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Sujet 3 .Résilience aux changements climatiques et aux aux différents chocs ainsi que la préservation de biodiversité Question 3 : Quels sont les principaux leviers sur lesquels l’on peut agir pour promouvoir la productivité, la durabilité et la résilience aux différents chocs ? Question 4. Quels sont les éléments importants en matière de recherche-développement qui peuvent permettre d’obtenir des résultats efficaces et tangibles sur la préservation de la nature et la biodiversité (dans les domaines de la production et de la transformation) ? Contraintes - Le changement clim... Read moreatique, par exemple, influence à la fois la production alimentaire (par exemple en affectant les rendements des cultures et les niveaux de nutriments) et en résulte (puisque l'agriculture est une source d'émissions de gaz à effet de serre). - De nombreuses variétés de semences utilisées - qui sont souvent également recyclées plusieurs fois - ne résistent pas au changement climatique, l'agriculture étant encore largement pluviale et le temps devenant plus difficile à prévoir. Ces facteurs rendent la production agricole risquée pour les ménages ruraux. Néanmoins, la principale raison d'une plus grande utilisation de l'agriculture pluviale est son coût, en effet il est abordable par rapport au système d'irrigation qui est cher pour les petits paysans avec peu de terres et des ressources limitées. - En dépit de son fort potentiel, le secteur agricole en Afrique Centrale est confronté à une faible productivité et un faible rythme de croissance de la production des aliments aussi bien végétaux, animaux qu’halieutiques liées notamment au manque d’adéquation entre la demande et l’offre de recherche agricole. A cela s’ajoutent d’autres contraintes importantes portant sur : le financement de la recherche agricole ; - Faible vulgarisation des technologies innovantes et adaptées aux conditions agro écologiques des différents pays, conformément au pilier IV du PDDAA/NEPAD ; - Absence d’une mutualisation des ressources, des connaissances et des expériences des différents acteurs de la recherche et développement agricole en Afrique Centrale ; et faible mécanisme de dialogue et de concertation permanente entre la recherche et les organisations des producteurs qui permettraient de débattre des questions importantes sur le développement durable des systèmes alimentaires en Afrique Centrale Résultats 3/6. Résilience aux changements climatiques et aux aux différents chocs ainsi que la préservation de biodiversité - Plaider pour la recherche et le développement agricoles axés sur la demande - Accroître les investissements dans la recherche agricole - Renforcer et soutenir les cadres de concertations OP-Recherche en Afrique Centrale - Développer et transférer aux producteurs les technologies agricoles innovantes et résilientes aux changements climatiques et aux chocs environnementaux Read less

The focus of this Dialogue was to convene policy-makers, the seafood industry, retailers, science and civil society in an engaging discussion on the role of the ocean in producing the food we need for a healthy, sustainable, equitable and climate friendly food system. By sharing seafood industry perspectives on ocean stewardship and lessons learned from the science-industry collaboration SeaBOS (Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship), the objective was to contribute to positioning seafood at the heart of the food system debates and help mobilize the broader seafood industry to take an active ... Read morepart in food system transformation. Furthermore, the dialogue was designed to help identify key priorities for science-industry collaborative action to accelerate sustainable seafood production towards 2030. Much of the event involved active participation by invitees in facilitated conversations in breakout rooms with a focus on two topics. (Topic 1): How do we arrive at a global food system in 2050 that has fully integrated sustainable seafood from fisheries and aquaculture? (Topic 2): How can the SeaBOS science-industry model help support the seafood industry, its value chain and policy makers to take action towards accelerating more sustainable seafood production? The event was moderated by Martin Exel (Managing Director, SeaBOS), with keynote presentations by: Dr. Henrik Österblom (Professor, Science Director, Stockholm Resilience Centre), Dr. Darian McBain (Global Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Thai Union), Dr. Audun Lem (Deputy Director, Fisheries Division, FAO), Wenche Gronbrekk (Global Head of Sustainable Development, Cermaq Group, and Senior Advisor, Oceans, UN Global Compact) and Helena Delgado Normann (Responsible Sourcing Manager, Tesco). Action tracks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Keywords: Seafood, Ocean, Finance, Policy, Governance, Environment and Climate Read less

- The seafood industry can contribute significantly to the UN’s vision of a healthier, more sustainable, equitable and inclusive food system for all – it has a fantastic story to tell on all aspects. Its problem is that it is not good at communicating this story. The UNFSS can contribute to change this and create an integrated arena for food from both land and sea. - In the food system debates, there is a need to connect land and ocean. - Food industry leadership based on science can result in climate resilience - Aquaculture has a big role to play in the future of food, and it is necessar... Read morey to push the frontiers of aquaculture towards more mariculture and a diversification of species, so that aquaculture also can be an ecosystem service provider. - Regeneration of oceans is a key component in scaling sustainable Blue Food. - Guidance from science is effective, it creates a snowball effect through the food value chain - Science-industry collaboration allows for the development of global frameworks that enable a sustainable development of seafood as well as access to funding. - Science provides the ‘guardrails’ for the seafood industry – paving way for a long-term strategy - Role of Blue Food in the low carbon economy is also an important narrative, particularly in the context of COP26 and Food Systems Summit - Co-production of knowledge creates conditions for action (on climate, antibiotics, endangered species, etc) - “Ocean stewardship” is becoming mainstream concept in the seafood industry (e.g. in the High Level Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy, UN Global Compact) - Nobody owns the oceans, but if we all collaborate, we can make real change and avoid tragedy of the commons - There is a clear role of science for achieving the SDGs – without science-based decisions/data, we cannot have effective fisheries management and won’t achieve the targets - Retailers are furthest from the “problems” of the seafood industry, but closest to the public eye – they have a crucial connecting role as closest to scrutiny and consumers - Retailers have role of creating “safe space” – need to be able to ensure there is right due diligence in place along supply chains, and need to be able to adequately respond to customer and investor requests and questions, which are getting progressively more detailed, and science is key in responding - The industry-science collaborations that have worked well, share some characteristics: a clear task at hand, a clear and time bound strategy and goals that are aligned with other initiatives including the SDGs as a common anchoring point. - To really enable a sustainable food system, it is necessary to take a step back to understand the global food system distribution (e.g. local vs global, effect on diets of different policies). - Many of the main findings emerged during two breakout group discussions, which are described in detail in the following section. Action tracks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Keywords: Seafood, Ocean, Finance, Policy, Governance, Environment and Climate Read less

