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Policy coherence and institutional coordination in water, food, energy and climate change that operationalize the WEF nexus It has been concluded that there are exist relevant institutions and organizations at the regional and national level who shall consider WEF nexus in their operations. One of such structure at the regional level is considered International Fund for saving the Aral Sea (IFAS). However, IFAS hasn’t fully integrated the full competencies for the sectoral cooperation. This organization shall and can unite different sectors and develop regional WEF nexus programs and initiat... Подробнееives. Setting correctly at the Regional level policy coherence and institutional coordination provides good conditions to move it at the national levels. Participants has also highlighted the role of academic and research institutions who generates knowledge for policy through applied research. There has been also stressed importance of bringing private sector, specifically bilateral interstate projects conducted by private companies or consortia. It was admitted that existing structures, they undergo challenges related to the fact that currently developed plans for the management for the incorporating WEF nexus are merrily of national level and focused on national interest. Regional programs like the program for the basin of the Aral Sea is still rather sectoral and has only limited nexus elements. Also, the problem of the original programs is that they are developed mainly by water and ecology expert without referring to knowledge from other sectors like energy and agriculture. To overcome these challenges there is a need for ranging more regional awareness at the level of decision makers about the need of WEF nexus approaches. Also, there's the need for more knowledge to support the limited available human resources to implement such an approach to develop long term plans. Participants of the session highlighted that currently WEF nexus mainly applied within on-going projects and working groups on WEF nexus also established and promoted by donor supported projects. This donor supported initiatives are not sustainable in the long run and there is a need stronger engagement from Central Asian government representatives and they should feel that outcomes of WEF nexus improve inter-sectoral cooperation and help to develop coordinated policies on WEF nexus at national and regional level in Central Asia. There is a need to create enabling environment, formal and informal platforms to discuss WEF nexus at national and regional level and highlight it’s importance via mass media in a nutshell publicize nexus to maximum extent. Regional and International organizations together with development partners should play important role in this process in upcoming years. It was a highlighted and that's there is a need for systematic capacity building which the participating organizations could offer. Secondly there is a need for platforms for leading discussion on the intergovernmental and multi stakeholder levels where participating institutions interest to facilitate. Скрыть

• Data and Digital Systems In order to advance data and digital systems innovation, there is a need first of all for user-centered innovation – innovation generated from the ordinary man’s needs and then developed by the technical person for the market. This means that at the interim stages of innovation development, the potential users must be involved directly so it is better placed to meet reality and offers a human-centered design. Such innovations must be adapted to the local user’s language, but end users must also have some capacity development to understand the technologies ava... Подробнееilable. Digital SPS tools help move agricultural products along the value chain across borders. Blockchain tools can be useful, for example, in digitalizing seed supply chains. The private sector needs to collaborate as data competition impedes effective collaboration. Data sharing willingness/capacity and interoperability were big impediments – on the part of farming communities adopting these innovations. We must develop continental, regional and country frameworks for agricultural digitalization with a component on internal & external data sharing. Скрыть

• Scientific and Technological Innovation There is a need for “supply chain thinking” in inclusive science and technology innovation. This must go from researchers and innovators all the way to consumers. We need to understand how science and technology impacts labour so that those people affected can be trained to acquire the necessary new skills. Labour, price and access must be taken into consideration when looking at scientific and technological innovation. Cooperation and collaboration is critical. Government, science and industry need to come together and they must engage with the ... Подробнееfarming community to address current issues. Enabling policies and increased funding for national research institutions will enhance output. Private research institutes and foundations should connect to carry out more research in an accountable manner and with all due diligence. Research must be demand-driven. Recognize the importance of establishing platforms with an inclusive atmosphere and a multidisciplinary approach in pre-competitive spaces such as innovation hubs. Stakeholders, such as farmers, students, government representatives, NGOs, and companies, can be brought in early to see the development and potential of innovations which in turn works to build trust among them. Скрыть

• Building National and Regional Innovation Ecosystems There is a need for frameworks that involve policy incentives, smart partnerships, farmer communities especially in the design process of innovations and investment. Financing schemes have to be tri-partite to be measurable and instead of providing funding to individual farmers, cooperatives should be formed and given access to these funds. Blended finance is essential to drive innovation. This would guarantee knowledge and capacity sharing. Also, there is a need to harmonize the risk approval process at national, regional and even globa... Подробнееl levels in order to speed up dissemination of information and not reinvent the regulatory approval wheel each time. Different regulatory bodies must build a level of trust with each other. Bringing together partners at a regional and global level is promising. We can promote the creation of a food “Silicon Valley” which will attract multidisciplinary talent, operate efficiently and promote out-of-the-box thinking. The formation of national and regional innovation hubs will also promote cross-pollination of ideas and technology. These hubs enable active knowledge transfer between researchers, business, government and farmers. Скрыть

