Side events will take place concurrently with the 2020 conference. Click on the title of each event below to see the organizer, program, and contact person.
- Download the one-page schedule of side events
- Download the full list of side event programs
Friday, May 16
Lalibela 3A
Organized by: Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition
Contact person(s): Emmy Simmons and Fran Roberts, Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition
Chair: Emmy Simmons, Global Panel Member
Speakers:
Emmy Simmons, Global Panel Member
Hans Joehr, Global Head of Agriculture, Nestlé
Eric Muraguri, Director, Chicken Choice
Bonnie McClafferty, Director, Agriculture and Nutrition, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)
Bart Minten, Senior Research Fellow, Development Strategy and Governance Division, IFPRI, and Program Leader, Ethiopia Strategy Support Program
Abstract:
This meeting brings together members of the Global Panel and international experts to discuss agriculture and food policy for improved nutrition, and specifically how policies relating to food systems can secure consumers’ expanded and more resilient access to nutritious foods. Policies affecting storage, transport, processing and trade have considerable potential to enable supply chain investments that cushion against shocks to local production. Other policies may be needed to ensure that nutritional quality is also maintained or even improved in diverse, resilient, and healthy diets are to result. We will present examples of such policies and discuss the challenge of policy interventions in food systems for improved resilience.
Lalibela 3B
Organized by: International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA)
Contact person(s): Shoaib Ismail and Ismahane A. Elouafi, ICBA
Chair: Ismahane Elouafi, Director General, ICBA
Speaker: Shawki Barghouti, Consultant, World Bank
Panelists:
Dyno Keatinge, Director General, AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center
Samuel Gameda, Director, Soil Health and Fertility, Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency
Timothy Williams, Director, Africa, IWMI
Moderator: Fiona Chandler, Director International Cooperation and Partnerships, ICBA
Abstract:
Agricultural systems are in a state of transition to meet evolving challenges of global population growth, the degradation and depletion of natural resources, and the impact of climate change. Over the past five decades, modern agriculture and water production technologies and management practices, which produced the Green Revolution, have generally performed well in meeting these challenges. However, the impact of the Green Revolution has been skewed towards the more favorable lands where either rainfall is adequate and/or water supplies for irrigation are assured.
With the growth in world population, estimated to reach 9.3 billion by 2050, increasing pressure is being placed on available food supplies. This is coupled with the increasing urbanization of populations, changes in lifestyles and food preferences, and globalization of markets and technologies for food production. And despite the impressive progress achieved on high potential areas, more than 800 million poor farmers continue to cultivate in marginal areas in many countries, and many eke out subsistence existence on marginal lands, with inadequate financial or capital resources required for the commercialization of agriculture, and creation of off farm employment opportunities.
The reason why marginal lands have not receive adequate attention could be traced to the complex challenges of producing effective packages of relevant policies and technologies suitable to meet their specific deficiencies. However, investment in marginal areas can be smart business. A White paper on the opportunities and challenges of agriculture in marginal environment has been commissioned by the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA).
The paper “Marginal Land Status: Challenges and potential contribution to the World Food and Income Security” provides comprehensive information on physical and socio-economic data along with main typologies of arable lands, marginal lands, fragile lands and degraded lands and the associated demographic and socio-economic data for major regions where these environment types exist. This is accompanied with clear analyses on the economics of using marginal land and water based on case studies where saline and marginal lands have been successfully used for sustaining agricultural production.
The paper makes the case for advancing research and technology development for marginal land as valuable assets for agriculture and the environment. Improving the environmental impacts of agriculture in marginal environments regions involves a complex array of factors and eventually would relate to reducing poverty and food insecurity, and improving livelihoods. This White paper would provide foresight information on different opportunities and potentials to use the marginal environments for playing a major role in water, food and income securities.
Lalibela 3C
Organized by: Global Environment Facility (GEF)
Contact person(s): Mohamed Bakarr, GEF
Chair: Dennis Garrity, UN Drylands Ambassador
Speakers:
Bashir Jama, Director of Soil Health Program, AGRA
Mohamed Bakarr, Senior Environmental Specialist, GEF Secretariat
Mohamed Manssouri, FAO
Eric Patrick, IFAD
Alice Ruhweza, Technical Advisor-Ecosystems and Biodiversity, UNDP
Mohamed Sessay, GEF Portfolio Manager, UNEP
Stephen Danyo, Senior Natural Resources Management Specialist, World Bank
Abstract:
As part of its Sixth Replenishment Phase (2014-2018), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) will pilot an Integrated Approach Program on Sustainability and Resilience for Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa. The program will address the need to safeguard ecosystem services in smallholder agriculture based on the recognition that production practices in these systems, which underpin food security for more than 70% of the population, are largely dependent on assets provided by nature. It will specifically target dryland regions where integration of environmental priorities into smallholder agriculture is crucial for increasing productivity of food crops through sustainable intensification. The Side Event will create opportunity for key stakeholders attending the conference, such as country representatives, GEF Agencies, and development partners, to discuss the proposed program and options that will help streamline GEF financing.
Awash
Organized by: CropLife International and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Contact person(s): Nilar Chit Tun, IFPRI and Deb Carstoiu, CropLife
Panelists:
Mark Rosegrant, Director, Environment and Production Technology Division, IFPRI
Sylvester Oikeh, Water Efficient Maize for Africa Project Manager, African Agricultural Technology Foundation
Richard Jones, Chief of Party for the Scaling Seeds and Technologies Partnership in Africa
Moderator: Ann Tutwiler, Director General, Bioversity International
Abstract:
Food Security in a World of Natural Resource Scarcity, the recently released report from IFPRI identifies the global, regional and national impacts of 11 agricultural technologies on food security and sustainability in 2050. The results find that when technologies are properly targeted, global productivity of staple crops can drastically increase in the face of climate change. Join lead author, Dr. Mark Rosegrant, policymakers, researchers and practitioners to discuss the study and its impact on future food security and climate resilience strategy.
Simien
Organized by: Food Security Information Network (FSIN)
Contact person(s): FSIN Secretariat
Panelists:
Gero Carletto, Lead Economist, World Bank
Dan Maxwell, Professor, Tufts University
Nancy Mock, Associate Professor, Tulane University
John Hoddinott, Deputy Director, Poverty, Health, and Nutrition Division, IFPRI
Jon Kurtz, Director of Research and Learning, Mercy Corps
Co-Chairs: Luca Russo, Senior Economist, FAO and Mark Constas, Chair of the FSIN Resilience Measurement Technical Working Group, and Associate Professor, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University
Abstract:
Resilience measurement for food and nutrition security requires a particular combination of data elements, methodological strategies, and analytical tools. To identify this combination, the FSIN Resilience Measurement Technical Working Group (TWG) has organized its work into five clusters: 1. Shocks and stressors, 2. Multi-level measures, 3. Qualitative and subjective measures, 4. Estimation models and 5. Existing data sets. The session aims to describe how the principles of resilience measurement produced by the TWG have directed the work within clusters. Theoretical underpinnings of resilience measurement will be discussed and challenges of establishing resilience measures that possess both technical integrity and practical utility for use by field practitioners will be considered.