(Topic 1): How do we arrive at a global food system in 2050 that has fully integrated sustainable seafood from fisheries and aquaculture? Discussions across four breakout groups addressed this question from different dimensions, with some of the key points and recommendations in bullets below: - Seafood sector is not good at telling stories. Its image is not good, and huge potential exists here, including by communicating its role in relation to other food systems, and its potential as a nutritious and healthy food option - But fundamental questions like “what is seafood” need to be effect... Read moreively communicated – this encompasses a huge diversity of species – over 3,000 – and each has its unique environmental footprint and nutritional value. - Aquaculture is playing growing role, but must be sustainable, and need to push frontiers to more mariculture and develop more sustainable feed ingredients - Focus on sustainability should be consistently broadened – it’s not just about environmental sustainability, but also social sustainability and human rights dimensions. - Large corporations have a responsibility to incorporate this into their criteria, policies, and practices, and in this regard, science based frameworks serve as an effective guide (e.g. ASC, MSC, Global GAP) - Large-scale / industrial and small-scale fisheries (SSF) shouldn’t be considered in isolation or as binary opposites, but require novel thinking related to their interconnections and attention to existing positive examples. - While industry, NGOs, civil society and others have a large role to play, ultimately leadership also needs to be taken by governments (and regional fishery management organizations, for instance) - Through engagement with entrepreneurs and clearer guidance by financiers and governments, there is more potential to fully incorporate seafood as an element of the global food system - Cold chains and transport of seafood should be a focus when considering how to achieve a more sustainable system that is transparent and traceable based on interoperable systems - Countries could consider establishing “Food Ministries”, rather than having separate ministries for agriculture and fisheries, to ensure holistic food policies. This can also be established through cross-governmental task forces. - Private sector needs to integrate local ecological knowledge, which may be something unfamiliar and challenging for companies. - Important to consider equity dimension of achieving food security goals and SDGs - Adequate and inclusive ocean management, using tools such as Marine Spatial Planning, is important to advance seafood in an increasingly busy marine environment Read less

(Topic 2): How can the SeaBOS science-industry model help support the seafood industry, its value chain and policy makers to take action towards accelerating more sustainable seafood production? - Science-industry collaboration is “crucial”, “very important” and “essential”. - Representing 10% of global seafood production, SeaBOS can create ripple effects through the value chain, as the companies start to implement measures for enhanced sustainability and transparency - Science has a cost – expensive – should not be a one-time thing, so is a continuous investment and cost - Rol... Read moree of policy is to support that science so it can support a long-term sustainable and equitable seafood system - Potential to set up a Global Fund to support developing nations implement science-based food systems - Science should be integrated into operations of companies – should help to identify and solve problems and set priorities - Companies and scientists should promote species with higher nutritional value and lower environmental footprint. - In policy frameworks for sustainable food production, it is worth considering developing indicators for industry to provide data on nutrition per kg/ton produced as well as climate or biodiversity footprint per kg/ton produced - Greatest impact (and snowball effect through value chain) possible when science, industry and policy come together. - Time-bound strategies and goals need to be aligned with macro-goals as anchor points (e.g. SDGs) - Key standards set up in seafood industry (e.g. ASC, MSC) are based on science - Important to take a step back and consider global food distribution system, and implications of keeping some aspects more localized, and what type of impacts this would have on diets - Role of Blue Food in low carbon economy is also an important narrative, particularly in the context of COP26 and Food Systems Summit - 2050 is too far away, and action is needed now. - COVID19 is showing the importance of science in enabling transparency and traceability across value chains, including to small-scale production levels so that monitoring is possible throughout. - Potential for companies to seed incubators to develop and grow technology solutions - Benefits of SeaBOS are evident, particularly from a global focus, but important to also take regional focus when relevant - SeaBOS is helping to shift social norms within the seafood industry related to labor abuse, illegal fishing, etc. - Ultimately, science communicates how biosphere is the foundation for humanity and as well as all corporate activities, so underscores the need for stewardship by all Action tracks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Keywords: Seafood, Ocean, Finance, Policy, Governance, Environment and Climate Read less