• Societal and Institutional Innovations to build leadership and improve scale Multistakeholder partnerships are key. When all stakeholders are engaged, then the incentive structure of different agents is distinct and becomes better discernible. Donor coordination in developing countries is also key, otherwise different donors push different solutions, none of which become possible to take to scale so we must identify locally those projects that would benefit most from being scaled up. Donor coordination in developing countries is also key. Create spaces for transparent dialogues between far... Подробнееmers, consumers and authorities. Consumers need to be educated on the innovations used and the science behind everything to trust the farmers. Systems to provide data for smallholders to allow them to aggregate to sell products and export are also essential. Farm clustering and consolidation through which farmers are encouraged to reduce operation costs and increase incomes. While innovations are often triggered by societal stimulations, governments have a role to play in providing the guarantees and financial safety nets that investors require. Each innovation requires a support structure. Скрыть

• Mitigation against the unintended consequences of data circulation and use, and digital misuse, possibly forms a risk for agricultural producers. • Proposing inclusive digital solutions means first and foremost ensuring that the digital infrastructure is universally accessible. • One size does not fit all. There is a need to respect local needs, capacity, particularly in developing geographies. • Private sector is not viewed as a partner. It can be perceived as too focused on capital or profit whereas anti-profit view is a component of culture, research community, and ecosystems. The... Подробнееse need to be bridged to get effective innovation happening. • Policies can sometimes be the obstacle, not the pace of innovation or willingness of companies to change. Скрыть

• Data and Digital Systems Focus on accessibility and addressing barriers to adoption – cost, communication, skill set, specificity of local and regional context. Investment in broadband infrastructure to bring the technology to those that need it. Need to look at innovation from the lens of underrepresented populations (youth, gender, indigenous populations). A solution – Public investment in rural connectivity and communication platforms. Availability of platforms to disseminate data (smart phones, infrastructure) to food system actions in an efficient manner. We need to address the di... Подробнееgital divide. The poor, disadvantaged communities need access to digitalization – from smart phones to digital devices/smart cards etc that can help them receive market access (e,g, in determining payment for environmental services). • Scientific and Technological Innovation Communication of technology to smallholder farmers calls for improved infrastructure. Application of science is the issue. Issues of language and communication, extension service, field experiments, funding and government support is needed. There needs to be inclusion, active engagement, collaboration, and empowering of the users including youth, women, and local communities/beneficiaries. A need for a Platform that brings different stakeholders together and for broader interactions and transparency in implementing solutions. We need to demystify the sector and the innovation that is happening, allow people to see and understand it. Bring policy-makers to the innovators. • Building National and Regional Innovation Ecosystems There must be a policy environment that enables innovation to come to forefront and government/institutional leadership. The role start-ups play is of great value. For instance, one large multi-national works closely with start-ups on packaging. ‘2good2 go’ aims at opening up food baskets to consumers, help consumers explaining the ‘best before date’ labelling, to reduce food waste. Youth are central to innovation and more programs are needs for students and to inspire youth globally to work in food systems. Shortened value chains are essential. We need to deliver directly to the tables of consumers and educate consumers on locally available products. Innovation is essential to getting Direct to Table. A comprehensive approach to the whole value chain is needed, in order to guide the consumers to the choices, and also link it to the social protection programmes in order not to leave anyone behind. Lack of capacity, both in companies but also within overnments, is a problem. There is a need for a more catalytic change for food testing, food marketing etc. We need to have all that in the countries, especially, low income countries. The need for intensifying of public and private partnerships to put forward the agenda through investment across multiple areas and aspects and innovating the ways where the investment is redirected, e.g. packaging etc. is needed. The investments of governments in healthcare is difficult to change, but momentum is needed in order to shift the focus to “health for care” instead of “healthcare", as food is really impacting the health of the population. • Societal and Institutional Innovations to build Leadership and Improve Scale Learning and sharing best practices will contribute to scalability. Regional Economic Commissions have a role and should be doing more. We need to discuss issues of other key sectors: livestock, fisheries, forestry. Also there is a need for interconnection among all the components and at all levels Скрыть

