Multilevel governance and food resilience in local communities: addressing institutional barriers

As a human right, food security entails physical and economic access to adequate-quality food (The Right to Adequate Food (Art. 11), 1999), and represents an imperative of community autonomy and social dignity. It integrates agency as a central axis, enabling populations to help shape their own food systems (High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition, 2020). Although the FAO (2025) reports progress in global food resilience, hunger persists and is increasing in Africa and in Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighting the inadequacy of current global strategies.At the global level, strategies such as the agroecological transition and the promotion of the circular economy have addressed the issue; however, the sustainability of food systems remains structurally challenged. Beyond technical or educational constraints, political limitations persist in local production and consumption (García Bustamante & Gracia, 2022), along with institutional barriers such as centralized budgets, rigid legal frameworks, and bureaucracies disconnected from local realities.Multilevel governance has been proposed as the path toward the evolution of political systems. For example, in Europe, research has shown that applying a multilevel governance approach facilitates the transition to food democracy by enabling the design and implementation of policies through both vertical and horizontal governance (Jani et al., 2022). Furthermore, in rural areas of Latin America, community participation in designing programs and policies facilitates their implementation and success; however, this multilevel governance approach requires genuine participation and a willingness to engage in dialogue from public officials (Mendoza Carreón, 2025). We propose that an integrated food governance approach would address policy gaps in practice (Candel & Pereira, 2017), enabling food resilience to emerge from the community fabric and from regulatory frameworks that empower communities with real decision-making authority (Knight Soto, 2022;Sanjuán, 2023).Nevertheless, barriers to its implementation remain, and social identity can facilitate the transition to fairer food systems. Bauermeister (2016) argues that collective identity helps overcome gaps and foster sustainability in local food systems. Poeggel (2022) states that collective identity creates a sense of belonging that is vital for the success or failure of food projects. Thus, it is argued that integrating the community into decision-making, through multilevel governance that considers its collective identity and knowledge, enables a transition toward local food resilience. In this sense, the manuscript contributes to current debates by linking two concepts that have been analyzed in isolation: multilevel governance and social identity, as a dynamic duo that enhances local food resilience. Institutional Barriers in Food Systems Within these structural constraints, the sustainability of food systems faces challenges that extend beyond the technical and educational dimensions. As García-Bustamante and Gracia (2022) warn, a set of political constraints affecting local production and consumption persists, along with institutional barriers rooted in centralized budgets, rigid regulatory frameworks, and bureaucratic practices detached from community realities.In this context, traditional knowledge emerges as a strategic resource. It constitutes a complex system of territorial and ecological management accumulated over generations, encompassing polyculture techniques, the conservation of native seeds, and agricultural calendars based on observing natural phenomena (Catalán & Rodriguez-Orozco, 2023). Its relevance lies not only in its productive effectiveness but also in its contribution to local identity, territorial rootedness, and community continuity, all of which are essential to sustaining social resilience (Trenc et al., 2019).However, this heritage faces a fundamental paradox. Although the climate crisis calls for a transition toward resilient agricultural models, this transition is hindered by a persistent disconnect between community-based practices and institutional and market support mechanisms (Ortega, 2018). The Mexican case illustrates this clearly: agroecological and organic production, closely linked to traditional knowledge, is primarily sustained by small Indigenous producers who preserve these practices as part of their cultural heritage. Nevertheless, national demand for sustainable food remains limited and fragmented, confining these products to marginal market spaces (Márquez-Dueñas et al., 2025).Furthermore, the widespread nature of traditional knowledge has gendered dimensions; women, as the primary custodians of knowledge on seed selection, food processing, and traditional medicine, play a fundamental role in food resilience. However, these contributions are often marginalized and undervalued within prevailing institutional frameworks (Ramirez-Santos et al., 2023).In light of this scenario, it is essential to adopt governance frameworks that overcome these barriers.An integrated food governance approach, as proposed by Candel and Pereira (2017), provides a framework for closing policy gaps from practice, strengthening the community fabric, and granting communities