Topic: Systemic action for human, animal and planetary health A source of both past and future pandemics is industrial animal agriculture or factory farming. Keeping thousands of animals crammed and confined creates the perfect breeding ground for disease. Industrial agriculture is also a major driver of deforestation, biodiversity loss, a consumer of more than two-thirds of the world’s antibiotics, and the biggest source of food waste. The pandemic has highlighted that overreliance on long, complex and consolidated supply chains reduces the resilience of food systems to disruptions. Short s... Read moreupply chains have also suffered due to the closing of informal and open-air markets, where most people in the Global South still obtain their food from. Prolonged closures of restaurants and schools, logistical disruptions, and shortages of migrant labor to harvest crops have resulted in unprecedented amounts of wasted agricultural output, which has reduced supply and led to increased food prices for consumers. Physical-distancing and lockdown measures have significantly reduced people’s incomes and global food demand. Poor dietary health is one of the most important risk variables impacting COVID-19 mortality. The virus disproportionately affects individuals struggling with obesity, overweight, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Obesity, a condition exacerbated by the consumption of highly processed foods and beverages high in fats, free sugars and salt, increases the risks of hospitalization and death from COVID-19. Participants agreed on the need for a new food systems paradigm that improves the health of people and the planet, protects biodiversity and ecosystems, and is based on ecologically beneficial approaches to food production. Approaches such as agroecology and agrobiodiversity have proven to produce nutritious food with less external inputs, which means less pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, lower water consumption, reduced biodiversity loss, and healthier soils. In the context of pandemics, climate change and biodiversity loss, the following actions to target the system drivers were mentioned: - Promoting healthy and sustainable whole-food diets - Reducing consumption of animal-sourced meat and dairy, especially in overconsuming contexts (i.e, middle and high income countries), and supporting access to nutritious animal foods for those whose diets would benefit from a little more (i.e., low and middle income countries) - Shifting to agroecology and regenerative agriculture - Ending industrial animal agriculture For successful food systems transformation, participants emphasized the need to: - Place people and health at the center and create a sense of devolved ownership - Foster collaboration between business, finance, governments, the UN, civil society and farmers. - Set measurable targets by food companies for the reduction of livestock products, shunning those from factory farms and diversifying protein offerings - Ensure public and private finance only supports the transition toward nature-positive regenerative farming practices - Adopt multi-sectoral policies jointly created by the ministries of environment, agriculture, health, rural development, and other relevant areas to address human, animal and planetary health as one challenge - Direct subsidies to support regenerative practices and the uptake of alternative non-animal-sourced proteins - Shift investment in research away from marginal sustainable intensification to agroecology and regenerative systems Participants stated their hopes for the UN Food Systems Summit: - Set out a long term vision with political courage to uphold the public interest - Ensure equity and inclusion of leading regenerative farmers - Recognize that a "one size fits all" approach is not appropriate and that proposals are science-based, built on verified facts - Inspire action at all levels, especially at the community/local level - Accelerate diet-shifts away from a dependence on global industrial livestock and fishing practices towards plant-rich diets - Channel more resources towards regenerative farming systems Read less

A number of tensions arose: - Definition of affordable food and fair prices, both for consumers and producers - Power of commercial interests, which prioritize profits over health and nutrition, which for example weakens attempts to regulate the marketing of unhealthy foods, and conversely a lack of agency of many people to make healthy and nutritious food choices - Power asymmetries due to corporate influence creates conflicts of interest - Role of animal agriculture in healthy and sustainable food systems Concerns mentioned: - Solutions that decouple the food systems with nutritional outcome... Read mores - Corporations undermining global health with cross-promotion and marketing - Policymaking is free from the undue influence of transnational corporations (Partnering on solutions with those who drive the crisis creates conflicts of interest) - Paths to progress will accept tiny changes in the system as big successes due to deference to vested interests - Aggressive marketing by retailers and food processing industry of products high in fat, sugar, and salt and other ultra processed foods - Reliance on pesticides and artificial fertilizers in addition to antibiotics Read less

The COVID-19 pandemic not only brought on a healthcare and economic crises, it has also radically exacerbated the world’s ongoing food security, nutrition, and climate crises. At the same time, the outbreak is deeply connected to today's fragile food systems that degrade the environment through unsustainable land-use. As broken food systems push human, animal, and planetary health to their limits, policymakers and public health professionals alike must change the discourse surrounding food systems and come together so that transformative food systems change and health are put at the centre o... Read moref the pandemic recovery agenda. In this Dialogue, experts from across the health, environment and food communities explored how a new narrative about health and food systems can be used to stimulate action and drive decision-makers towards commitment making, from policies to investments, that deliver on better health outcomes for people, animals, and the planet. Participants discussed intersection points across the health-food systems nexus, identifying where targeted, multi-stakeholder action could take place and create a multiplier effect across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dialogue Objectives: • Promote health and food systems resilience as critical to COVID-19 recovery and to realize progress across the SDGs; • Communicate why new food systems narratives centered around upholding human, ecological, and animal health are needed (i.e., One Health), demonstrating how dominant narratives are undermining all three dimensions of health as well as the pandemic recovery process; • Catalyze support for an integrated, holistic approach to policy reform and coordinated action across food and health sectors, exploring opportunities for health and food systems actors to work together; and • Elevate examples from around the world, showcasing how government leaders, the health sector and other food systems actors can design policies and practices that delivered better health and sustainability outcomes for all. Read less

