The Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSM) fought to ensure agroecology could be tabled as one…
The CFS Policy Recommendations on agroecological and other innovative approaches were endorsed by Member States at the…
CFS Policy Recommendations on Agrecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition Draft One Draft One will be available in all six FAO languages by the end of July 2020. While time will not allow for the preparation of a revised version, CFS members and participants are encouraged to send their written feedback by 15 September 2020 . The comments will be posted on the CFS working space to help prepare the ground for the negotiation process that will commence later this year. Also available in Chinese||Russian||Arabic||Spanish||French
Zero Draft CFS Policy Recommendations on Agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable food systems that ensure food security and nutrition Download the Zero draft here Also available in all UN languages: ES|FR|AR|RU|CH The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for “bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world on to a sustainable and resilient path.” (1) Agriculture (crop and livestock production, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry) and food systems (2) are key to this transformation. Globally, 820 million people are undernourished and two billon people are overweight. At the current pace, it is likely that targets in relation to SDG 2 will not be achieved in many parts of the world (3). Many producers and food systems workers face unsatisfactory labour conditions and compensation. An estimated one third of all food produced globally is lost or goes to waste. Unsustainable agricultural production practices and climate change are increasing the pressure on natural resources and biodiversity, while productive land continues to be lost to degradation (4). There is a diversity of food systems which exist on a continuum, can be considered at different scales, and often co-exist within the same country (5). The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) has recognized as a general guide three broad food system types (6) each facing particular opportunities and challenges, notably in relation to labour availability and ecological conditions. All food systems have the potential to contribute further to sustainability and food security and nutrition. Achieving this potential requires embarking on transition pathways that respond to their conditions. Three intertwined operational principles define transition pathways toward sustainable food systems for food security and nutrition: (i) improving resource efficiency; (ii) strengthening resilience; and (iii) securing social equity/responsibility (7). Innovative approaches are required to bring about food system transformations. Innovations include changes in practices, norms, markets and institutional arrangements, which may foster new networks of food production, processing, distribution and consumption that may challenge the status quo (8). Innovative approaches for sustainable food systems that enhance food security and nutrition must contribute to the three dimensions of sustainability (economic, social and environmental) in such a way that they strengthen the four pillars of food security and nutrition (availability, access, stability and utilization). Innovations, which include but are not limited to technologies, must be appropriate to the context, affordable, accessible and respond to the needs of family farmers. Harnessing innovative approaches with this aim will not
Zero Draft of the CFS Policy Recommendations on Agroecological and other innovative approaches Download the zero draft here! More information here! This Zero Draft, prepared with the support of a Technical Consultant and the Technical Focal Points nominated by FAO, IFAD, WFP and the Alliance Bioversity-CIAT, incorporates: i) feedback on the Rapporteur’s Note discussed in an Open Meeting on 27 January 2020; ii) written comments received in early February 2020; iii) written inputs received through an open call launched in November 2019, and: iv) the outcomes of Plenary discussion during CFS 46 in October 2019. Deadline for comments is 18 March 2020
CSM Inputs for the CFS policy convergence process on “Agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition” 6 December 2019 Download the input here! This document conveys the comments of the Agroecology Working Group of the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSM) for relations with the CFS on the policy convergence process on «Agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition». We would like to convey our deep appreciation for a CFS policy convergence process to reflect on and engage with the critical issue of how our food is produced and how food systems are operated. We also warmly welcome the HLPE report on “Agroecology and other innovative approaches” as a good first step of this discussion. The HLPE report presents us with evidence of the different production models’ impacts and gives us a basis to assess what steps are needed towards the real transformation of food systems so desperately needed. Therefore, we believe that the report has presented Agroecology quite strongly and accurately, reaffirming that it has the power and potential for this transformation of our food systems. As CSM, we have been the strongest advocates for the CFS to take on an agroecology workstream. We reaffirm our commitment to engage comprehensively, and with the full scope of our diverse constituencies, with this policy convergence process that will follow. Do you think that the recommendations in the HLPE report accurately reflect the findings of the report? The introduction of Chapter 4 of the HLPE report recognizes the urgent need of “a radical transformation in our food systems” while also highlighting its challenges “because a considerable inertia, manifest in policies, corporate structures, education systems, consumer habits and investment in research, favours the currently dominant model of agriculture and food systems improvement in which environmental and social externalities are not fully considered and, therefore, not appropriately factored into decisions influencing the development of food systems meeting expectations for sustainability (Tilman and Clark, 2014).” It further states that “overcoming this inertia and challenging the status quo implies the need to create a level playing field on which alternative approaches can be equitably assessed and compared”. However, the recommendations of the HLPE report are very weak in addressing these challenges as well as reflecting the findings of the report. The report’s extensive analysis and its
