So how is the development community
responding to the crisis facing smallholder farmers in the developing world
relating to climate change while also dealing with the biodiversity crisis?
Among other projects run by The Global Environment
Facility (GEF), it has funded the Integrated Approach Pilot programme which
commits US$110 million to helping farmers in Africa foster sustainability and resilience for food security, while also promoting
programme level biodiversity objectives to conserve ecosystems that are
habitats of globally significant biodiversity. This initiative and others
involve a number of UN agencies including FAO, UNDP, UNIDO, UNEP plus the World Bank and CI.
IFAD, the
leading agency on the Food Security Integrated Programme, targets
agro-ecological systems where the need to enhance food security is linked directly
to opportunities for generating global environmental benefits. The programme
aims to promote the sustainable management and resilience of ecosystems and
their different services (land, water, biodiversity, forests) as a means to address food
insecurity.
At the same
time, it will safeguard the long-term productive potential of critical food
systems in response to changing human needs. The Food Security Integrated
Programme will be firmly anchored by local, national and regional policy
frameworks that will enable more sustainable and more resilient production
systems and approaches to be scaled up across the targeted geographies.
IFAD’s
Director of Climate and Environment, Margarita Astralaga, moderated the event,
giving some opening remarks and introducing the panel.
Matthias
Halwart, Senior Programme Officer at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) gave a presentation on some good examples of interventions that he
believed should be scaled up.
“How do we
see sustainable intensification?" said Halwart. "Achieving food
security is at the heart of FAOs effort, striving for a world free of hunger.”
He also
talked about the huge number of species that live in the waters of rice paddies
and how these ecosystems are important.
"Save
and grow works well together, zero pesticide use, leads to huge returns.”
He concluded
by saying how up-scaling of all ideas, through programmes like IAP, are both
possible and necessary.
The GEF's Mohamed
Bakarr, Senior Environmental Specialist asked why The GEF considersscaling up is important.
“The forces
of change that countries are experiencing are far greater now than ever before," said Bakarr. "There is a clear need to help countries harness what nature
offers and still allow them to produce the food their countries need to feed
growing populations.”
He talked of
the biological heritage in Africa, the unique biodiversity that we cannot
allow to be sacrificed. He spoke of experience gleaned from the Asian green
revolution - that intensification not done sustainably can lead to water
problems 40 years down the line.
Margarita Astralaga
spoke to IFAD's role in the new IAP.
“IFAD is leading
the IAP on food security," said Astralaga. "Concentrating on how,
through management of resources, sub-Saharan Africa will be food secure.
Climate change is also a huge threat in these places, which is why we are
aligning food security work with climate change. It is a huge task, which is
why for the first time, seven large development agencies are working together.
We expect to bring 10 million hectares under sustainable management, with an
increase of 15 per cent in genetic diversity while at the same time
sequestering 10 million tons of greenhouse gasses.”
”57 countries have been involved in UNEP-GEF supported projects on mainstreaming agro-biodiversity in the agriculture sector. We want to tailor this knowledge into the IAP, mainstreaming biodiversity practices along the way,” said UNEP's Marieta Sakalian.
“We need a
new integrated approach to achieve resilience and sustainability in food
production - we need to incorporate the value of ecosystems into value chains,”
said
UNDP's Midori
Paxton.
The panel
were asked a range of questions, one of which was; how they are building on
indigenous knowledge?
It was noted
that most agroecological practices are derived, and there is a loss of
indigenous knowledge worldwide.
"We need to ensure that traditional knowledge is preserved, and the GEF Food Security Integrated programme includes a focus on preserving genetic diversity and traditional knowledge,” said Bakarr.
“Indigenous
knowledge has to be fully taken into account - it is all about working with the
people," said Halwart. "We are trying to achieve this with our Farmer
Field Schools where we don’t go to impose our knowledge but we go to learn with them.”
Another
audience question was about the panels opinions on biotechnology, a divisive
issue at CBD.
“Participatory breeding is what farmers want - and it is what they have practiced for hundreds of years; it should not be confused with a foreign technology being imposed on them," said Bakarr.
"GMOs are driven by the private sector, not by smallholder farmers."
"Farmers
are doing amazing transformations on their farms through participatory breeding. We need to reconcile
smallholder knowledge and practices with conventional approaches for increasing food production. We can’t sacrifice
biodiversity in striving for more food.”
“There are a
large range, and many can be useful," Halwart added. "Plants with
resistances and animal vaccines - these are good. Obviously there are many applications."
"But by
simply mixing rice paddies with fisheries we have seen yields increase by three
tonnes per hectare. That’s amazing. Biotech doesn’t achieve these levels, so we
have better options I feel."
IFAD's
Astralaga closed the session by saying, “access to finance is obviously a key
element for smallholders. However, there is also an issue with the way they are
approached with help. We aim to empower. We find it is better bringing farmers
to teach farmers. This is the best way, as they can relate to each other better,
and also they have knowledge we could never have without being in their shoes.”