The dialogue reflected on how COVID-19 has exposed the fragility of our food systems as well as the interrelated challenges of public health, food security and labour. The root of many of the world’s most pressing threats to human, animal, and planetary health have been unhealthy, inequitable and unsustainable food systems. “Building back better”, reducing the risk of future pandemics, and building long-term resilience requires bold leadership and commitment to both global health security and food systems transformation based on an integrated approach, addressing multiple challenges in a... Read more holistic way. Now is the time to address the root causes of food systems failures and, together, strengthen the demands for transformation with health at the centre. Three priorities arose: 1. Adopt a new narrative that nurtures health at every stage of the food system 2. Embrace a One Health approach that addresses the deep interconnections between humans, animals and the environment. 3. Work across sectors through social dialogue to harness the comparative advantages of governments, UN, the private sector and civil society to find collective pathways forward. This new narrative needs engagement by the health sector to position food systems transformation as a critical pathway to a healthy and resilient future. The way food is produced, distributed and consumed affects people’s health through five main pathways: 1. Unhealthy diets and food insecurity has an impact on multiple forms of malnutrition, such as diet-related noncommunicable diseases (including obesity), undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies; 2. Unsafe animal food production practices can lead to the spread of zoonotic pathogens and to antimicrobial resistance; 3. Unsafe and adulterated foods, including the ingestion of foods containing pathogens, chemicals, and toxicants, leads to several forms of foodborne disease; 4. Inadequate agricultural practices can lead to pollution of soil, air, and water and biodiversity loss; and 5. Growing, harvesting and transforming food exposes food workers to occupational hazards and may have an impact on their physical and mental health. It needs engagement by labour unions. Agricultural workers regularly face poor working conditions, high levels of working poverty, and lack of access to rights. In some countries they are specifically excluded from key legal protections, such as minimum wages, paid and/or parental sick leave, the right to organise or social protection. For the many casual or migrant agricultural workers, the situation can be even more precarious. Agriculture is one of the most hazardous sectors. It accounts for a large proportion of all fatal workplace accidents. Millions of agricultural workers suffer workplace injuries or poisoning by agrochemicals. Yet, despite all these risks, food and farm workers have continued to work during the pandemic, to ensure our food supply. In doing so they have increased their own exposure to COVID-19, as witnessed by the multiple virus outbreaks at food processing plants and farms around the world. Guaranteeing safe and healthy working conditions, better incomes, and greater protection for agri-food workers is critical, if we are to build food systems that can withstand current and future crises. It needs government ownership and accountability based on the articulation of a shared vision defined by common interests and values. Governments need to work across silos to address interlinked challenges, e.g., ensuring affordable, healthy and nutritious foods along with social protection and decent levels of income for all. Governments can manage complex trade-offs and synergies through the adoption of a package of policies and instruments that link food systems to the nutrition, health and climate agenda, to support food system workers, farmers and fisherfolks who often have poor labour conditions to organize themselves and create negotiating power, to make multinational companies accountable for their behaviour and impact across the whole value chain, to encourage employers to provide healthy and safe food for workers, maternity care for women, and health insurance for the whole family, and to make healthy and nutritious food more affordable and accessible than junk food and other highly processed foods. Governments need to understand spillover effects from policies and instruments, i.e., through the application of True Cost Accounting. It needs engagement especially by young people, students, and young professionals as agents of change and the carriers of the consequences of the decisions made by policymakers today. They see firsthand the impacts today and the implications for their future. They are calling for equitable, nutritious and sustainable food systems that provide healthy diets for all. They will be there to make their governments accountable for the commitments made but this means engaging them meaningfully in decision-making, policymaking, implementation and evaluation. Read less

Topic: Malnutrition in all its forms—undernutrition and diet-related NCDs (including obesity) Perspectives were shared on approaches taken in Pakistan, Mexico and Nigeria. Pakistan faces a high prevalence of undernutrition as well as overweight and obesity, and other diet related non-communicable diseases such as diabetes. While the number of people experiencing hunger has decreased in Pakistan over the last 20 years, it has not translated into better access to or consumption of healthy foods, nor improved health outcomes. This has impacted the country’s health systems and the economy. Foo... Read mored system transformation requires policies that support economic growth and provide social protection. The government established a National Nutrition Coordination Council and the Prime Minister made malnutrition and stunting a priority by launching Ehsaas Health and Nutrition Conditional Cash Transfer Program for children under two and pregnant and lactating mothers. While Mexico has tackled undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies over the last 25 years, the prevalence of overweight and obesity doubled in adults and quadrupled in adolescents over the same period. Although it has implemented policy measures to reduce the promotion, accessibility and purchase of unhealthy and highly processed foods and beverages, it has not addressed the production and supply of healthy and sustainable food, healthy food processing, food waste, or healthy and sustainable diets. Thus, the government created a multisectoral program (GISAMAC), which includes the ministers of health, agriculture, environment, education and economy, as well as NGOs, academia, and UN organizations. The plan includes a package of interventions in agriculture (i.e., incentives for agroecology and small farmers, food loss, public procurement, regulation of glyphosate), health (i.e., targeting children’s first 1000 days, revised dietary guidelines, public awareness campaigns), food environments (i.e., taxing unhealthy processed foods, front-of-pack warning labels, food advertising restrictions), and school environments (i.e., space, curricula, and nutrition standards). The number of people in Nigeria facing acute food insecurity has increased due to COVID-19. Food insecurity leads to poor nutrition and many other negative health outcomes such as poor physical and cognitive development among children and diabetes, hypertension and obesity among adults. Food banks respond to population health needs by targeting the most vulnerable populations, especially in contexts without a social safety net. They address community health disparities through food and related services, serving as critical infrastructure for the healthcare, educational, economic, and social sectors. The Lagos Food Bank provides meals for students, and mothers and children living in underserved communities. It also empowers women through training on how to grow their own food and sell part of what they produce, which creates pathways for more self-reliance and community resilience. Participants agreed that current food systems have not eliminated undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, while contributing to the obesity and NCD epidemic and the deterioration of planetary health. We cannot solve the problem with isolated small interventions; we need a package of interventions based on systemic multisectoral, multi stakeholder approaches. Actions mentioned include: - Analyzing the type of food supported by public policy and investments and shifting focus from production of grains and tobacco for export to support for nutritious whole foods for local consumption. - Placing equity at the center of our solutions and especially targeting vulnerable communities. Ensure that basic services are provided to low income and vulnerable populations. The same communities that face food insecurity also lack access to sanitation, clean water and healthcare systems. - Collaborate with non-profits that work closely with local communities. Participants voted on the biggest opportunity for governments to address malnutrition in all its forms with the top option being an integrated approach to policy. Read less