CSM Side Event @CFS 46 Re-think and Re-shaping Food Systems through Agroecology! CFS Policy Convergence process on Agroecology and Food Systems and Nutrition as the key opportunity to chart the transition to a truly sustainable future 15 October 2019 18.00 – 19.30 Iraq Room DOWNLOAD THE FLYER SUMMARY OF THE SIDE EVENT Panelists: Victor Suarez – Undersecretary of Agriculture, Mexico Iridiani Seibert – La Via Campesina, Brazil Molly D. Anderson – Professor, Middlebury College, USA Rodolfo Gonzalez Greco – Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del Campo (CLOC), Argentina Moderator: Joana Dias, Actuar/CPLP Portugal The side event aims to explore how best the CFS could seize a historical opportunity and strengthen the obvious synergy between the policy convergence process on Food Systems and Nutrition and on Agroecology and other innovations, both to be concluded by 2020. Indeed, the CFS Food Systems and Nutrition Guidelines are the first intergovernmental negotiation to establish a food system approach to the realisation on the right to food, one that recognise the multiplicity of public objectives that the food systems serve. once the proper synergy with the Agroecology policy convergence process is established, the Guidelines may provide critical opportunities to re-affirm the multidimensional contribution of smallholder agriculture, promote agroecology and implement the UN Declaration of the Rights of Peasants and concretise the combined aspirations of the UN Decade of Family Farming and the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition, with a particular emphasis on women’s rights and youth perspectives. Interpretation available in EN/ES/FR
High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition Agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition Read the Full Report (Translations will be available on 2nd September 2019) Summary and Recommendations Summary and Recommendations are also available in Arabic, Russian and Chinese SUMMARY Food systems are at a crossroads. Profound transformation is needed to address Agenda 2030 and to achieve food security and nutrition (FSN) in its four dimensions of availability, access, utilization and stability, and to face multidimensional and complex challenges, including a growing world population, urbanization and climate change, which drive increased pressure on natural resources, impacting land, water and biodiversity. This need has been illustrated from various perspectives in previous HLPE reports and is now widely recognized. This transformation will profoundly affect what people eat, as well as how food is produced, processed, transported and sold. In this context, in October 2017, the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) requested its High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on FSN to produce a report on “Agroecological approaches and other innovations for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition” to inform its discussions during the Forty-sixth CFS Plenary Session in October 2019. In this report, the HLPE explores the nature and potential contributions of agroecological and other innovative approaches to formulating transitions towards sustainable food systems (SFSs) that enhance FSN. The HLPE adopts a dynamic, multiscale perspective, focusing on the concepts of transition and transformation. Many transitions need to occur in particular production systems and across the food 1 HLPE. 2019. Agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition. A report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security, Rome 2019. Full report forthcoming at www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe. HLPE Report on Agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition. Extract from the Report: Summary and Recommendations (19 June 2019) value chain to achieve major transformation of whole food systems. Both incremental transitions at small scales and structural changes to institutions and norms at larger scales need to take place in a coordinated and integrated way in order to achieve the desired transformation of the global food system. As highlighted by the HLPE (2016), transition pathways combine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffcUSzBREyk&feature=youtu.be In this video, Elene Shatberashvili, from Biological Farmer Association Elkana and La Via Campesina, Georgia, talks about the need to restructure foods systems, not only in its productive dimension, but in its broader sense. Agroecology, she says, is an alternative solution which can address the issue of hunger and malnutrition.
HLPE Report on Agroecological approaches and other innovations for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition eConsultation on the V0 Draft During its 44th Plenary Session (9-13 October 2017), the CFS requested the HLPE toproduce a report on “Agroecological approaches and other innovations for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition”, to be presented at CFS 46th Plenary session in October 2019. As part of the process of elaboration of its reports, the HLPE is organizing a consultation to seek inputs, suggestions, and comments on the present V0 draft (for more details on the different steps of the process, see the Appendix in the V0 draft). The results of this consultation will be used by the HLPE to further elaborate the report, which will then be submitted to external expert peer-reviewers, before finalization and approval by the HLPE Steering Committee. Please download the Draft V0 of the Report here. Deadline for submissions is 5 November 2018 Download the introductory note from the HLPE here. Contributing to the V0 Draft The present V0 draft identifies areas for recommendations at a very early stage, and the HLPE would welcome suggestions or proposals. In order to strengthen the report, the HLPE would welcome submission of material, evidence-based suggestions, references, and concrete examples, in particular addressing the following important questions: The V0 draft is wide-ranging in analyzing the contribution of agroecological and other innovative approaches to ensuring food security and nutrition (FSN). Is the draft useful in clarifying the main concepts? Do you think that the draft appropriately covers agroecology as one of the possible innovative approaches? Does the draft strike the right balance between agroecology and other innovative approaches? Have an appropriate range of innovative approaches been identified and documented in the draft? If there are key gaps in coverage of approaches, what are these and how would they be appropriately incorporated in the draft? Does the draft illustrates correctly the contributions of these approaches to FSN and sustainable development? The HLPE acknowledges that these approaches could be better articulated in the draft, and their main points of convergence or divergence among these approaches could be better illustrated. Could the following set of “salient dimensions” help tocharacterize and compare these different approaches: human-rights base, farm size, local or global markets and food systems (short or long supply chain), labor or capital intensity (including mechanization),