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Policy coherence, implementation and institutional coordination in water, food, energy and climate change that operationalize the WEF nexus Key question: What practical steps can/should be taken to ensure policy coherence and institutional coordination to improve water, energy and food security in the region? Pakistan’s agriculture is valued at US$50 billion and contributes to 20% of the GDP but uses 90% of the water and has the potential to generate US$350 billion with science-based management. Pakistan requires a vibrant agriculture system that addresses poverty and inequality, stemming fr... Read moreom evidence-based policy making. To achieve significance on the discussion topic, it is imperative to work on the following areas a) Reducing policy overlaps through institutional coordination. More than 18 agencies working in the water sector, hence overlapping of power—resulting in weak accountability of poor decisions. There is a National Water Policy (2018), while Punjab, KP, and Sindh have their policy. Measures are needed to bring about policy coherence and coordination. The federal government and provincial governments should work within boundaries as per the constitution and be brought under the umbrella of an agency that can be held responsible for overall food systems and agriculture. Bring together IPPs and farmers on board for policymaking. Much headway has been made by various departments, but there is still a lack of political will and mechanism to bring the different projects in the water, food, and energy sector under one umbrella. b) Federalism and lack of clear authority. Pakistan has a hybrid system. Post-18th amendment the perception is that WEF is a provincial subject, however, the federal government has the final say, for instance, in setting subsidies. There is a need to outline a clear mandate if WEF is a national concern. Federal and provincial governments must spell out what is the priority they accord to Food Systems Security with support from the highest level of government and governance. c) Pakistan’s crops have become political crops. Decisions are based on political will and not on scientific research or macro-economic priorities. Incorporating political economy in research and policy discussion is essential for highlighting the negative consequences of political decisions. d) Equity in water is essential. Tailenders crops also have the right to adequate water to protect their welfare. Disseminating the data regarding the transition in dietary habits of households can have a significant impact on policymaking. The recent shift in households’ consumption pattern from an unhealthy diet to a more nutritious diet can be taken as a guide to shift from water thirsty crops to Water thrifty crops. e) Water has to be taken as a commodity otherwise savings in water may not be possible. Revisiting the subsidies in the water sector is critical. Work is required on mapping and modeling water subsidies and creating space for sustainable agriculture by measuring the costs and benefits attached to each subsidy. Likewise, distortions created by such programs must become transparent. f) Crops driven by technology: Technology based remote sensor monitoring and water modeling on cropping patterns and pricing may yield great benefits. The focus should be on exploiting technology and statistical modeling for forecasting production, pricing and consumption. Ways should be explored to make the existing agriculture system more productive. g) Land fragmentation needs to be addressed. As per the 2010 agriculture census, almost 85-90 percent of the land farm size is less than 5 hectares. Linkage of small farmers with multinational and agricultural value-chains, such as through contract farming, needs to be promoted to combat land fragmentation. Moreover, protecting agricultural land that is being taken over by housing societies should be discouraged. Agro-ecological zone-based policy recommendations should feature high on the policy agenda. h) Smuggling of staple crops and misappropriation needs to be tackled. Rampant and unchecked smuggling of agricultural produce out of Pakistan threatens food security in the country. Read less

Climate change impacts on water and food security Key question: How can we sustainably enhance food security without compromising water security in the context of climate change? All participants of the discussion group were agreed that climate change through changes in temperature, rainfall patterns, frequent flooding, drought, and other extreme events is having an unprecedented impact on water and food security in Pakistan. Water scarcity, crop water requirements, and salinity have been increased on the account of climate change and all dimensions of food security- availability, access, util... Read moreization of food as well as stability of food systems have been compromised due to these increased risks of climate change. Because of these challenges, participants discussed that the following actions in the next 3 years will have the greatest impact on the discussion topic; • Water security issue needs to be tacked through implementing water accounting and auditing system to re-assess sectoral water demands and needs • Climate smart practices need to be identified and upscaled along with promoting innovative techniques for water saving among farmers • Early Warning Systems and data sharing system need to be improved and provide sufficient early information to end-users to protect them and their livelihoods from negative impacts of extreme events such as floods, droughts, and extreme temperatures including heatwaves • A central level project management system may be introduced at the federal level to avoid duplication of the projects and to keep track of all the projects being implemented in the water and agriculture sector • Integrated support system for agriculture can be introduced with improved access to resources and services (advisory and credit) to enhance food productivity to meet growing needs On the consumption side, there is a need to educate the public to diversify their diets and to reduce their dependence on a single major staple crop – wheat. In addition, the nutrition of the diet should also be considered. All participants also discussed various potential contributions from organizations to make these actions sustainable and useful to sustain food and water security under changing climate. The possible contribution from different actors may include the following; a) Federal and provincial governments and aligned departments: • Develop sound policies for agriculture, water and environment keeping in view of the local needs in addressing food security in relation to changing climate • Devise an effective and improved coordination mechanism for provincial and federal department to discuss ways to make our food systems more resilient b) Development Cooperation/ International organizations: • Support governments in identifying and upscaling innovative climate-smart solutions to make food systems resilient to climate change as well to make them able to meet the growing food demands • Provide more support to the government to revise their policies and translate policy into action and enable them to have sound governance mechanism for implementation of relevant policies c) Academia: • More research on quantifying the impact of climate change on different dimensions of food security as well as water security • Research on institutional mechanism and networking with a particular focus on climate change adaptation d) Civil society/ communities: • Civil society organizations need to use their influence to educate farmers in adopting adaptive measures that improve their resilience to climate change such as water saving, improved varieties, change in dietary patterns, use of nutritious diet. • Communities need to participate in relevant capacity training being organized by various donors or government organizations to learn new ways of protecting their livelihood from extreme events. Read less