Innovation has been identified as a cross cutting lever of change for the Food Systems Summit. Communities of interest were grouped around the following during the dialogue: • Carbon pricing & measuring • Precision agriculture • Renewables • Food loss and waste • Oceans/Horticulture/Livestock/Agroforestry/Crops • Nutrition • Access to Market, especially for SMEs • Innovative food product development Some challenges explored include: • Scaling the technology adoption curve especially on last mile delivery for farmers and consumers, to positively impact food systems. • Bu... Подробнееilding innovation ecosystems to incentivize, adapt and scale opportunities to enable food systems transformation, bring about systemic unlocks and mitigate against unintended consequences. • Supporting the growth of business innovation to meet the needs of different types of stakeholders and lead to food systems transformation The key issues which kept resurfacing were: • Data sharing and transparency: In order to avoid duplication of systems and data, data-sharing should be encouraged. Systems should also be transparent so as to build trust especially among farmer communities. Data interoperability is imperative. • Infrastructure: More investment in communication infrastructure is needed so no one is left behind. • Innovation hubs: Public and private sectors need to create an enabling ecosystem for innovation to thrive. • Policies: Governments and regional organisations need to set up innovation policies which will serve as catalysts and frameworks for innovative technology • Collaboration: Innovators must work with the players on the ground who would use the technology, such as farmers or consumers, during the innovation process. This will help innovations meet real needs as well as guide innovators on how to make it user-friendly. Скрыть

Breakout Room 1: There were no substantial differences in participants’ perspectives on the provided solutions. However, each participant provided his/her insight from his/her background. Participants working in academic institutions provided research-based solutions, while the approach by private sector participants sought to contribute to water security via encouraging sustainable development projects. Participants working in agriculture related institutions felt that the role of NGOs and private sector companies should be more dynamic as they have different exposure and approaches than th... Подробнееe government, thus increasing the potential for outreach of these projects. Breakout Room 2: While there was overall agreement on the potential of institutional coordination and policy coherence to jointly improve water and food security; there was a small debate on the sidelines regarding the possibility to use economic instruments, such as informal or formal trading of water use rights in Egypt, and on the possibility of paying farmers for using less water; with the idea possibly related to trading savings, i.e. water allocated but not needed within a season or sub-season, within a permit. There were also questions regarding the water-intensive crops that are currently irrigated in Egypt, including rice in the Delta and sugarcane. Should these crops be continued, noting an entire industry is connected to that? Can agronomic practices and yet more advanced seed technologies reduce water use of these crops? Or should they be stopped to push back against growing water scarcity and accelerate a stronger nutrition focus of national crop production? Breakout Room 3: Participants felt that considering social aspects of water solutions would make them more effective than solutions that only consider technological solutions. This would involve improving social cohesion and recognizing the importance of community and cross-sectoral participation in policymaking and decision-making processes. Some participants also highlighted the importance of actions at the farmer-level and case-specific solutions in addition to technological innovations to create small-scale successful cases that can then be streamlined. All participants recognized the inequity in access to information and finance at the farm level. Some participants also argued that rural communities are already very cohesive and make decisions collectively, with capacity building enhancing better collaboration. The majority of the participants agreed that both an enhanced connection between government bodies and decision-makers as well as joint ventures could contribute to better land management and by extension, water security and productivity. This could also decrease food waste along the crop production system. A slight area of divergence was also apparent among participants in identifying challenges to implementing solutions, with some of the opinion that funding is the main challenges while others – particularly the private sector – highlighted farmers’ lack of land ownership guarantees as a key challenge to advancement. Breakout Room 4: Climate-smart interventions are a broad topic and not much divergence was observed among participants. In general, the participants supported resilient farming solutions and discussed water productivity issues exacerbated by subsidies and divergence from the real cost to farmers under climate change. Participants also agreed that technology is not always the ultimate solution, with transformation of cultivation practices and organic agriculture also being important. While different solutions exist for similar challenges, a sole focus on technologies may cause problems in other areas. Incorporating agroecological zoning in resource planning for suitable cropping specific to soil and climate in the agricultural land was also put forward as important to incorporate. Breakout Room 5: Participants generally agreed on the following: • The need for capacity building in digital agriculture literacy amongst users of digital solutions. • Identifying end-users’ needs and the necessary data to improve their practices and decision-making support. Breakout Room 6: There was a discussion between participants about changing crop pattern regarding switching from water intensive crops like Sugarcane to others less intensive like Horticulture. Participant noted that a large industry (more than 20 firms) was connected to sugarcane production, suggesting the crop has a high economic value even though it uses a lot of water. Replacing sugarcane would require further studying and detailed analysis of its social and economic impacts. Скрыть

