Food Systems for a Sustainable Future

02nd June 2016
by secretary

Paepard

31 May – 3 June 2016. Norway. The 8th Trondheim Biodiversity Conference aims to bring together decision-makers and experts from around the globe to discuss interrelationships between the agriculture and biodiversity sectors and how their policies can address shared problems and provide shared solutions for the achievement of mutually supportive and sustainable outcomes.

The Conference is hosted by the Norwegian Government in partnership with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Bank.

Input-intensive crop monocultures and industrial-scale feedlots must be consigned to the past in order to put global food systems onto sustainable footing, according to the world’s foremost experts on food security, agro-ecosystems and nutrition.
The solution is to diversify agriculture and reorient it around ecological practices, whether the starting point is highly-industrialized agriculture or subsistence farming in the world’s poorest countries.

Extract of the programme
SESSION 1 – OPENING SESSION

The role of science in meeting the SDGs – Prof. Dr Gebisa Ejeta, 2009 World Food Prize Laureate

SESSION 3 – IMPERATIVES AND IMPLICATIONS

Session Chair: Prof. Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, CBD SBSTTA National Focal Point, Ghana
Key ecosystem services for food and agriculture – the state of knowledge on pollinators, pollination and food production in the world – Dr Joseph ‘Dino’ Martins Visitacao, Nature Kenya
Ecosystem Services in Smallholder Production Systems in Western Zambia – Dr Natalia Estrada Carmona, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Agricultural biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Bioversity International

SESSION 4 – POLICIES AND INSTITUTIONS

The role of institutions in delivering the dual agenda of conservation and food security: the case of Ethiopia – Dr Gemedo Dalle Tussie, Director General, Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute

SESSION 5 – PLANNING FOR A CHANGING CLIMATE

The role of biodiversity in climatesmart agriculture – Mr Marc Sadler, Global Lead on climatesmart agriculture, World Bank
Linkages between trade, climate change, agriculture and biodiversity conservation – Dr Alexander Kasterine, Head of the Trade and Environment Programme, International Trade Centre

SESSION 7 – PRACTICAL EXAMPLES : panel

Mr Stefan Leiner – Head of the Biodiversity Unit in the European Commission’s Directorate General of Environment
Dr Pedro Arraes – President, State of Goias Agency for Agriculture Research and Extension, Brazil
Ms Lorin Fries – Associate Director, Food Security and Agriculture Initiatives, World Economic Forum
Mr Kit Vaughan – Director, Poverty Environment and Climate Change Network (PECCN), CARE
Ms Lim Li Ching – Senior Researcher, Third World Network and Member, International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food)
Dr Evelyn Nguleka – President, World Farmers Organisation

SESSION 8 – CHANGING PRACTICES

Addressing food waste – the benefits to biodiversity – Ms Margaux Denis, General Directorate for Food, Ministry of Agriculture, Agrifood and Forestry, France
Transformation of food systems – Dr Emile Frison, International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) Member, Former Director General of Bioversity International

SESSION 10 – OUTLOOK 2030

UNEP’s support to countries to integrate biodiversity and ecosystem services into agricultural planning in the context of the SDGs – Ms Mette Løyche Wilkie, Director, Division of Environmental Policy Implementation, UNEP
How UNDP will be supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in the context of sustainable agriculture – Ms Midori Paxton, Head: Ecosystems and Biodiversity Global Environmental Finance Unit UNDP
How FAO will be supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda – Mr Michael T. Clark, Senior Coordinator (Governance and Policy), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Communicating complex biodiversity messages (video message) – Mr Erik Solheim, Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and newly elected Executive Director of UNEP

Related:

2nd June 2016. Launch of the IPES-Food’s first major report: ‘From Uniformity to Diversity: A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems’ and presented by lead author Emile Frison, former Director General of Bioversity International.

Main messages:

Input-intensive crop monocultures and industrial-scale feedlots must be consigned to the past in order to put global food systems onto sustainable footing, according to the world’s foremost experts on food security, agro-ecosystems and nutrition.
The solution is to diversify agriculture and reorient it around ecological practices, whether the starting point is highly-industrialized agriculture or subsistence farming in the world’s poorest countries.

The report asks three key questions:

What are the outcomes of industrial agriculture / diversified agroecological systems?
What is keeping industrial agriculture in place?
How can the balance be shifted?

“Some of the key obstacles to change are about who has the power to set the agenda. The way we define food security and the way we measure success in food systems tend to reflect what industrial agriculture is designed to deliver – not what really matters in terms of building sustainable food systems” Emile Frison

“Many of the problems in food systems are linked specifically to the uniformity at the heart of industrial agriculture, and its reliance on

chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It is not a lack of evidence holding back the agroecological alternative. It is the mismatch between its huge potential to improve outcomes across food systems, and its much smaller potential to generate profits for agribusiness firms.” Olivier De Schutter, co-chair of IPES-Food.

‘This report is on point with its message. Building sustainable food systems needs multiple, diverse pathways. And whether the starting point is highly-industrialised agriculture or subsistence farming in the world’s poorest countries, looking at it from an ecological perspective will help promote solutions that are respectful not only of our environment, but of what we produce, our communities and their livelihoods”. Melissa Leach, IDS director

Read the full report
Read the executive summary
Read the key messages, also available in French and Spanish

Related:

Source: PAEPARD FEED

Food Systems for a Sustainable Future

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