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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

Sec. Social Movements, Institutions and Governance

Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1694069

This article is part of the Research TopicMeasuring Sustainability in Food Systems: Advancing Scientific Indicator and Metric Systems for Monitoring Progress Towards the UN Sustainable Development GoalsView all articles

Monitoring Sustainable Food Commons

Provisionally accepted
María Gabriela  Loayza GallardoMaría Gabriela Loayza Gallardo1Olivier  DanglesOlivier Dangles2,3,4,5,6,7*
  • 1Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador
  • 2Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador
  • 3Universite de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
  • 4CNRS Delegation Occitanie Est, Montpellier, France
  • 5Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, France
  • 6Institut de recherche pour le developpement, Marseille, France
  • 7Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Montpellier, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

The global food system is in the midst of a structural crisis characterized by the commodification of food and the dominance of market-oriented production logic, threatening ecological sustainability and social equity. In response, we propose viewing food systems as socio-ecological commons, the collective management and adaptive governance of which are essential. However, situated monitoring mechanisms that allow for a rigorous and inclusive assessment of their evolution, impacts, and interactions are still lacking. Collaborative monitoring is emerging as a response that is understood not only as a technical monitoring tool, but also as a principle of care, learning, and community co-responsibility. We illustrate our approach through a project that aims to establish pesticide-free food commons in the Ecuadorian Andes. We use the concept of the chakrakamak, a Kichwa term meaning field caretaker, to refer to a person dedicated to monitoring the commons. We generate hybrid indicators that align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Buen Vivir Goals (BVGs), recognizing the interconnectedness of society, nature, and individual well-being. This approach broadens the theory of the commons, establishes replicable metrics, and strengthens food governance to create more inclusive, equitable, and resilient systems.

Keywords: Food commons, collaborative monitoring, sdgs, BvgS, sustainability

Received: 27 Aug 2025; Accepted: 30 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Loayza Gallardo and Dangles. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Olivier Dangles, olivier.dangles@ird.fr

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