Water scarcity remains a key challenge for agricultural development in the MENA region, including Egypt. Scarcity is rapidly growing as a result of climate change and rapid increases in water demand for non-irrigation other uses. Considering that Egypt’s agri-food system provided critical cushioning for economic growth, jobs, and household income negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is paramount that more consideration is given to the important role of water security for Egypt’s food systems. With agriculture utilizing over 80% of Egypt’s water resources, meeting these challe... Подробнееnges will require bold actions and new mindsets directed at water and food systems transformations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The Independent Dialogue was convened in partnership between the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) to discuss the role of Water Security for Food Systems Transformation in Egypt. Insights emerging from this multi-stakeholder dialogue will be presented to contribute to the United Nations Food System Summit (UNFSS) in September 2021. Transforming #foodsystems is among the most powerful ways to make progress towards all 17 #SDGS. The dialogue discussed the importance of water security for all aspects of Egypt’s food systems, with a focus on equity, inclusion, capacity, innovation and sustainability, including insights on how food systems need to change to improve water security (SDG 6), help eliminate hunger (SGD2), support energy security (SDG 7), improve climate adaptation and mitigation (SDG 13) and help retain all Life on land (SDG 15). This pre-UNFSS2021 session therefore sought to unpack the question: What is the role of water in transforming Egypt’s food systems for improved water and food security and environmental sustainability? Speakers and panelists from Egypt and beyond engaged in interactive group discussions, collective brainstorming, and agenda-setting. As Egypt and the MENA region map out the road to UNFSS 2021, the dialogue discussed key messages that need to be heard at UNFSS 2021. Скрыть

Egypt is a perfect case for the interconnectedness of water and food systems, not only because the country has one of the world’s oldest civilizations built on irrigation, but also because water and food security are the largest development challenges the country is facing. Moreover, Egypt has multiple good practices, success stories and bright spots of using water for food system transformations. At the same time, Egypt is directly affected by climate change with hotter temperatures, and increased crop water demand, as well as heat stress affecting farmers, agricultural workers as well as l... Подробнееivestock. One of the largest challenges that the participants noted is that while both water and food security are on top of Egypt’s agenda water security and food security are two sectors in silos. A key recommendation noted by participants is to bring the two sectors together and to put farmers and their communities at the heart of any reform. Several private-sector firms are engaged in optimizing Egypt’s irrigation water use; this includes irrigation in the New Lands that use high-end center-pivot systems. Given growing water shortages in the country—using water more sustainably and further optimizing irrigation water use were recommendations that permeated all breakout room sessions. While the private sector is active in Egypt’s water and food sectors, it was noted that regulations and incentive structures affecting the private sector would benefit from further review. Given Egypt’s diverse agricultural ecologies, including the Nile Delta, the New Lands, the old lands, upstream and downstream areas, more targeted agricultural water use investments were recommended. Based on more targeted interventions, these can be scaled up and further promoted, such as the value chain approach used in Nubaria’s new lands which has been sustained for more than 10 year. The participants agreed that more effort is needed to invest in water-saving technologies and support farmers in the application of such technologies. The example of farmers in Indonesia shifting from flood to drip irrigation was mentioned. Use of digital tools—to improve irrigation scheduling—and support to extension services by connecting them to the research community to ensure a more steady flow of innovation from research to farmers and from farmers to researchers was also recommended. It was noted that additional incentives might be required, including smart subsidies, to support farmers in adopting new technologies that would support both water and food security outcomes. The potential of land consolidation, of running canals like utilities, and of paying farmers for using less irrigation water were all discussed and it was agreed that more studies and pilots are needed in this area. In addition to the suggestion to investing in improved seeds, there were also discussions if Egypt should possibly reduce production of rice and sugarcane, which are both water intensive. Finally, there is a need for improved policy coherence and institutional decentralization in addition to making more services available to farmers in terms of finance, digital tools, direct support to farmers. Other issues that need to be considered for achieving increased water security while transforming food systems include improved access to energy for food processing and storage. This can also improve nutritional outcomes. Participants suggested that reducing both water and food losses for key food value chains could save one third of total resources currently used to produce food commodities and could thus strengthen food and security in Egypt. This would require innovation in access to finance and insurance for farmers with only small plots of land or those who do not own any land, as well as access to technology and investment in bringing the technology to farmers. Finally, participants also noted that consumers need to understand the value of water and how climate change may jeopardize water security. Raising awareness of consumers of the water embedded in the food they consume may encourage shifts in consumer behavior and mentality toward more sustainable food consumption patterns. Policy makers should highlight and incorporate the importance of this issue across the educational system to encourage all age-groups and generations to consider the role of food consumption for water security. Скрыть