Sustainable and renewable energy for food production Key question: How can we sustainably produce more food in Pakistan using low greenhouse gas energy sources? The group agreed that food production heavily relies on pumping groundwater using more than 1.5 million tubewells in the Indus Basin. These pumps are typically fueled either by diesel or kerosene, or they depend on subsidized electricity leading to high carbon emissions. The WEF nexus provides pathways to examine water, energy, and food security that are inextricably linked in the context of rapid population growth, growing multi-secto... Read moreral water demands, and sustainability challenges within and between countries. The session discussed the role of renewable energy sources in the agricultural sector as a means of enhancing sustainable food security, and explored existing technologies, policies, along with emerging opportunities in renewable energy application in the agricultural sector. Following recommendations were proposed; a) Revisiting Agro-Ecological Zoning: The current agro-ecological zoning must be revisited in the context of the WEF nexus approach. Based on which we can map the surface water availability and designated areas for higher delta crops. Areas with less surface water availability would be supplementary irrigated with groundwater. Such areas should be designated for lower delta crops. b) Groundwater governance: There is a need for introducing groundwater governance for estimation of quantity and quality for allowable extraction of water in areas of less surface water availability. Then work on system of incentives and disincentives for the introduction of renewable energy systems and high-efficiency irrigation systems. c) Financial incentives: Incentives are pre-requisite for making possible substantial saving for energy use at the farm level particularly for groundwater pumping. There is also a need to replace the traditional primitive methods of water application with other efficient methods through better extension service. Thus financial incentives through proper policies and strategies should enable farmers to adapt the modern and renewable energy technologies in the farming systems. Such technologies, if adapted on larger scale, will tap the exploitation of groundwater sources like solar pumping system. d) Incentives for small farmers: Policies must be modified so that they can provide incentives to the small farmers who are 70-80% of the farming community for using renewable energy for pumping. e) Capacity building of farming community: 1.5 million farmers having tube wells must be educated for optimal pumping and efficient use of water. That is possible by activating our extension system. f) Integrated energy plans: There is a need for the integration of diverse set up of energy generation resources with storage component to accommodate the productivity load of pumping units. Thus an integrated energy strategy may include energy production at different sources and requirements by different sectors, and finally the supply and gap analysis. We need new ideas like floating solar panels on water surfaces which can reduce water evaporation. g) Bio-Waste Management for Renewable Energy Production: There is a need to convert that waste into energy. All the waste either going into the landfill, while the waste from the agriculture fields is being burnt causing smog. Proper and well-planned policies are required to harness the potential energy from bio-waste. h) Improve efficiency practices in food production: Renewable energy utilization should be complemented with efficient water application. This must be followed by a proper value chain including reduced losses transportation, storage, etc. i) Social Enterprise Mechanism for Sustainability: Social enterprise mechanisms must be a part of implementation frameworks of different policies and strategies to ensure timely and cheaper sustainability of the renewable energy systems used in the farming system. There is a need to work on policy analysis, and evidence-based options for policy reforms, advocating private sector led growth strategies and building the capacity of stakeholders. Read less

A holistic approach and reliable database on water resources and their use across Pakistan is the key to achieving food, water, and energy security in the fifth most climate-vulnerable country in the world, participants of the UN Food Systems Summit Independent Dialogue (Pakistan) have reported. The Dialogue highlighted the need for transformative approaches to promote equity and inclusion in water energy food (WEF) nexus governance for sustainable water, energy and food systems. Other outcomes from the discussion was the need for a substantial increase in research and development funds for th... Read moree agriculture sector through active dialogues with donors and development partners. Dialogue participants emphasized improving policy coherence among key ministries through better inter-sectoral coordination and capacity building and raising awareness among researchers, policymakers, government officials, and farmers about the benefits of WEF nexus modelling approaches to optimise agriculture production in the Indus Basin. Furthermore, the participants laid stress on the need for sizable interdisciplinary projects to realise true systems transformation and WEF nexus operationalization through pilot projects in the Indus Basin of Pakistan that hosts one of the world’s largest contiguous irrigation networks. The objective of the dialogue was to discuss how a shared vision for water, energy and food security could be achieved in a changing climate for Pakistan. Research shows that water security is posing serious challenges for the social and economic development of Pakistan, an agrarian country of 220 million people, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Around 100 participants from 12 countries had shared rich and diverse views on key bottlenecks in implementing the operationalization of WEF nexus in the context of Indus Basin. It was agreed that There is an urgent need for promoting inter-sectoral cooperation through evidence based information to ensure water-food-energy security and environmental sustainability for food system transformation in Pakistan. The event provided an opportunity for in-depth dialogues to take place between diverse actors from across food systems, development partners, government, think tanks, universities, and international organisations. The Pakistan dialogue highlighted eight key thematic areas around which participants engaged in group discussions; 1. Sustainable and renewable energy for food production Key question: How can we sustainably produce more food in the region using low greenhouse gas energy sources? 2. Climate change impacts on water and food security Key question: How can we sustainably enhance food security without compromising water security in the context of climate change? 3. Policy coherence, implementation and institutional coordination in water, food, energy and climate change that operationalize the WEF nexus Key question: What practical steps can/should be taken to ensure policy coherence and institutional coordination to improve water, energy and food security in the region? 4. Enhancing performance of water systems across multiple sectors (agriculture, domestic, industry and environment) demands Key question: How do we enhance resilience of water systems to meet the competing demands of multi-sectors (agriculture, domestic, industry and environment)? 5. Advancing technical WEF models, tools and frameworks for decision making at multiple scales Key question: How can WEF nexus models/tools facilitate new understanding of interdependencies and trade-offs in the WEF nexus, as well as foster data sharing and enhanced decision-making in the region? 6. Enhancing resilience and productivity of irrigated agriculture through the WEF Nexus Key question: How do we build more resilient food and livelihood systems while protecting critical water sources, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services while satisfying growing water demand? 7. Community strategies to operationalise equitable WEF nexus approaches Key question: How can we promote equity and inclusion in WEF nexus governance to create opportunities for transformation towards more just and sustainable food, water and energy systems? 8. Socio-Economic synergies and benefits of WEF Nexus Key question: What steps needs to be taken to assess the benefits and trade-offs across sectors, especially from a socio-economic point of view (employment, health, migration, equity, GDP, etc)? Finally, the dialogue provided a knowledge platform to better understand WEF nexus under a changing climate and guidance to develop a more climate-resilient water and land solutions at multiple scales (farm, irrigation system, basin, country, and regional) in the IBIS. The outcome of this dialogue has provided a technical knowledge for proposing climate adaptation interventions at various scales leading to reduce water consumption from the agriculture sector in major areas of water basins such as the Indus. Read less

