TCA Principles
In accordance with the United Nations Environment Programme’s landmark TCA framework — the TEEBAgriFood Evaluation Framework — TCA evaluations must be:
1. Comprehensive and Systemic
TCA must look holistically at how food systems impact and are dependent on people, communities, nature, and economies. A TCA analysis must consider both the positive and negative impacts across four “capital” areas — human, social, natural, produced — and account for the relationships between them to provide the full picture of the true value of food and farming.
2. Inclusive and Collaborative
TCA ensures that everyone affected has a voice. It must be a collaborative process involving actors at all four evaluation stages: Framing, Describing and Scoping, Measuring and Valuing, and Taking Action.
3. Based on Robust Information and Data
Data sources and assessment methods may vary between TCA analyses, but stakeholders should rely on the most robust and appropriate approaches suitable and available to their context, acknowledging any limitations. TCA evaluations should seek to build upon relevant bodies of work and reference emerging consensus on best practices and common language.
4. Transparent
To foster trust and prevent misleading claims, the process, decisions, methods, and results of TCA evaluations must be thoroughly documented and disclosed.
5. Relevant to Real-World Decision-Making
A TCA evaluation should start with an actionable question or problem to solve. It should compare multiple options and show the trade-offs of each, so decision-makers can choose solutions that maximize positive outcomes for people and the planet.