Breakout Room 1: Food and Water Systems in a Changing Climate What actions in the next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? • Consumer Behavior: Consumers need to understand the value of water and how climate change may jeopardize water security. Raising awareness may encourage shifts in consumer behavior and mentality toward more sustainable food consumption patterns. Policy makers should highlight and incorporate this issue across the educational system to encourage all age-groups and generations to consider food consumption’s role for water security. • Diversifyi... Подробнееng Water Sources: Egypt should proactively diversify its sources of irrigation water (e.g. wastewater and desert aquifers) while shifting to smart water-use solutions. • Evidence-Based Decision-Making: Better linking decision makers and academic efforts to encourage strategic changes towards more sustainability-minded initiatives and innovative technologies (e.g. neo-greenhouses incorporating aquaculture and integrated farming). • Water markets may incentivize lower water use amongst users and distinguish between water prices for irrigation use versus household use. Employing incentive mechanisms embedded in water markets can encourage sustainable investor and consumer behavior leading to reallocation of water sources across different sectors (e.g. agriculture, manufacturing, and public water supply). Also, strengthening regulations to reduce wasteful water use and to boost water-saving technologies. • Irrigation patterns play a crucial role, with some crops requiring more water like rice, mangoes and avocadoes. Changing the existing crop mix could lower water-use. • Trade of Agricultural Products: Importing water intensive products and exporting less water intensive commodities could be one solution to reduce local water use. What contributions will you or your organization make and why does this matter? • Academic Institutions may introduce curriculum modules focusing on sustainable development, organic agriculture, water-use efficiency and sustainability in engineering and social sciences as well as methodologies and case studies more relevant to Egypt with suitable practices and technologies. • Private Companies may focus on knowledge and technology transfer where currently inaccessible. Encouraging corporate social responsibility departments to direct projects towards sustainable development (e.g. greenhouses’ potential to save 70%-90% of water consumption), and relaying the potential for the projects to them, may contribute to this effort. • Education and raising awareness on the individual and community levels and mainstreaming elements to be applied on a day to day basis. For example, introducing urban gardening through hydroponic rooftop kits. • Promoting funding for climate and environmentally friendly projects and proposing such projects to ministries and governments to start applying these interventions. • Agriculture institutions working on soil and water management can promote farmers’ adoption of new technological methodologies (e.g. use of saline water and recycling wastewater for irrigation) to avoid soil erosion and reduce freshwater consumption. This can be accelerated through using extension systems via NGOs and the private sector. • Each individual is also responsible to change their own behavior to avoid food waste, because consumption patterns at the individual level affect the aggregate level. • Water saving interventions are needed to help promote social norms around water conservation at both the household and public levels. Скрыть

Breakout Room 2: Policy Coherence and Institutional Coordination Across Water and Food Security in Egypt What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? Discussants came up with various solutions and strategies to support water security in Egypt over the next three years. It was suggested that better coordination within and increased authority of existing inter-ministerial committees would be more efficient than building new structures from scratch. A discussant mentioned that in some cases committees had a very well-established development plan that was affecte... Подробнееd by the lack of coordination between ministries and agencies. More financial autonomy and stronger empowerment of these committees would help strengthen joint progress of water security and food systems transformation. Decentralization of natural resources would stimulate the engagement of the private sector which would eventually contribute to constructing a more sustainable development path hand-in-hand with government. Strengthened bottom-up planning can also support existing top-down planning efforts. Participants also noted that there were strong mutual linkages between water and food security goals in joint projects on the ground, but that these joint goals could not be maintained at higher levels of authority. Discussants also shared some pilot ideas such as 1) managing canal systems as public utilities, 2) supporting land consolidation for increased resource use efficiencies; and 3) awareness raising on growing water scarcities; 4) better targeting of water (and food security) interventions based on agro-ecological conditions (i.e. agroecological zoning); 5) communication of success stories on water and food security in Egypt—given that Egypt has achieved the highest crop yields across all African countries. Such success stories could help guide and inspire other countries in the region. Moreover, most of the discussants agreed on the following: • Institutions need a more efficient coordination to optimize water and food security goals. • Farmers need to be better engaged in any development plan through stronger communication with water and agricultural agencies regarding the challenges that they face and the untapped opportunities that governments should seek to help improve farmers’ welfare. • Capacity building for ministerial committees is an essential aspect that was highlighted by discussants from various backgrounds. What contributions will you or your organisation make and why does this matter? • Collaboration with the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation and the Ministry of Agriculture on joint dialogues, building technical capacity and negotiation skills for engineers in these agencies. Improved communication and negotiation skills are considered critical for improved water and food security. • Collecting more data that describe how water and food security interact at farm level in Egypt • A participating journal editor suggested further publishing Egypt’s success stories and welcomes submissions. • International Financial Institutions offered to provide significant support to generate evidence on successful water sector reforms in Egypt. • PhD students participating in the session noted the importance and willingness to develop more actionable science on joint water and food security. Скрыть