Water security is imposing serious challenges for the social and economic development of Pakistan, listed as the 5th most climate-vulnerable country in the world. Extreme climatic variability (drought/floods) has highlighted the need to manage water resources more sustainably in Pakistan. Being an agrarian country of 220 million people, water resources play a vital role in serving a large population and sustaining the ecosystems. More than 90% of all withdrawals of the available freshwater resources of the Indus Basin are being used for the agriculture sector. Groundwater exploitation due to s... Read moreurface water scarcity, unsustainable irrigation and agricultural practices, and industrial effluents are affecting water quality and worsening the overall health of the basin and its ecosystems. The Indus is vulnerable to changes either due to climate change or due to transboundary conflicts at both national and inter-provincial levels. Groundwater has played a major role in augmenting 60% of irrigation supplies through the privately-installed 1.5 million plus tube-wells for crop production in the basin. There is little credible scientific information available on groundwater monitoring, database development, regulation, environmental implications, and management. The situation gets more severe when tube-wells start tapping into brackish groundwater, accelerating the secondary salinization of irrigated soils, which damages crops and reduces yields. In this regard, groundwater demand management is still a big unknown. Conventional market approaches – of water rights and scarcity prices – are either too unwieldy or too unpopular to implement, while a ‘command & control’ approach has limited effectiveness and very high transaction (implementation) costs. Community-led groundwater management has also had limited success. That leaves us with the ‘nexus approach’ – using energy and food policies to shape pumping behaviour. The Government of Pakistan has developed several national policies for various sectors including water, agriculture, energy, climate and environment. Presently, there is a lack of coherence between the developed national policies for water, food security, energy, and climate change which hinders implementation on the ground in Pakistan. The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) challenges highlight a wider array of issues surrounding smallholder resilience and the complexity of pressures being felt. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted with devastating effect how vulnerable many livelihoods are and how few assets poor farmers (and poor urban workers) have to fall back on. Climate change will exacerbate and multiply the potential impact of future shocks. This regional dialogue therefore seeks to unpack the questions: how can food systems be localized for regional benefits including trade and transformed in a water-constrained Pakistan in a manner that acknowledges WEF nexus linkages? The UN Food Systems Summit Pakistan dialogue highlighted eight key thematic areas on which participants were required to engage in an interactive manner that allowed for small group discussion, collective brainstorming, and agenda setting. The thematic areas covered by breakout groups were: 1) Sustainable and renewable energy for food production; 2) Climate Change impacts on water and food security; 3) Policy coherence, implementation and institutional coordination in water, food, energy and climate change that operationalize the WEF nexus; 4) Enhancing performance of water systems across multiple sectors (agriculture, domestic, industry and environment) demands; 5) Advancing technical WEF models, tools and frameworks for decision making at multiple scales; 6) Enhancing resilience and productivity of productivity of irrigated agriculture through the WEF Nexus; 7) Community strategies to operationalise equitable WEF nexus approaches; and 8) Socio-Economic synergies and benefits of WEF Nexus. Expected key outcome of this dialogue was getting involved and sharing the views of Pakistan stakeholders to better understand WEF nexus under a changing climate and guidance to develop a more climate-resilient water and land solutions in the Indus Basin. Read less

Given the paramount significance of secure land tenure for sustainable food systems, we need the attention of all stakeholders including governments, civil society organisations, private sector, international organisations, multi-lateral organisations and donors to come together to strengthen land tenure security of women, men, youth, family farmers, indigenous peoples, pastoralists and landless farmers and other communities as relevant. The stakeholders can be facilitated to come together through multi-stakeholder platforms to identify challenges, find solutions, implement and monitor solutio... Read morens, channel resources as needed and celebrate successes. The 2030 sustainable development agenda can only be achieved if secure land tenure for all is achieved facilitating to achieves the targets on eradicating poverty, zero-hunger, general equality, climate actions and building peaceful and just soceities. Read less