Topic: How antimicrobials and increased emergence of zoonoses are diminishing animal health and exacerbating the human health and ecological crises Too much antibiotics and antimicrobials are used in food and health systems. Antimicrobials are used especially in intensive farming systems to enhance productivity—for routine mass disease prevention and to promote rapid growth in food producing animals. It is also used extensively on crops. This use or misuse is the result of our current relationship with food and how we produce it. It is about how animals are reared, if they have access to the... Read more outdoors, how many are stocked in a facility, how more resilient breeds are disappearing, and it's about our diets. This reliance increases the prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in animals and people. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a silent pandemic that is affecting humans, animals and the environment. Our excessive dependence has caused our systems to become unsustainable and our treatments less effective, to the extent that it is projected to kill 10 million people each year by 2050. Perspectives were shared on approaches in the UK, Thailand and India to address these challenges. The UK adopted a collaborative multi-sectoral voluntary approach to antibiotic stewardship in livestock production, involving the government, industry, civil society and the public. As a result, antibiotic sales for food producing animals in the UK has fallen and it is now one of the lowest users of antibiotics in agriculture amongst those countries with a significant livestock farming industry. Collaboration and sharing best practices is key. Thailand has adopted a One Health approach by supporting multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary coalitions to manage zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance in food production systems. Following the 2004 avian influenza, Thailand established the National Executive Committee on Preparedness, Prevention and Response to Emerging Infectious Diseases chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister. The secretariat is composed of relevant departments from the Ministries of Public Health, Interior, Agriculture, and the Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation. The Office of the Food and Drug Administration established the Thailand National Strategy on AMR to regulate human food and animal feed and coordinate all concerned sectors including public health and all food animal health. The One Health approach has been further strengthened through the implementation of laws and regulations, i.e., at provincial levels to actively manage public health threats. Developing countries, such as India, and many in Africa, are not yet entrenched in over chemicalizing or over toxifying their food systems. Low and middle income countries face multiple challenges such as access to life-saving medicines, maintaining food productivity, and ensuring farmer livelihood security. They cannot afford pollution clean up or the high cost of medical treatments when common antibiotics have stopped working due to rising AMR. It is the responsibility of the global community to provide the right guidance and indicators to reflect a necessary reframing of our relationship with food and how we grow it. Participants agreed that we need food and health systems based on a preventative health agenda and holistic approaches that take into account interconnected challenges. This requires: - working towards the same goal through national strategic plans and committees, building a multi-disciplinary workforce, i.e., bringing together medical, veterinary, public health, pharmacists, field epidemiologists, farmers, fishers and other food systems actors, as well as effective law enforcement, effective risk communication, and a shift towards ecologically beneficial farming methods. - working across silos to create a common platform that fosters collaboration and innovation on a holistic, integrated approach. Participants voted on how One Health can be strengthened to address human, ecosystem and animal health, with the top 2 options being improving governance mechanisms and advocating for national One Health action plans. Read less

Communities of interest were grouped around the following areas during the dialogue: Each topic was discussed by a panellists and later explored during group discussions. Each topic was discussed openly and respectfully allowing all voices and views. There were divergent views within all groups meaning all topics, especially in ascertaining the severity of vulnerabilities, government action through policy and explaining what inclusion really looks like. Here are the topics: Religion Science and food systems nexus with a focus on women in food systems. Supporting women in entrepreneurship Fisca... Read morel justice / enabling policy for women in food systems Building partnerships for gender equality and food systems transformation in Kenya Women access to equitable resources in agriculture Institutionalization of policies to benefit the grass root women who are not aware of the existing policies. Digitalization in support for women in food production Support for women amid climate change in green financing Building resilience to food systems shocks and stresses Read less

Levers of Change - Gender. Title: Strengthening and amplifying the voices and leadership of women in food systems. The dialogue focused on the role that women play in food systems, the gender inequalities that women face in food systems, challenges in women contribution towards food systems, measures that can allow better inclusion, and solutions that are already in place to allow for better inclusion in policy process and gaps. Five key topics guided the dialogue which are 1) Access to markets and infrastructure at scale 2) supporting women farmers and agri-entrepreneurs with technology, fina... Read morence, capacity and legal rights 3) Fiscal justice and an enabling environment for policy, leadership and decision making, representation and budgeting 4) climate change and green financing and 5) youth and development in foods systems. Key challenges explored Women do not benefit from most resources available (land, financial products) yet they provide 42-65% of the agricultural work force. Ownership of land for women is still a major hiccup leading to limited access to finance due to lack of collateral and consequently resulting in productivity gaps of up to 30% between men and women. The triple burden of malnutrition affects women and their households more in African households and this has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gender inequality is one of the causes and results of unsustainable food systems. Increased under-representation of women and youth in food systems Women are inadequately involved in decision making and this has had an impact on: (1) health, (2) poverty levels and (3) general quality of life. Women led micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are less likely to access formal finance loans and support. Key issues raised. Food system and Value chain development: The complexity of food systems requires holistic and coordinated approach throughout the value chain. It also requires the integration of various actors from education, finance and gender equality. Tackling gender issues should ensure inclusion of both men and women and assurance that women and men participate and benefit equally from agriculture. This is because in most cases, women experience equitable constraint to agricultural resources compared to men. In addition, women have a crucial responsibility in the food systems as they provide food for their families, produce fruits and vegetables for nutrition and they also act as transporters and vendors. Therefore, to include and empower women, it was reported that FAO had put in place various strategies to lead a more resilient and sustainable food system. Financing for Women: Financing of the agricultural sector by the Kenyan banking industry is currently very low (below 5 percent). What makes the situation worse is that there is skewed access to the finance provided against women. Three key solutions that were discussed that can be used to ensure women are included in financing include: a) Digitization b)Development of Women centred products c)Finance plus On the issue of fiscal policies which is key in determining economic equalities and inequalities, it was highlighted that there are ways of ensuring equality and having gender specific policies on taxes. The highlighted points include: - Revenue redistribution which investigates the different levels of incomes in the economy and ensures that those that earn less pay less and vice versa. - Repricing of products, which affects people behaviour. - Representations- this was noted as a key problem in tax policies and there was a need for representation of women to evade economic inequalities. Partnerships and collaboration: It was noted that strengthening of women’s capacity can be done through policies that are gender inclusive and through government and multisectoral partnerships. Policies and regulatory frameworks: As most dev't partners and gov't are supporting women, it could be enhanced by putting in place enabling factors that sustain women participation in food systems. Find more key issues and details on all above in the report attached. Read less