Breakout Room 3: Equity Consideration in Access to Affordable Water and Food What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? • More focus should be given to social and economic actions as compared to a technical action-focus. Participants noted that it was important for decisionmakers to work more closely with society to feed into decisions, recognizing social actors’ voices and participation in solution design and decision-making. • Encouraging cross-sectorial policy and decision-making processes that involve the water-food nexus approach. • Targeting r... Подробнееesearch to understand the needs of the community and collect data on the most important actions and interventions including co-designed-and informed decision tools. • Employing a water systems approaches for food transformation including water governance analysis to support demand management. • Defining vulnerable groups, including women, through vulnerability assessments and offering financial support and access to investment as well as information. • Developing case-specific solutions and incentives for farmers to encourage implementation of climate-oriented action. • Gather on-the-ground data and information related to water scarcity and develop relevant tools. • Increasing community awareness about the impact of climate change and their contribution to mitigation. • Implementing small scale projects on-the-ground to represent success stories which can be mainstreamed on a larger scale. • Applying cost-benefit analysis and feasibility studies to ensure profitability for stakeholders that are directly affiliated with the projects to be implemented. • Increasing water availability through decreasing waste along the process of the crop production. • Increasing research on crops that require less water or that are heat tolerant. • Encouraging collective operation of fragmented lands through farmer joint ventures for sustainable use of available resources. • Building the capacity of farmers in the old lands for crop selection, utilization of user-friendly technologies and land management. • Raising farmers’ awareness of the effect of their water consumption on neighboring farms. • Connecting communities with decision makers to ensure their involvement in the policy making processes. • Considering altering policies to guarantee and protect land ownership for farmers What contributions will you or your organisation make and why does this matter? • Raising awareness of rural communities on the impact of the climate change. Applying financing solutions such as 50/50 loans. • Raising awareness of farmers on the effect of water consumption on their neighboring land. • Involving the community in all sustainability projects implemented on-the-ground to guarantee that their input will be taken into consideration and raise their own awareness on climate change impacts • Creating new food safety agency with a new food safety index for Africa • Raising awareness of the famers on water saving technologies and using ICT solutions on-farm, such as the IRWI application which informs farmers how much water is needed and when based on crop, soil and irrigation types, water pumping, energy, planting time, etc. • Scaling up innovation for Water and Energy for Food (WE4F) through the MENA Regional Innovation Hub to produce more nutritious food with less water and energy • Building and strengthening the capacity of governmental and non-governmental organisations on water governance in the MENA region, including Egypt. Скрыть

Breakout Room 4: Climate Smart Interventions for Agri-food Transformation in Egypt What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? It is evident that climate smart interventions in Egypt will set a benchmark, regionally, for achieving climate smartness in water productivity within the agriculture sector. It was unanimously accepted that the changing climate has drastically perturbed the sustainability of Egypt’s agricultural production capacities through unsustainable water use and offshoot problems such as land degradation and salinity. Mentioned key priority... Подробнее actions for achieving water security and agri-food transformations in the next three years included: • Promoting organic practices as sustainable food production practices and a route to reduced land degradation, and climate resilience. • Shifting consumer preferences towards climate-smart foods and transforming crop cultivating ways (e.g. creating awareness about climate smartness to end-users thereby creating an economic context for farmers to produce climate smart crops/livestock). • Using low-cost technologies in climate smart irrigation and on-farm water management practices. • Reducing dependence on high water consuming crops systems like rice, potato, sugarcane, etc. and transforming the cropping system according to local conditions. • Engaging communities and civil society in implementing climate smart interventions at all scales (farmstead to policy development). • Inclusion of agroecological zoning in large scale projects and masterplans of water and land use structures to identify location specific package of practices and suitable cropping patterns. • Use of climate smart crops (heat, water and salinity tolerant crop varieties) and scaling up using an efficient seed system. While extension services in Egypt are not very powerful, digital extension services should be promoted to help farmers in systems transformation. Farmers have benefited from longstanding energy and fertilizer subsidies for production making transformation a challenge for farmers. Digital tools, civil society involvement, new policies on infrastructure and capacity development could be impactful in Egypt in the next few years. What contributions will you or your organisation make and why does this matter? Organizations are mainly working towards agri-food system sustainability through: • Implementing large location-specific climate smart infrastructure development projects with an agroecological zoning perspective. • Enhancing climate resilience for small farmers through distribution of drought tolerant seeds and crop varieties. • Counselling and creating awareness on transforming diesel related energy sources into solar energy technologies. • Investing in precise estimations of crop evapotranspiration and developing algorithms to recommend regional irrigation needs. • Providing agroecological zoning for suitable cropping system water-land use resource plans • Working on land reclamation projects through organic farming • Use of agronomic technologies like mechanized seeds and Climate Smart-Solar technologies are key interventions, which should be considered in future. Скрыть

