Food crisis and the International Assessment of Agriculture knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (SSA) Dr Simplice Davo VODOUHE PAN International

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives Origins of the IAASTD IAASTD : International Assessment of Agriculture, Science and Technology for Development Main sponsors of the IAASTD: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Bank and World Health Organization (WHO)

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives Central question addressed by IAASTD What must we do differently to overcome persistent poverty and hunger, achieve equitable and sustainable development and sustain productive and resilient environment ?

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives How has IAASTD worked? Independent: the assessment was different from the others as it claims its independence from a particular institution Multistakeholder: NGO, Industry, academicians, Gouvernments are involved as equal partners multidisciplinary process: different disciplines have been called upon this process Respect of divergence the scale of the challenge of covering a broad range of complex issues

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives How has IAASTD worked? The concept of an IAASTD was endorsed as a multi-thematic, multi-spatial, multi-temporal intergovernmental process with a multistakeholder Bureau cosponsored by the same organisations

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives How has IAASTD worked The IAASTDs governance structure is a unique hybrid of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the nongovernmental Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) The stakeholder composition of the Bureau was agreed at the Intergovernmental Plenary meeting in Nairobi; it is geographically balanced and multistakeholder with 30 government and 30 civil society representatives (NGOs, producer and consumer groups, private sector entities and international organizations) in order to ensure ownership of the process and findings by a range of stakeholders.

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives How has IAASTD worked? About 400 of the worlds experts were selected to prepare the IAASTD Report These experts worked in their own capacity and did not represent any particular stakeholder group. Additional individuals, organizations and governments were involved in the peer review process.

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives Main results There are diverse and conflicting interpretations of past and current events, which need to be acknowledged and respected Agriculture involves more than yields: it has multiple social, political, cultural and environmental impacts and benefits

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives Main results The future of agriculture lies in agroecological farming and triple-bottom- line business practices that meet social, environmental and economic goals.

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives Main results 2 Reliance on resource-extractive industrial agriculture is dangerous and unsustainable short-term technical fixes do not address complex challenges and often exacerbate social and environmental harm.

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives Main results 3 Achieving food security and sustainable livelihoods for people in chronic poverty depends on ensuring access to and control of resources by small-scale farmers Fair local, regional and global trading regimes can build local economies, reduce poverty and improve livelihoods.

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives Main results 4 Strengthening the human and ecological resilience of agricultural systems improves our capacity to respond to changing environmental and social stresses. Indigenous knowledge and community-based innovations are an invaluable part of the solution. Good decision-making requires building better governance mechanisms and ensuring democratic participation by the full range of

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives Conclusion and options The compelling options for confronting the food crisis by strengthening farmers organizations, creating more equitable transparent trade agreements, increasing local participation in policy-formation and other decision making processes, then we can begin to reverse structural inequities within and between countries, increase rural communities access to and control over resources, and pave the way towards local and national food sovereignty

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives Conclusion and options The IAASTD concludes that ensuring food security and recognizing food sovereignty necessitates ending the institutional marginalization of the worlds small-scale producers.

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives IAASTD recognizes the importance of small scale farmers and traditional knowledge, therefore Aid that is targetting at integrating and improving the knowledge systems will be more effective

Washington Oct 2008: Global food crisis: time for a fresh look at sustainable agriculture policy alternatives Thank you for your attention.