Landless and Smallholder Farmers Challenges Absence of legal provision in some countries to recognise community/collective land rights of the people, adversely affects the food production by landless and smallholder farmers. Given the lack of recognition, landless farmers are often excluded from discussion tables. Sustained control over land is the basis for sustainable food systems and livelihoods among smallholders and landless farmers. Land tenure insecurity in these two groups adversely impact on food productions through increased conflicts. Secure and stable land tenure is key in accessin... Read moreg government support programmes and first easy step in seeking help from land administration overcoming complex administrative structures and regulatory barriers. If land tenure security is provided, smallholder farmers can play productive role to increase economic capacity of their localities by engaging communities in post-harvest and value added activities. (including food processing, marketing, catering etc.) Landless farmers are often excluded from discussion tables. Solutions - Address land issues of landless and smallholder farmers through local institutional and regulatory frameworks. Land policies should particularly pay attention to the issues of landless and smallholder farmers - Take measure to protect access to commons (e.g. assuring access to non-wood forest products) as they are often key to livelihoods of landless people and contribute to ensure sustainable management of local biodiversity and land restoration - Build partnerships with women and youth constituencies within this group - Share knowledge capturing practices from other countries to resolve issues Stakeholders and partnerships - Women and youth including regional and international women and youth groups - Civil society and international organisations - National and local government authorities - Financial institutions Read less

Indigenous Peoples Challenges Indigenous peoples and their food productions are challenged in numerous ways. With the increasing involvement of big corporations in food production, frequently IPs are forcefully evicted from their traditional lands. This hampers the food produced by IPs using traditional knowledge, increasing food scarcity within these communities. The focus on economic crops such as rubber, cocoa etc. impedes traditional agricultural crops and systems. In certain cases, ecotourism has invaded the land occupied by IPs limiting their engagement with the land. Solutions - Recogni... Read morese indigenous community lands and their customary lands systems as part of building sustainable food systems - Recognize Indigenous Peoples as agents to allow their self-determined food generation and production systems and practices in finding solutions - Scale up government land distribution policies to indigenous peoples - Establish partnership with the local governments to identify and map the IP territories - Systematically register land recognising IPs right to land - Building capacity & raise awareness among IPs and their leaders about their rights in relation to their land and territories. Engage government officials in these programmes. - Devise mechanisms to resolve land conflicts among IPs, governments and the private sector Build a close network at local, national and regional level for supporting IPs with a particularly emphasis on youth Stakeholders and partnerships - Local government authorities - Youth - National governments - Relevant public servants at national, regional and local levels - Private sector - Indigenous peoples and other local communites Read less

Pastoralists Challenges Pastoralists have a unique relationship with nature and territory. Their contribution to the food systems is clearly different to the agribusinesses. It is important that rangelands pastoralists own the land to guarantee a sustainable and healthy food production. It is impossible to invest resources aiming at medium or long term solutions that bring benefit to food systems without transparent and sustainable land tenure for this group. There is a lack of availability of information about rangelands. This co-relates to the lack of legal ownership of land among pastoralis... Read morets. The lack of full access to rangeland by pastoralists impede mobility, their participation in restoration of rangelands and lack of building infrastructure for their food productions. It also increases conflicts over land. Overall, there is less recognition and acknowledgment of contribution by pastoralists as important players in food systems particularly as legitimate food producers. Solutions - Recognise and guarantee land titles for pastoralists. Information technology can be used to provide data on pastoralists’ populations and their land use - Improve land tenure systems relating to pastoralists and guarantee the contracts for land use - Recognise pastoralists as food producers and build their capacity to meet market demands. Promote pastoralists food/production i.e. through food festivals and other ways to give visibility to what they produce and increase their economic resources - Analyse incentives and disincentives for different users of land resources through participatory approach and manage rangelands to get better achievements - Invest on mobility as a strategy for maintaining a healthy pastoralists system and to use rangelands in a sustainable way, to preserve natural resources. Investments must be done as a way to improve the environmental friendly productions. - increase investments to rangeland ecosystems restoration - Revive traditional practices and methods especially the ones held within pastoralists in efforts to ensure food security - Develop the mobile and distant services for pastoralists Stakeholders and partnerships - Governments at national level - International institutions with platforms which supports and promote the work of pastoralist organisations - Community organisations - Private sector - International donors/investors - Social networks/ Mass media Read less

Women and Youth Challenges A large proportion of women live in rural settings and contribute to the agricultural sector. For example, women contribute to 80% of the agriculture in Asia. In Bangladesh, nearly 80% of the women live in rural setting and 72.6% of them are engaged in agriculture. Over the years, as men migrate to cities and abroad in search of stable and higher income jobs, women’s participation in agriculture has gradually increased. Despite this increase, women are often not recognised as farmers in many countries and left with little or no decision making powers over the land ... Read morethat they are engaged with. The absence of recognition of their control over land and contribution prevent them from being eligible for government concessions extended to farmers and/or accessing facilities such as credit or bank loans. This also prevents women from effectively and competitively accessing markets and their capacity to organise themselves for collective bargaining. These condition increase the vulnerabilities for land grabbing, evictions or even simply rejecting their access to land with significant impact on their livelihoods. Often government prioritise large scale infrastructure development programmes over individual and collective land rights of the people. Although significant improvement were achieved over the last decade, still in some jurisdictions, women have no property rights or their land rights are registered under male custodians. This prevents single or widowed women from owning land. The Covid 19 pandemic brought many of these vulnerabilities to the surface. Return of men from urban areas led to land grabbing or evictions depriving women from their livelihoods causing loss of income and severe food insecurities among women and their families. Engagement of young people in agriculture is decreasing as often farming is not considered to be economically empowering. Awareness among the youth on land rights and availability of land for agriculture is low. Many countries lack policies on land and youth. Complicated and cumbersome land inheritance policies discourage youth from pursuing agriculture as a livelihood. Solutions - Take measures to guarantee both formal and informal women’s ownership of land. Such measures should be proposed in consultation with the affected communities - Establish joint land titling between wives and husbands - Issue identity cards for women farmers in order for them to access government services such as educational programmes and trainings - Make policy decision for both land owners and women and youth farmers to have access to bank loans, credit, seeds, markets, technical assistance, social welfare and other relevant government services. Some of these policies should be further strengthened trough making them legally enforceable - Build capacities among women and youth farmers about their rights - Create space and make resources available for civil society organisations to work with development agencies to advocate for implementation of enacted laws and policies Stakeholders and partnerships - Governments - Civil Society organisations - Development partners - Indigenous groups, pastoralists and local communities - Public service including local authorities Read less