genuine decision-making capacity (Glass & Newig, 2019). This requires a shift toward models that promote dialogue between Western science and Indigenous knowledge, integrating them systemically rather than treating them as ancillary inputs (Knorr & Augustin, 2025).To move in this direction, it is necessary to explore mechanisms of institutional innovation that legitimize and enhance these forms of knowledge, such as participatory certification, collective intellectual property schemes, and short and fair value chains that strengthen community governance (Márquez-Dueñas et al., 2025). As Catalán and Rodríguez-Orozco (2023) argue, moving beyond the paternalistic approaches of the past (Ortega, 2018) entails building collaborative frameworks in which communities, and especially women, are positioned as key protagonists in their integration into food systems (Ramirez-Santos et al., 2023).Thus, local governance enables a more sustainable configuration of agri-food systems when innovative territorial planning instruments are in place, along with cooperation and interconnection among actors (Duží et al., 2023). In this way, when governance innovation is present, it becomes possible to integrate policies from the food domain (Minotti et al., 2022).Multilevel governance promotes joint decision-making among different levels of government, nongovernmental actors, communities, non-profit organizations, and the private sector; in doing so, it integrates stakeholders and redistributes power (Jani et al., 2022). It has been suggested that multilevel governance, together with a comprehensive food system approach, enhances sustainability; to this end, coordination among administrative levels and between urban and rural municipalities is required, as well as alignment between policy objectives and instruments (López-García et al., 2024).This article argues that multilevel governance is a pathway to more resilient food systems, as it integrates not only legal aspects but also deepens the systemic connections among actors in agri-food systems; furthermore, it is strengthened by social identity, traditional knowledge, and innovation in sustainable policies. As Lamine (2015) indicates, achieving sustainability and resilience in agri-food systems requires an approach that integrates agriculture, food, and the environment, involves stakeholders, their networks, and their governance, and takes into account their history, culture, beliefs, and surrounding context.In this regard, social identity is a fundamental pillar of sustainable change in agri-food systems, particularly among consumers, as it fosters responsible food consumption (Leyva-Hernández et al., 2023). Moreover, it has been shown that at the micro level, within the family context, it is possible to develop sustainable and resilient agricultural strategies (Chao, 2024). In line with this, traditional knowledge and innovation, together with food system diversification, enable small-scale farmers maintain resilience in the face of natural disasters (Varyvoda & Taren, 2022).Therefore, the debate should focus on holistic frameworks that enable community autonomy and foster social identity, from small-scale producers to consumers. To foster the integration of local actors into agri-food system governance, alliances are required to strengthen the socio-political fabric and legitimize community participation in decision-making (Jones et al., 2022). Regulatory frameworks must be developed and implemented, incorporating the community's participation and knowledge, from a territorial perspective, to foster social identity. This approach legitimizes communities' needs and vision, strengthening ties and increasing the likelihood of successful implementation of public policies for food systems, such as certification programs, territorial planning, resource allocation, crop selection, and the development of social assistance programs. The community becomes more resilient by participating in decision-making and taking ownership of the changes resulting from implementing regulatory frameworks.The main strength of this approach lies in the co-creation of value among the environment, consumers, and small-scale producers, ensuring not only ecosystem health but also the economic vitality of rural households. It is concluded that research should prioritize developing institutional frameworks that eliminate economic and knowledge barriers and enable the involvement of communities, local governments, community organizations, food policymakers, and academia in decision-making for the transition to multilevel governance.One of the main limitations of this manuscript is the lack of empirical validation, given its nature, which has generated an opinio. It is suggested that future research analyze multilevel governance, including the perspectives of all stakeholders (community, local government, non-profit organizations, and academia), to operationalize the variable; furthermore, it should include the variables of social identity, ancestral knowledge, and food resilience. In this regard, a mixed-methods approach is suggested, beginning with a qualitative study. Another limitation of this study was its limited context, as it focused on rural communities in Latin America. However, the literature suggests that in other contexts, such as Europe, multilevel governance can promote the transition to sustainable food systems.