Breakout Room 5: Digital Solutions for Agri-Food Transformation in Egypt What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? • There is a strong potential for digital solutions due to government digitization efforts and the provision of more services in a digital form, especially as COVID-19 pushed everyone, even farmers, to change toward digitalization. • When we are speaking of digital agriculture and including farmers in value chains, efforts towards digital agriculture literacy need to be applied at both ends of the value chain. • Enhancing internet covera... Подробнееge and providing affordable smartphones are essential for digital inclusion amongst rural communities and farmers. • Work more closely with financial institutions for a closer link between various financial structures and agriculture. • Avoiding working in silos and creating synergies between and across the many initiatives already underway by various organizations, and across disciplines and platforms while maintaining individuality and personality. Tools and applications for agriculture are available, many with similar targets. • Fill the data gap between research and technology. • Distributing the benefits of new technologies across to smallholder farmers in Egypt. Much like in India, there is land fragmentation and small land holding sizes in Egypt. This affects farmers who may not have enough capital to invest in their farms and use new technologies. • Empower farmers, as the end-users, and provide them with the knowledge for making their own decisions. What contributions will you or your organisation make and why does this matter? • Developing agricultural applications for extension services linkages to provide online marketing facilities and business matchmaking. • Working on developing tools and applications, as a one-stop shop for farmers and companies to access more information and build trust, and willingness to work together. • Land fragmentation and small land-holding size make it difficult to use optical satellite images with coarse grid resolution for crop mapping, using machine learning algorithms. Instead, crop type mapping using SAR radar technology will be a game changer in identifying cropping areas and non-cropping areas. • Developing an innovation platform related to water and food ecosystems, which offers a two-way medium of communication between farmers and scientists. Скрыть

Breakout Room 6: Food Systems Changes for Improved Water Security What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion Topic? • Water conservation and reduced water use in agriculture will be essential while minimizing water waste via flood irrigation methods. • Adopting modern irrigation techniques such as drip or sprinkler irrigation. • Measuring soil moisture levels to maintain healthy crops without excess irrigation will increase productivity. • Phasing out of water intensive crops (like sugarcane) and switch to horticultural agriculture • Developing farmer ca... Подробнееpacity to use improved irrigation systems, mobile applications and digitizing of the sector. • Providing incentives for farmers and Water Users Associations to conserve water. • Improving extension services in both water and agricultural sector. • Increasing involvement of the private sector in the agricultural system. • Empowering women in the agricultural system. • Crop changes with economic water productivity in mind especially for farmers. • Planting large agricultural lands with the same crop to conserve agricultural inputs What contributions will you or your organisation make and why does this matter? • Inserting sensors in the soil to monitor crop health and soil moisture and provide irrigation scheduling to reduce irrigation water. • Gated irrigation as a replacement for drip irrigation, which may be too expensive for small farmers, assist them to switch from sugarcane to horticultural crops (herbs and spices). • Developing an action plan from the Arab Water Strategy promoting IWRM and water governance. • Capacity building of farmers and water professionals • Investing in post harvesting infrastructure- multi-system water (fishing – agriculture). • Promoting water energy food nexus integration through pilot projects. • Assessing how water security and food self-sufficiency are connected. • Irrigation, by farmers, at night to reduce evaporation losses. • Promoting and supporting water-energy-food nexus innovators by scaling up and out their solutions to produce more food with less water and energy through the MENA Regional Innovation Hub. • Promoting and introducing irrigation technologies to farmers to achieving water saving and account for that through water accounting and governance. Скрыть

Key challenges: Participants highlighted the silo approach as an important challenge. These exist not only across ministries and regions, where competing priorities exist, but also within organizations, where deeply embedded silos lead to inertia and contradicting priorities. This can exacerbate a lack of coherence between government institutions, regions, and when applying for funding from donors and development banks. Water, energy, and food security is necessarily cross-cutting, and requires an integrated, systems approach to navigate through trade-offs and competing industries that exist, ... Подробнееand to leverage positive interlinkages and ways to make the WEF nexus more functional. Still, this may not be sufficient to overcome supra-institutional issues, such as budget allocations, which are typically allocated by departmental needs and priorities, and not shared strategic visions. This can slow effective cooperation. A lack of political will and direction is also seen as a large coordination issue. The WEF nexus requires institutional buy in that requires ministries to work together, and often requires direction from the highest level of government. This is especially important when dealing with different spheres of governance, but also on trans-boundary issues. Although political commitment exists, the focus has typically been on the policy, governance, and academic aspects, with little attention paid to the transition to demonstration projects, related monitoring and evaluation, participation of communities, and how to effectively scale successful demonstration projects. A loss of momentum was highlighted as a challenge. Good policies and strategies tend to only last as long as they are interesting, and resilient to new priorities. Results often take longer than five years to emerge, and it is thus important to be flexible, reassess new challenges, and changes that respond to them. Political stability, and the institutionalization of the WEF nexus, are necessary to remain sustainable and endure political terms of office. Other challenges highlighted included the need for information and data sharing. Opportunities: Participants noted that there are opportunities for clear policy guidelines, allowing for regional protocols to find meaning in national policy and strategy. Also, through the SADC nexus framework, broad political commitment can be secured. Information sharing was highlighted as a strong entry point for improved coordination, especially to address conflicts of priority. A common problem is that the policy environment is not well understood by all stakeholders. Thus, at implementation, opportunities to collaborate and improve program design are missed. The SADC regional knowledge hub presents an opportunity to overcome this, by providing a platform to highlight and map different policies, which sectors they impact, and where opportunities for collaboration exist. Regional coordination, alongside the systems approach, can help avoid issues of inward looking policies that may be detrimental to a country in the long-run. During crises, countries tend to close up, and focus on energy and food self-sufficiency. Due to a lack of endowments in water and resources, and without innovative strategies to overcome these constraints, countries might not be able to sustain visions of self-sufficiency. Financiers are an important enabling stakeholder. They can play a role in sharing lessons learned, coordinate and share information across a range of institutions, and help facilitate discussions around joint investments. Скрыть