Land is where people grow food, hinge upon for its storage, selling, cooking or preparation and utilise to manage food waste. Hence, who owns and controls land have significant impact on how food is produced, processed, marketed and consumed. A large portion of the world’s poor lack quality access to land. Even those with access have limited possibilities to choose over their land. The current food systems are inadequate in addressing poverty, hunger or malnutrition. It is a system that relies on biodiversity loss, land degradation, resource exploitation and pollution. It is a system where t... Read morehe poorest and hungriest people are the small-scale farmers who produce large portion of the world’s food; youth is not attracted to agriculture; unclear and insecure property rights exacerbate conflicts and further contribute to land and environmental degradation discouraging land investments; massive land acquisitions for agribusinesses displace communities affecting local food systems and making communities more vulnerable. Without land tenure rights continuity of native or local seeds die, labour becomes a commodity and character of production and generation of food systems changes. As a result, mobile livelihood systems and occupations relating to food are dismantled. Land tenure is linked to land use systems where types of food generation and production are practiced. Land insecurity disrupts this link limiting the food generation and production systems. To tackle these challenges: - Future food systems should recognise security of tenure as an integral part of building sustainable food systems and take measures to guarantee both formal and customary ownership of land of women, men, indigenous peoples and local communities - Take all possible measures to guarantee equal land ownership between women and men - Make policy decisions enabling women, men, youth, indigenous peoples, local communities and other groups with formal or customary ownership of land to access bank loans, credit, seeds, markets, technical assistance, social welfare and other relevant government services. These policies should be further strengthened by making them legally enforceable as relevant - Improve land tenure systems relating to pastoralists and recognise pastoralists as food producers and build their capacity to meet market demands - Increase investments to ecosystems restoration recognising its importance in building sustainable food systems among local communities particularly of indigenous communities and pastoralists - Revive traditional practices and methods especially the ones held within pastoralists, indigenous peoples and other local communities in efforts to ensure food security - Recognize Indigenous Peoples as agents to allow their self-determined food generation and production systems and practices in finding solutions - Building partnerships among formal and customary land owners resolving conflict among people, communities, governments and the private sector recognising each stakeholders’ role and importance in building sustainable food systems - Address land issues of landless and smallholder farmers through local institutional and regulatory frameworks recognising their role in building sustainable food systems Read less

The principal focus of the independent dialogue was to bring attention to the centrality of secure land rights in building sustainable food systems with the objective of brining land issues to the discussion processes of the summit and integrate into its outcomes. The entire food system of the world is inextricably connected to land. Hence, if there is a fundamental positive change in the way we manage land we can make the global food systems sustainable, whilst simultaneously reaching the targets of climate-change mitigation and averting the dramatic loss of biodiversity. Overall, it will cat... Read moreer to achieving the intended targets of the 2030 sustainable development agenda. The current food systems are evidently inadequate in addressing poverty, hunger and malnutrition worldwide. Almost 80 percent of the world’s poor and food insecure live in rural areas, mostly depending on agricultural production for their subsistence; i.e. an important number of the world’s hungry base their livelihoods on access to land and other natural resources. Given land’s economic, socio-cultural and political importance, tenure security is critical to livelihoods and food security. Strengthened resource rights increases the likelihood that farmers invest in their land, boosting productivity and contributing to food security. Secure tenure of Indigenous Peoples over the forests they live, dramatically reduces deforestation and other forms of environmental degradation contributing to climate change mitigation. According to the research conducted by the International Land Coalition with its members, land inequality directly threatens the livelihoods of an estimated 2.5 billion people involved in small-scale agriculture, as well the world’s poorest 1.4 billion people, most of whom depend largely on agriculture for their livelihoods. Global inequality experts blame the upward trend of land inequality partly on the increased interest from corporate and financial actors, such as investment funds and agricultural land investments. As corporate and financial investments grow, ownership and control of land becomes more concentrated and increasingly opaque. Today, the largest 1 percent of farms operate more than 70 percent of the world’s farmland and are integrated into the corporate food system, while over 80 percent are smallholdings of less than two hectares, which are generally excluded from global food chains. Indigenous peoples and local communities look after 50% of the earth’s surface protecting eco systems and bio-diversity. But they have legal rights only over 1/5 of it. Secure land tenure rights lead to planned food systems based on individual or collective community choices and community driven demands. Land tenure rights for a given duration empowers deciding on efficient, scheduled, appropriate and suitable cropping system and serve as a strong foundation for economic empowerment. It is the basis of human dignity of all communities including indigenous peoples, pastoralists, local communities and landless farmers forming the pathway for right to food among these communities and beyond. Read less