Findings and Recommendations. Gender Integration in food systems. Research has shown that empowering women leads to several positive outcomes along the food value chain and hence addressing the unique challenges faced by women is key. Moreover, research has shown that when women farmers have equal access to agricultural inputs (fertilizer and seed) as men, yield can increase by 19%. Considering all the challenges that women face, several strategies need to be put in place or those already in place should allow for better inclusivity. Foremost, there is a need to factor in women when structurin... Read moreg policies and ensure that women also occupy positions of leadership. Subsequently, there is need for policies that ensure women have access to productive resources such as fertilizer and seed. This can be executed through subsidies for inputs that can be accessed through digital platforms i.e. the E-voucher system. Also, digitalization would help deal with the time constraint faced by women. Further, support for women led MSMEs to ensure they have equity in accessing markets and attain greater bargaining power is instrumental and increase for energy supply for running production and value addition processes carried out by women farmers, need to be factored. A clear focus should be made on women and youth farmers to strengthen their participation in agriculture. There is therefore (1) need for redirecting policies to focus on gender inclusivity and financial inclusivity (2) need to follow policy implementation for successful outcomes on gender equality in food systems and (3) need for sustainable collaboration and establishment of partnerships, globally and locally, for increased women empowerment within the food system and gender equality. Market and infrastructure. Need for digitalization and ensuring women are aware of inclusion in digital market access Developing strategies for women to be able to access funds especially in the case that loans require physical collateral and have high interest rates which women are not able to pay back Need for partnerships that engage women in policy making on various food systems and agricultural activities Support women businesses and allow them to be part of the partnerships Bank customer segmentation to address the financial needs of women Capacity building in terms of market access. Establish data driven programs to enable women to grow profitable products Finance- structure right finances to look at the cycles between payment of loans and farmers’ harvest time Digitalization- establish easy platforms such as USSD platforms that share information such as market information on pricing, consumer products demand and extension support. Fiscal justice for women working in food systems Promote exports to generate more income for the women and revenues for the government Surplus- be resourceful about surpluses Mandatory registration of women in cooperatives to ensure access to finance Equitable access to resources (production, capital, extension services) Partnerships support for women in agriculture Improving partnership with financial institutions to enhance women access to funds Extend capacity building to rural women (partner with the national, county governments, Financial Institutions and the grass root women) Connect grass root women to multistakeholder platforms to share their experiences and challenges Link research organizations and various ministries with grass root women to create awareness on new technologies Nutrition- train and provide knowledge on preparation and consumption of nutritious foods to women Partnership with national and county government to implement policies that are gender mainstreamed to support women in agriculture e.g. on issues of land rights, gender just climate solutions among others. Climate action and inclusive financing- Access to green finance Inspire confidence among ladies to tap into funds that can help them invest in agriculture. A member mentioned the climate action fund that has been initiated by the world-bank. One of the members also stated that there is a lack of awareness among women on such initiatives and there is therefore need for awareness creation one such programmes are started. Kenya is largely arid and semi-arid (89%) and therefore innovative ways should be sought to shift reliance from rain-fed agriculture. These include: Irrigation machinery, irrigation pumps and drilling of water ponds, climate smart agriculture local innovations Create financial products at the bank level that cater for women such as agricultural insurance products that support women. Agro-forestry- This can be done through encouraging tree planting among faring households especially fruit trees that can help mitigate on the effects of climate change. Soil health - support and promote soil rejuvenating through local solutions to enhance productivity and conserve biodiversity. Promote urban farming and use of kitchen gardens among land constrained women and urban farmers. Read less

Way forward. Increased awareness on women inequalities and the need for gender integration in food systems and policy is required. This can be done via capacity building, mainstreaming gender in policies and supporting women to increase agricultural productivity. Moreover, complementing financial services with advisory services on how women can optimize their yields and revenues is important for this to be maximally productive and effective. Lastly, establishing sustainable partnership for all actors (at the bottom and on the top) is important in strengthening and amplifying the voice of women... Read more in food systems, for women empowerment in Kenya. Read less

