IN BRIEF
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CONSENSUS IS KEY: CERES2030 BRIDGES THE GAP BETWEEN RESEARCH AND POLICY MAKINGIdentification of research topics progresses
In an era of information abundance, why are we not seeing more evidence-based decisions? On 7 December 2018, the Advisory Board of Ceres2030 met in Bonn to discuss the next steps and identify the research topics to be published in a special peer-review journal issue, in collaboration with Nature, the leading multidisciplinary science journal. Of the twenty-one research topics identified through machine-learning semantic evidence reviews, the high-profile experts from five continents converged around eight broad topics to frame the review of evidence on measures that support environmentally sustainable approaches to increase smallholder farmer incomes and productivity. Only a limited number of topics are possible within the framework of the planned peer review process. For this reason, the Advisory Board has been called upon to select the research topics, which will determine the focus of the Ceres2030 project’s further research. The Ceres2030 project team is in the process of inviting authors to address the research topics identified and contribute to an evidence synthesis (such as scoping reviews, systematic reviews). The journal issue is planned to be published in 2020. WEBLINK
NO TOWER OF BABELWhen agriculture and aid for trade speak one language
In the myth about the Tower of Babel, the plans of an ambitious project – constructing a city and a tower tall enough to reach heaven – fail after the workers suddenly find themselves speaking different languages and lacking the capacity to understand one another. Many - though not all - in development cooperation would agree that this situation repeats itself when it comes to coordinating policies and programmes between the agriculture and the Aid for Trade (AfT) communities. They want the same, yet often fail to build much together. This dilemma is all the more difficult as the UN Agenda 2030 calls for improving the policy coherence and complementarity of agriculture, rural development and trade policies and programmes in order to improve sustainable development impact. To help these communities find a “common language” and overcome silo thinking, the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development recently published the discussion paper “Strengthening Agriculture and Aid for Trade Development Impact: Opportunities for aligning policies and programmes”. The study is authored by Paul Engel, former Director of the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), in Maastricht, the Netherlands. In December 2018, the Platform organised a webinar to share the results of the publication and test its recommendations with participants. A brown bag lunch followed in February 2019 at GIZ offices in Bonn. At both events, Paul Engel presented his findings and answered questions in a lively discussion with participants. The dialogue with protagonists from the different fields is key to improving policy coherence. Views shared will feed into the agenda of the Platform’s Thematic Working Group on Inclusive Agribusiness and Trade to stimulate further discussion of the topic. WEBLINK
THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE IS DIGITALGlobal Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) 2019: Call for an International Framework for Digitalisation in Agriculture
The eighth Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) took place in Berlin, Germany from 17 – 19 January 2019. A record number of national delegations and international organisations accepted the German federal minister’s invitation for the International Conference of Agriculture Ministers. Subject of the conference was the global digitalisation in agriculture. “Agriculture Goes Digital – Smart Solutions for Future Farming” - the conference aimed to demonstrate that digital technologies can help feed the growing world population more effectively while better conserving the planet’s resources. Digitalisation offers people good prospects, strengthens agriculture and rural areas and in this way combats the cause of migration. In her opening address, Federal Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner stated: “We therefore intend to work together to find solutions in order to reduce the so-called digital divide and too improve access to digital technologies – for smallholders across the globe as well.” The 74 agriculture ministers present agreed in a final communiqué to launch a process for an international framework for digitalisation in agriculture under the auspices of the United Nations. The final communiqué was presented to José Graciano da Silva, FAO Director-General. The German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel attested to the importance of the conference and emphasized the potential of digital technologies. WEBLINK
HIGH SCORE FOR NUTRITIONAfrican Nutrition Scorecard launched by AU Commission and AfDB
The African Leaders for Nutrition Initiative (ALN), a joint African Union Commission and African Development Bank (AfDB) initiative, issued a recent report indicating that despite recent gains in addressing and lowering malnutrition on the African continent, many African nations are still facing increasing rates of childhood stunting and wasting, as well as overweight children. According to the report, unaddressed child malnutrition is “a direct threat to economic gains being made on the continent and has the potential to compromise the development and productivity of Africa’s future generations.” In response, the ALN created the Continental Nutrition Accountability Scorecard as a data driven advocacy tool to help highlight individual country as well as continental progress towards achieving continental and global nutrition targets. The Scorecard was created in collaboration with the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a resource that African leaders can use to compare the state of nutrition between countries. It is designed to be continuously updated with new data and inputs, making it an important source of aggregated information for monitoring and evaluating Africa’s efforts to combat malnutrition and its effects. WEBLINK
LIAISON WITH LASTING CLAIMAgriculture’s role in climate change adaptation and mitigation