Strengthening Food Systems Research and Innovations: What new Frontiers are needed? • Food Systems are inter-linked and run across the value chains. • Food Systems need to be sustainable in all that we do, there is need for research and capacity development across the Value chain • Adapt technologies and innovations to local context and need to adopt feasible technologies that make sense from the income perspective of farmers • Promote partnerships including reverse linkages across countries within financial institutions to promote engagement operations Target robust solutions which ar... Read moree scaleable and demand driven- consider for example indigenous foods and the scientific solutions must make sense to the indigenous people Human Capital Development for enhanced sustainable and inclusive Food Systems Productivity and Resilience Interventions • Efficiency in agriculture: needs to improve the efficiency of our local food production systems • Encourage and attract young people into agriculture: Our education systems in the universities…previous processes taught simply what was on offer but today, there is a switch to agriculture as business…thus…show youth that agriculture is beyond food production • Collaboration: need to come together to address the common problems • Transition of agriculture to food value chains: looking beyond traditional production for household food security (availability)…unlocking the income potential of agriculture is critical in lifting smallholder farmers Institutional arrangements • Policy making and financial making should be complementary to those existing at country level • Policy should focus on improving on the enabling environment including; technology, inputs, and value chains &infrastructure to enable active actor participation • Take advantage of digital agriculture • Share the models and piggy back how to address institutional challenges • Provide a mechanism for lesson sharing and solution building • Bringing the private sector to in particular enhance the deployment of ICTs to enhance functioning of FS • Bring on board financial institutions to enhance FS e.g. production processes, support the enabling of credit • Create harmonization that can enable ease of movement of goods and services across regions Read less

General Overview • Despite COVID-19 crisis, it has provided opportunity for FS transformation • But the pandemic adds to the MENA additional burden on top of; oil crises, political transitions & food imports • Agri-food system in the MENA region has shown some resilience but in a varied manner across countries &; across sub-sectors e.g. aromatic plants less affected but fruit sectors heavily affected in case of Jordan • The food systems in the MENA and the policies that support them have contributed to poor nutritional outcomes. • Agricultural subsidies and food security poli... Read morecies in the region generally favor energy–rich staple food production, without sufficient attention to promoting nutrient–rich foods. • The food system has also economic, social, and environmental outcomes • Social cash transfers have been used as one of the strategies for mitigating the impacts of the COVID-19 in Egypt, Sudan and Jordan • Agriculture &; Agri-food systems is well positioned for post-covid 19 recovery but good to learn from successful countries; in terms understanding public investment, policy frameworks.. • Integrating private sector to lead growth in the agri-food systems • In order to increase food production in a sustainable and healthy manner, research and innovation is critical Research and University Engagement • Research and innovative technologies should target conservation of the food products/system: • The main issue in processing is product conservation to minimize waste. Simplifying supply chains (connecting consumers to farmers) • Providing policymakers with data and analytics to better understands supply and demand imbalances • The transformation of food systems requires interventions beyond research and technology innovations • Shift from linear approaches to research in food systems toward more interlinked and interdisciplinary process of food system research and analysis Implications going forward • Need to be cautious that improving economic outcomes of FS seems to be the main driver of digitalization..often ignoring aspects such as environmental aspects • Entrepreneurship innovation as a critical point for valorizing technology and innovation • Universities are supposed to be drivers of change and innovation but most of the innovations from universities have not been able to create startups but rather there has been a string emphasis on publications • Need to create entrepreneurship enabling environments at universities • Working on IT valorization at universities • Adopt a food systems approach that acknowledges inter-system linkages and the multiple outcomes of the food system. • Transformation is a shared responsibility that involves partnerships among all sectors of society and transparency is a prerequisite for the success of those partnerships Read less

The dialogue was premised on the need to understand if the results from the diverse research topics are effectively reaching the food systems end users notably, policy makers, farmers and consumers. Strategic alliances between scientific institutions, universities and practitioners (farmers, indigenous groups, women, youth, chefs, etc) to foster transformation and prepare the next generation to have a more holistic and systemic perspective are an important pathway for exploring the inter-linkages for sustainable food systems. Mot especially in arears with both diverse and common contexts such ... Read moreas the MENA region. Read less

Most discussion groups did not generate explicit areas of divergence, though it became clear across the seven tables that these areas existed and are part of the challenge of developing effective multi-stakeholder initiatives. Several groups stressed that divergence is important, as it broadens perspectives, and surfacing and appreciating differences is a key step towards becoming an effective MSP. The key areas of divergence that emerged during the dialogue are as follows: -Different actors have different views on how successful the various multi-stakeholder platforms have been. These differe... Read morent perspectives have been voiced during the dialogue sessions and were the background against which recommendations for success were made. -Participants realised that they may have different expectations on the effectiveness of a multi-stakeholder initiative. Some of them indicated that some initiatives, which have been initiated from The Netherlands for example, may not be responsive to the needs and perspectives of the less powerful food systems actors in Africa or Asia, even when its design is of good quality and the Dutch or international actors involved have the proper expertise and experience. -Funding instruments that have been created to facilitate public-private collaboration in the agrifood sector are considered innovative and helpful by some, whereas others find them too bureaucratic or hard to work with. -Some participants indicated they missed the discussion on access to land - as a crucial discussion to have. -Multi-stakeholder platforms risk being just ‘talk shops’ for some, who are reluctant to engage in them if there is no concrete action and if they don’t see a clear benefit or added value for them. -While some participants think we shouldn´t "impose" top-down blueprint solutions but develop local solutions, others think that solutions that have already proven successful in a given context can be scaled up and replicated in other settings. -Some participants called for more attention to end ‘siloed’ thinking and to working in a more integrated manner. Read less