Advancing technical WEF models, tools and frameworks for decision making at multiple scales: What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion topic? Deliberate efforts at the national scale are needed e.g. through joint sector planning initiatives that break down siloes and optimize resource allocation. Developing policy and institutional supporting arrangements that can connect different scale models to achieve impact. This could be a step towards bridging the science policy gap Sensitising model development to local needs through the intentional development of useful ... Подробнееmodels. Among the variety of models with wide ranging applications in the WEF nexus, local level models with short time scale/horizons have exhibited some success e.g. climate forecasting for local small scale farmers linked to smartphone applications and improved agricultural productivity. Similarly, drought forecasting models at national scale have also achieved some level of practical impact. Of importance is to ensure that models highlight the economic benefit and practical usefulness both for local communities and national planning. Linking funding models to WEF nexus model development in response to where there is greatest need and best business case e.g. waste to energy scenarios Integrating a diversity of disciplines on the WEF nexus would enrich models in developing appropriate scenarios that affect specific users. How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? 1. When models are applied and yield practical impact for specific users e.g. farmers, policy makers through a needs based, negotiated, context specific and consultative process. What contributions will our organizations make? 1. Applied research that supports the development of models and tools which can respond to local needs and broader national policies Скрыть

Putting nature back in the WEF nexus: towards resilient food landscapes What actions in next 3 years will have greatest impact on the Discussion topic? The starting point to this conversation is to first acknowledge that the WEF nexus is reliant on nature in almost all aspects and an overarching theme is to increase the protection of nature not just for the sake of nature but also for the sake of people and industries. Therefore, it is suggested that in the next few years a starting point for enhancing the living systems that support our societies and economies can be the restoration, protecti... Подробнееon, and prioritization of ecosystems and their services, such as the conservation of major water resource areas. The benefits of protecting nature are tangible to people through improved water, energy and food security. In addition to this starting point, it was noted that nature can teach us a lot. Especially when it comes to food production and consumption systems, we can learn a lot from nature in terms of circular economies, reducing waste, and increasing nutritional value. A short-term action would therefore be to implement integrated WEF systems that mirror the efficiency and circularity of nature’s systems. Another important aspect that was identified to be key to conserving nature in the WEF nexus is behaviour change. Behaviour change is needed on two fronts, i.e. both the behaviour of producers and that of consumers should be considered, scrutinised, and changed to enhance the protection of nature in WEF systems. Achieving such changes usually requires incentives for actors to implement change, especially financial incentives. Understanding incentive structures and cross-scale impacts requires further investigation. In addition, governance and policies are important tools that can be utilised to change behaviour and put nature into the WEF nexus. Key areas for action and research over the coming years are therefore incentives and policies that target behaviour change. However, it is also important to think through potential trade-offs. Balancing food production and nature conservation may result in trade-offs, and these could occur at different scales. On the other hand, we need to move beyond the false dichotomy of either prioritizing conservation OR food production – we can and should do both. The planetary boundaries can be used to guide us in more effective use of land and water in food production, which should not immediately be associated with higher levels of industrialisation. Therefore, a short-term goal should be to explore alternative effective/more optimal uses of water and land than just agricultural intensification. How will it be possible to tell if these actions are being successful? The planetary boundaries can be used as a measure to determine the effectiveness of implementation plans. Behaviour of consumers and producers can indicate the effectiveness of strategies and policies. Another measure could be the change in policies in various countries and industries, such as changes in the food consumption industry influencing and driving change in the food production industry. What contributions will our organisations make? A point was raised that conservation organizations need to do a better job of clarifying and promoting the fundamental importance of nature in WEF systems. Often the focus is on climate change and similar (more technical) issues, so the message that we are wholly dependent on our natural systems can get lost. It is important to promote the idea of interconnected and complex WEF systems. Скрыть