The relationship between climate change and agriculture is a two-way street; agriculture contributes to climate change in several major ways and climate change in general adversely affects agriculture. This ambiguous relationship is reflected in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) in Katowice, Poland. A good sign: Agriculture and climate-smart approaches gain further prominence in the international process. The inauguration of the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA) is an important step forward in the negotiations on agriculture within the UNFCCC framework. It addresses approaches to food security and the vulnerability of agriculture to climate change, and it looks at how to mitigate agriculture’s contribution to climate change. For instance, agriculture’s annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions must reach 1 gigatonne of carbon dioxide equivalents (GtCO2e/yr.) by 2030 if the world is to limit global warming to the agreed 2◦C. Current options do not achieve this goal. Therefore, the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture can act as a potential key mechanism to drive transformation in agricultural and food systems. Several official COP24 side events also focused on the agriculture-climate change nexus. The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) led an event series entitled “Agricultural Advantage 2.0: Transforming Food Systems Under a Changing Climate”, which featured five key pathways towards transforming agriculture and food systems to meet the Paris Agreement goals. It emphasised the need for greater financial investment and innovation in order to unlock the climate change adaptation and mitigation potential of agriculture. Martien van Nieuwkoop, Director of Agriculture Global Practice at the World Bank, argued for a paradigm shift in the way public finance is dispersed to unlock positive public-good and climate outcomes. Margarita Astralaga, Director of the Environment, Climate, Gender and Social Inclusion Division at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), emphasised the importance of placing farmers at the centre of public-private partnerships and the need to redirect capital flow to farmers in order to drive innovation and transformation. In addition, climate-smart approaches and their potential in reaching climate goals were presented, e.g. the “Climate-Smart Agriculture Case Studies 2018. Successful approaches from different regions” report by FAO, which states that climate-smart approaches are “triple-win” scenarios based on three pillars: (1) to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and improve farmers’ incomes, (2) to build resilience and adaptation to climate change, and (3) to reduce and/or remove GHG emissions, where possible. WEBLINK
AFTERTHOUGHT: SHAPING GLOBAL LANDSCAPES SUSTAINABLYYoung people are key to landscape restoration On 1–2 December 2018, more than 1,000 representatives of government, international, non-governmental and indigenous organizations, activists, finance, private sector, youth, scientists and media came together in Bonn, Germany at the occasion of the Global Landscape Forum (GLF), to connect, learn and share ideas and experiences on how to move from commitment to action towards reaching sustainable landscapes. In recent years, landscape approaches have become more popular for solution-oriented conservation and management. These strategies often seek to foster tools and concepts for allocating and managing land to achieve social, economic, and environmental objectives in areas where agriculture, mining, and other productive land uses compete with environmental and biodiversity goals. One discussion forum focused particularly on the role of young people. Entitled “Rethinking limitations: Combined efforts to achieve the 2030 agenda – Global Landscapes Forum Events” and organized by the Youth in Landscapes Initiative, the forum presented projects that have successfully applied a cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder approach and that are driven by the innovative ideas of the youth entrepreneurs. WEBLINK
AFTERTHOUGHT: GENERATION MATTERSA Brussels Briefing looks at the role of young farmers
“The next generation of farmers: successes and new opportunities” – with this title Brussels Policy Briefing n. 53 in November 2018 looked at the role and potential of young farmers. “Current food systems risk to collapse, if we continue business as usual”, said Leonard Mizzi, Head of Unit Rural Development, Food Security, and Nutrition of the European Commission, in pointing out the need to create framework conditions that entice young farmers to become agripreneurs. According to Mizzi, the focal areas for intervention are manifold: The generational renewal of the farming community, ensuring access to land subject to the VGGT and Responsible Agri-Investments (RAI) as well as a territorial approach. These will help create favourable conditions for young families in rural areas that are equivalent with those in urban areas. He also called for the use of new technologies, such as blockchain and drones or social media to stay in touch with the targeted group. It will be necessary to create platforms for young leaders to express their experiences and expectations, and, in addition, to make food systems more nutrition-sensitive to ensure more diverse and healthier diets. Débísí Àràbà, Director for the Africa region of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), summarized: “What the agricultural sector needs, is persistent investment in human capital and hard infrastructure, open and free access to data, access to affordable finance and business development support and, on the political level, the elimination of multiple taxation as well as incentives for regional trade.” Tom Arnold, Chairman of the Taskforce for Rural Africa, emphasized the need for job creation in Africa’s agricultural sector. “By 2030, 30 Mio. young people will enter the African labour market, and most of the jobs will have to be created in rural areas”, he said and named the challenges: Conflicts, macroeconomic instability, lack of sufficient investments in education, protection of natural resource and clean energy. WEBLINK
INFOGRAPHIC OF THE MONTHThe Great Transformation: EAT-Lancet Commission
How does the world feed a growing global population a healthy diet, one that reduces both morbidity and mortality, reaches the 820 million people that have insufficient food, and minimizes damaging environmental effects? This fundamental development question is the subject of the recently published EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. WEBLINKMEMBERS AND PARTNERS STRATEGIES, PUBLICATIONS AND EVENTSNEW PUBLICATIONSTogether hand in hand: How blended finance can help LDCs achieve the SDGs Ceres2030: Second Activity Update released Rural producer agency and agricultural value chains: What role for socio-legal empowerment? EVENTS11 March 2019 | New York, USA 25-29 March 2019 | Washington D.C., USA 2-3 April 2019 | Brussels, Belgium NEWS FROM MEMBERSUSAID: Youth Lead Platform for youth entrepreneurs: 2019 G7 Summit in France to tackle global inequality ABOUT USChanges in focal points and Secretariat staff Lucia Wienand is the new Office Manager for the Secretariat of the Global Donor Platform. She took up her position mid-January 2019. Manuel Urrutia started a six-month internship at the Secretariat in January 2019. |
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