Roundtable 7: Natural Resources Management The dialogue started with the presentation of three cases of multi-stakeholder platforms focusing on natural resources management: (1) the Cisdoma land-use efficiency case for organic pepper small-holder farmers in Vietnam, (2) Rikolto´s case of sustainable landscape management to save the lake Maslago, which feeds Nicaragua’s cities, and (3) the IDH Sourceup case, a multi-stakeholder coalition promoting sustainable intensification while reducing deforestation and generating income in Mato Grosso, Brazil. The group identified several challenges of ... Read moreworking in multi-stakeholder platforms, starting with the management of power dynamics. From the beginning, issues such as who takes the initiative to start the MSP, if it was born from a specific interest, and the common concern that provides an entry point for collaboration, influence the MSP dynamics and outcomes. Additionally, the scalability of often small initiatives is considered a risk, as is the quality of data available to and from different stakeholders. The role and involvement of the government - at all levels - needs careful attention. Finally, another challenge is the sustainability of multi-stakeholder platforms beyond projects and programs. Exit strategies are often an afterthought, and even if local actors can take over, additional resources are often no longer available. To address those challenges the participants stressed the importance of a holistic approach - integrated landscape management, which involves a whole region and all stakeholders. The leadership and participation of all actors are key in that approach, as is the use of validated methods and tools and neutral facilitation. Recommendations: -All MSPs need to have a clear purpose and respond to a clear need. They are not an end in itself or the answer to everything. -MSPs should be designed in such a way that they could be changed or dissolved. Scaling is not always necessary. -There is a lot of experience, also at the micro-level. Lessons and experiences need to be documented and shared. -At the actor level, the participation of actors should be needs-based. To involve all actors, the leadership and participation of local actors through a holistic approach can be facilitated using integrated landscape management. -The neutral facilitation can be organised for example using an online platform: actors can be connected to each other; companies can be connected to their clients. -The government needs to put a strong effort in scaling up, supporting the connections, and different actions. Their support is essential. -It is crucial to look beyond the value chain mentality and understand the system and system dynamics. -Additionally, we should work towards solutions; and we need the right stakeholders to find these solutions; in agriculture, this is often through multi-stakeholder collaboration. “We need to work as coalitions of change, agents of change that take actions!” Cases presented: Case 1: Sourceup case in Mato Grosso, Brazil https://www.nlfoodpartnership.com/documents/224/NRM_case_1-IDH_-PPI_landscape_approach.pdf Case 2: Land-use efficiency case in Vietnam https://www.nlfoodpartnership.com/documents/215/Land_use_efficiency_smallholder_farmers.pdf Case 3: Sustainable landscape management in lake Maslago, Nicaragua https://www.nlfoodpartnership.com/documents/211/MASLAGO_Saving_the_lake_that_feeds_Nicaragua_Fausto_Rodriguez_Roundtable_Digit_dpNuyvj.pdf Read less

Roundtable 6: Responsible Business Conduct The dialogue started with presentations about the global partnership for the True Price of food, which plans to deliver a global measurement standard, an open-source benchmark database, scientific foundations, a policy toolbox, and support for SMEs and farmers. The other MSP example on responsible business conduct presented was RSPO, a not-for-profit that unites stakeholders from the 7 sectors of the palm oil industry: oil palm producers, processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks/investors, and environmental and social non-... Read moregovernmental organisations (NGOs), to develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil. The roundtable identified the challenge for multi-stakeholder platforms to systematically engage rural communities and bring in their perspectives. Experience shows that it is necessary to have the involvement of (local) governments to build political will, while businesses also need to be part of the conversation. It is important to realise that when working with different stakeholders results will never be perfect and to be aware that there may be power asymmetries between businesses and other stakeholders. It is key to build trusted coalitions and share knowledge. Another challenge is to have a long-term perspective as well as good incentives, which are more than just having a (future) profit and are based on real problems. Finally, there is a need to effectively link multi-stakeholder platforms’ work in (potential) LMIC markets with work in OECD markets. Recommendations: -For MSPs to be effective, both businesses and local communities need to be engaged from the beginning, as well as representatives of the government. All relevant stakeholders are needed to generate a successful initiative, develop incentives for action, and build political will. -MSPs on Responsible Business Conduct should include aspects of certification, standards, verifiability, shared accountability, incentives, living wages, as key ingredients for a multistakeholder approach to be successful. -Co-create new visions and stories about what is “sustainability”. Internalising external costs in prices will also provide new incentives for the farmers directly; while it will be motivational for them to know additional money will be spent on projects (e.g. restoring biodiversity). -Ensure an equitable share of costs and benefits. -Promote access to information for everyone, in particular for people at the beginning of the value chain, by applying, for example, open-source principles. -Improve land governance, by adhering to land tenure rights, including the gender dimension, as a framework. -Bring in the local voices - Focus on the vulnerable (e.g. legal aid) and include the community. Invest in empowering local representatives and other stakeholders, if needed to balance power asymmetries. -Don't shy away from the elephant in the room: the critical perspective, also among friends, is needed for a successful MSP. -Global partnerships and coalitions are needed for scaling up MSPs. -Learn from others, share best practices, and act fast. Crises can create opportunities for multi-stakeholder collaboration. Cases presented: Case 1: True Price of food https://www.nlfoodpartnership.com/documents/223/CSR_case_1-Trueprice.pptx.pdf Case 2: Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil https://rspo.org/about Read less

