24 Ore, Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, La Stampa and others.

Selected publications

A Healthier and More Sustainable Global Food System: What is at Stake for the EU?

IAI Commentaries, 2022, 03.

How can we foster the role of food systems in the transition towards a decarbonised EU that thrives within planetary boundaries, while nourishing the health and wellbeing of citizens, in the context of Covid-19 and the economic downturn?

Read the full article.

Complex drought patterns robustly explain global yield loss for major crops.

Scientific Reports, 2022, 12, 5792.

The study provides a comprehensive assessment on how droughts with their complex patterns are consistently related to negative impacts on crop yield on a global scale. The crops analysed are maize, rice, soybean, and wheat, which are key in the debate concerning food, land, water and energy security and sustainability.

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A multilevel carbon and water footprint dataset of food commodities.

Scientific Data, 2021, 8, 127.

The SU-EATABLE LIFE database is a multilevel database of carbon and water footprint values of food commodities, aiming to understand the impact of dietary shifts on global environmental policies.

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Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through Sustainable Food Systems.

Springer Nature, 2019.

This publication offers a systemic analysis of sustainability in the food system, taking as its framework the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations.

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Intra-EU agricultural trade, virtual water flows and policy implications.

Science of the Total Environment, 2017, 1, pp. 439-448.

The European Union is an increasingly water challenged area and is a major agricultural trader. This study investigates the region’s water–food–trade nexus by analysing intra-regional virtual water trade.

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Food-water security and virtual water trade in the Middle East and North African region

International Journal of Water Resources Development, 2015, 31(3), pp. 326-342.

The study analyses the political economy of food-water security in the Middle East and North Africa region, through the lens of virtual water trade to determine how the region’s economies have met food security over the past three decades.

Read the full article.


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