INOFO is a network that facilitates relationship between organic farmers unions through the autonomous, self-organized infrastructure within which farmer organizations consult and cooperate on matters of common concern and speak in any forum with legitimate professional voice. With its mission to unite organic farmers and support their voices at all levels of food systems development, INOFO Asia is conducting the independent dialogue to discuss the issues and challenges of the present food system, from seed to table and propose a sustainable food systems driven by agroecology and organic prod... Read moreuction systems as these two topics encompasses the five action tracks of the UNFSS. Agroecology is a scientific discipline and a recognized social movement that nowadays is underpinned by a considerable evidence base for various production contexts. The HLPE report on Agroecological and other innovative approaches, and the FAO Agroecology Hub are considered common denominators for the definition and framework of Agroecology. It mimics natural ecological systems’ principles for resilient and healthy food production while addressing systemic challenges such as, depletion of soils and natural resources, biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change. Alternately, civil society groups define agroecology as a holistic approach to sustainable agriculture and food systems. Beyond its biophysical and ecological aspects, we look at agroecology as being strongly grounded on the environmental; social and cultural; economic; and political dimensions of sustainability, as defined and outlined by the Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité (CIDSE). Complementing agroecology, "organic agriculture is a holistic production management system which promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity. It emphasizes the use of management practices in preference to the use of off-farm inputs, banning chemical fertilizers and pesticides and taking into account that regional conditions require locally adapted systems. This is accomplished by using, where possible, agronomic, biological, and mechanical methods, as opposed to using synthetic materials, to fulfil any specific function within the system." (FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission, 1999). Organic farming protects all living creatures in the ecological food web of life - the microbes, insects including butterflies, amphibians, birds and the entire biodiversity gets adversely affected by the use of chemical fertilizers and the pesticides which then affects the pollination, soil carbon and closing of these ecological cycles ultimately leading to unsustainable, toxic food systems that affect our health and environments. Farmers do understand this but with limited or no access to these alternative resources for pest control, they succumb to what is available and easily accessible to control the pests. With the increased use of chemical pesticides, the farmers are now becoming aware of the resistance to chemicals by the existing pests and how this is a never ending vicious trap. Hence, many farmers are resorting to more sustainable alternatives of employing low cost, locally sourced, farm made organic pest repellents, advocated under the Organic Production Systems. Agroecology and Organic Farming is practiced widely all over the world, often by small-scale operations but when it comes to the ground realities of a farmer in his/ her locality, it’s still a huge struggle to convince the neighboring farmers, consumers, municipalities and ultimately Governments about the importance Agroecology and the innovative approaches to conversion to more regenerative practices. With this, the dialogue aimed to: a) Inform and educate the participants about the issues and challenges of the present food system and the role of agroecology and organic production systems in addressing these issues; and b) Make use of the Independent Dialogue to put the voices of the small farmers and the marginalized in setting the agenda and proposing pro-farmer, pro-people and pro-planet solutions to the Food Systems Summit. Read less

The main findings of the dialogue are as follows: A.Issues and Challenges Facing Organic Farmers and the need for agroecology The contradictions of the current Food System: Food producers stay hungry (821M people are hungry, mostly food producers); Food is increasingly not for humans (about 53% for biofuels, livestock, etc.); Food is wasted (1.3 B tons is wasted) Reiteration of the findings of IAASTD, which assessed agriculture for the past 50 years and what should agriculture be in the next 50 years, where business as usual is no longer an option; Radical change is needed in agriculture... Read more policy and practice; Systematic redirection of investment, funding, research and policy focus towards needs of small farmers Deglobalize and Relocalize our food systems so that it is sustainable, a mitigation to climate change and it addresses the broader objective of society of addressing poverty, hunger, sustainability, food sovereignty and equitability. Stop biopiracy; biodiversity and ecosystems destruction; stop dumping/ unnecessary food imports; stop land grabbing and development aggression; oppose suppression of legitimate social movements. B.Seed, knowledge and traditional utilization and conservation Farmers innovations and indigenous traditional knowledge is the basis of agriculture system, it they are lost, everything will be gone. The traditional knowledges are also reflected in culture associated with diversity in food systems. Traditionally, food is the medicine, but now it has become a poison. In hybridization, there is no nutrition and nutrient security is lost. Conservation, Cultivation, Consumption, Commercialization is needed to develop opportunities for livelihood. Decentralized Seed Banks and put them on village and cluster level seed banks which are not just storage of seeds and display, but a live seedbanks. It is not just conservation for the sake of conservation, seeds have some uniqueness for different needs. Demystify knowledge and develop on farm centers in the field, with the people involving communities. C.Agroecology in Agroforestry Solidarity among farmers provide services to members that enables them to manage natural resources in an environmentally friendly manner, produce quality products that meet market demands, achieve fair and sustainable returns for their work and improve the wellbeing of all members of farming families. Diversification is key strategy to coping with uncertain conditions, promoting innovations in integrated farming, which involves a combination of food crops, cash crops, livestock and forest products. Through Farmer to Farmer Learning (F2F), members gain new knowledge on organic agriculture production diversification The action research help farmers do the research by themselves. Recognize the Local knowledge and wisdom on agroecological approach to farmer Youth engagement is important for continuity and sustainability. D.Preservation of traditional food systems, including knowledge, traditions and local People's Rights Rice has always been the staple and brings wisdom and the inter-relation of having a great diversity in culture. Traditional food have medicinal roots. People don’t just eat to be fed, but with the value of the medicine, with different varieties having different medicinal properties. Food that have different cultural and nutritional values. The issue of micronutrients deficiencies, such as iron deficiency, is high on the government agenda, this is NOT needed. Even in this UN Food Systems Summit, the private sector people are encouraging food fortification. It is not the solution, there are traditional food where you can get the nutrition. Food fortification is a myth, a lie. The traditional and local food, with all the nutrition, is what organic farming is all about. E.Strategy for Small Farmer’s Autonomy and Sustainability During Pandemic through (PGS) In many country, the government only allow certification of organic by 3rd party which is expensive for small scale farmers. An alternative approach for them is through the participatory guarantee system or PGS whic is intended for the local market. PGS encourages farmers to create autonomy in providing their own production inputs . Many activities in the PGS opened opportunities for farmers to solve their own problems creating empowerment. PGS opens access for farmers to seek markets because the guarantee system includes customer and provide opportunity for farmers to open their own market During the first semester of the Covid-19 pandemic, there was panic buying and farmers were still able to send their harvests to consumers, without being tied to market opening hours and consumers do not need to leave the house to get healthy food. F.Organic quality and supply chain development Building supply chains - Since the farmers cannot bring their products to the market, and with very lo volume, those products were needed to be brought to the market so producers, consumers and authority in the local to support the farmers. Setting conditions to get involve in supply chains - Farmers has to register in groups, work in a group, and must be trained organic standards and technique. The main stakeholders include farmers, retailers, consumers and all interested will join functional teams assigned to manage and support farmers. Flow should be = Integrity management on farm through adherence to standards and rules; postharvest management by bringing products to one place or packing house for handling together; organic products are stamped with QR code. Read less