Roundtable 5: Finance The dialogue started with the presentations about the Agri3 Fund and the case of Cooperative Development in the Chilean Food and Agriculture sector, based on the Dutch diamond approach. Among the challenges identified in this group was that time, effort, and money are usually required but not always available to develop ambitious ideas to start an MSP initiative. Also, a challenge is the different language and corporate culture which different stakeholder groups represent - e.g. bankers vs civil society vs government. Smallholder farmers are too often deemed to not yet be... Read more “relevant” players in food systems and are hence overlooked in policies, sustainable transformation, and finance. Moreover, the difference of power within the multi-stakeholder platforms might hinder the voice of smaller players. This implies that multi-stakeholder initiatives in this domain need to proactively address communication, trust, and alignment challenges, fostering continuous engagement and knowledge sharing. Working with neutral academic and knowledge institutions may help tackle the lack of trust, if applicable. It is also important to build a core team, and a delivery unit. In addition, these initiatives also need to carefully balance and deliver on various development impact domains, including economic, social, and ecological sustainability. This needs a clear vision and a common policy: ‘SMART’ objectives, concrete data, and a delivery model. It also needs investment in resourcing through manpower and funding. Recommendations: -To build a multi-stakeholder platform that incorporates or focuses on finance, it is important to involve specific key stakeholders: commercial banks, who have a local infrastructure; public and private investors; clients (traders, aggregators, producers, farmers), governments (local, global), academic institutions, NGOs. -Clear roles have to be defined, and every stakeholder should have a stake in the MSP governance. -Ensure there is a business case for each of these MSP partners, be it through impact, financial returns, changing practices, and/or others. -Explore innovative financing mechanisms like blended finance, and simultaneously build knowledge and capacity through technical assistance allowing research engagements and sectoral analysis. -MSPs working on finance for SFS should take into account that digitalisation and sustainability are two key trends that are becoming more and more important for involved stakeholders and customers. -Use a local sector approach and/or landscape perspective to present common themes like regulatory improvement or to identify the sustainability agenda, developing research, and finding sustainable business cases. -Share learnings within and beyond the MSP (i.e. with other MSPs and sector actors) to drive further change. -As many organizations tend to work in silos, MSPs may require a change in operating models individually and not only collectively. -Agility and diversity are important too: In changing circumstances, use the capacity of different organizations to create solutions and create value opportunities. Cases presented: Case 1: Agri3 Fund https://www.nlfoodpartnership.com/documents/222/Finance_case_1-Rabobank_Agri3.pptx.pdf Case 2: Cooperative Development in the Chilean Food and Agriculture sector https://www.nlfoodpartnership.com/documents/217/Chilean_use_case_Smallholder_framers_as_part_of_food_chain.pdf Read less

Roundtable 4: Nutrition Improving nutrition security requires a systemic approach, which combines for example creating demand with improving the enabling environment and the supply of nutritious foods. This makes it more complex and is why it is not always easy to deliver outcomes at the level of improved diets (i.e. which are more diverse, safe, healthy, and affordable). But it is also why working through a multistakeholder approach is promising. These were among the findings of a recent evaluation of nutrition PPPs commissioned by the Netherlands Working Group on international Nutrition (NWG... Read moreN), the preliminary outcomes of which were shared during this independent dialogue. The other successful example presented was the Vegetables for All project in Tanzania, an initiative that benefited from the complementarity between its partners: Rijkzwaan, TAHA, Rabobank, World Vegetable Centre, ICCO, WUR, and GAIN, who collaborated in a whole vegetable chain approach from seed to stomach. Currently, some of the instruments used in international cooperation are not (yet) designed to achieve these systemic outcomes or to take such systemic approaches, which may make (potential) coalitions risk-averse and slow down progress. Recommendations: -When developing food and nutrition security initiatives, 'nutrition' should not be considered as a theme to choose, but rather as a topic that needs to be mainstreamed. -Approaches need to be about food AND nutrition security to prevent that it is food OR nutrition security. -Financing and investment for nutrition needs to be enhanced. -National and international donors and impact investors should improve on the conditions of their instruments, i.e. being more explicit on the nutrition outcomes they intend to achieve. -Monitoring and evaluation must pay attention to potential trade-offs that could occur as a result of project selection criteria: some criteria for effectiveness may limit the inclusion of certain farmers or consumers. -It is important to manage expectations of public-private collaboration for nutrition. In some cases, this may imply lowering certain expectations if some are not realistic. -Communication about healthy diets and nutrition with different stakeholders in different parts of the world could benefit from clearer messaging, and from integration as part of broader approaches. Cases presented: Case 1: Evaluation PPPs in Food and Nutrition Security https://www.nlfoodpartnership.com/documents/220/Nutrition_case_2-NWGN_Evaluation_PPPs_in_FNS.pdf Case 2: Vegetables for All project in Tanzania https://www.nlfoodpartnership.com/documents/221/Nutrition_case_1-GAIN-Veg4all.pptx.pdf Read less