Promise of the Commons for Sustainable and Equitable Food Systems

The UNFSS Dialogue on Women, Work and Food Systems identified a game-changing solution on Management of commons: Water Management Solutions, Barren Waste Lands, Forest and Grasslands. The commons support food systems through direct production and providing water, fodder, pollination, and other key ecosystem services, as well as important sources of resilience for communities. Yet the commons are under pressure from encroachment and overuse. This side event will present evidence from a new study of the value of ecosystem services from the commons in India, as well as how strengthening governance of the commons can support equitable food systems.

Welcome and opening remarks

• Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute

The Promise of Commons

• Jagdeesh Rao, Anchor and Curator, Promise of Commons Initiative, Foundation for Ecological Security

The Values of the Commons Report on Quantifying Ecosystem Services Provided by Land Commons in India

• Harpinder Sandhu, Senior Lecturer, UniSA STEM, University of South Australia.

Discussants

• Harini Nagendra, Director of Research Center, Azim Premji University
• Insa Theesfeld, Professor of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Policy, Martin Luther Universitat-Halle and President, International Association for the Study of the Commons

Register here