The following are the outcomes of the dialogue: 1.Increased awareness about agroecology and organic agriculture - The principles and practices of agroecology and organic agriculture are there, many farmers around the world are already practicing sustainable food production system that cuts across the challenges presented, it’s just a matter of recognizing, promoting, supporting and directing resources into organic agriculture and agroecology by the national governments and international institutions such FAO. 2.Stronger cooperation between members of INOFO in the promotion of agroecology and... Read more organic agriculture and for exchange of experiences, study and improving human resources. Farmers exchange and training to diagnose the problems and they are equipped with the technology & management techniques are able to assist with plant health in their communities. 3.Stronger call for rights recognition of women and youth - Food systems have been developed against the disadvantaged. We should develop agriculture for women and young people so that agriculture systems could become beneficial to people. There is a need to organize the youth creatively for them to encourage the youth to engage in agriculture. A lot of youth are discouraged to go to the field to do agriculture. The goal is to also break the stigma in farming, because their mindset is that farming is boring or dirty and not profitable. 4.Call for stronger unity, engagement and cooperation among stakeholders. Farmers and consumers should organize themselves, government and agencies should respect farmers rights so that there could be a foundation of lasting food systems around the world. There needs to be an improvement in consumers’ knowledge about organic food. This includes community engagement activities involving research with other partners to focus on ecological research & livelihoods, engaging the communities to participate in the research themselves to better understand, better understanding so that they work towards improving what they eat, plant. 5.Recognition of the rights of the farmers to resources as a cornerstone for the recognition of their role in food production. The recognition of the rights of farmers to the production of food. We have to go back to the basics and further push this in the UN food systems summit. I think we have to address the basic problems to address these rights. In organic agriculture, it's difficult if farmers do not have access to land and water. This would be helpful in the recognition of their rights. 6.Stonger call for GMO seeds to be controlled strictly and GMO seeds must be labeled so that people can easily recognize them. 7.Proposal to support and scale up organic farming and agroecology through financial models for organic farming and maybe consider awards for farmers pursuing this. 8.Push governments to create policy to reduce use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Ban these. Promote organic fertilizers. Policies that support small scale organic farmers to create favorable environment for them to thrive and become productive. It should include policy to introduce good post harvest facility for farmers. Subsidy not adequate. Some more support for farmers to store product to get better price for products. 9.Call to recognize IAASTD findings where business as usual is no longer an option. 10.Call for deglobalization and relocalization of food systems. Read less

There is not much divergence in term of principles and what are the participants are trying to convey to attain a better food systems. They are united that there should be strong implementation of biodiversity conservation policies nationally and internationally, better support structure for small scale producers - from production to marketing, including infrastructure, implementation of climate change policies nationally and internationally and stop the corporatization of agriculture. The divergence is mainly in the priorities at the national level since many countries in Asia are not getting... Read more enough support, specially vaccine, to be able to continue producing more food. In Asia, many countries faced the challenge of transportation of the food to the urban centers that caused overproduction and wastage in the rural area. With this, the priority now is to bring the harvest to the urban centers but not in supporting farmers have better marketing skills and improve the production and processing capacities so that food do not go into waste. Priorities of the governments in many countries are misplaced, which are pushing small scale and marginalized farmers further in the periphery. The proposed solution are all in the agroecology framework of FAO, but as part of the output of the dialogue, there is a strong recommendation to include the political dimension, specially farmers right recognition, to bring the back the resources (land, biodiversity, knowledge, technology, market) into the hands of the farmers, as this is basic requirement to have a better food systems. Read less

Science-policy communication: This session focused on the relationship between systems-thinking and storytelling. It is difficult to capture a complex system in a narrative, but it is doable. It is important to have a “story bank” of useful narratives to pull from. Additionally, it is important to select good storytellers. The best storytellers are not the academics and experts of the field, but the people who live within and experience the systems. Stories must encompass the whole system--many stories try to break up the system and describe only fragments of it, leading to inaccurate stor... Read moreies (e.g. farmers are the key to fixing hunger). It may be simpler to show a fragment- who is hungry-, but needs to go beyond and shift to why they are hungry. There needs to be an increased focus on discovering why hunger persists and what the systemic issues are. Story-telling hunger provides an opportunity to explain a complex system that isn’t always included in the narrative- the SDGs. Story suggestion: there are statistics about minority farmers in the U.S. and systeming challenges against them, but no one is telling this as a story. (Black farmers were also mentioned in topic 3). Read less