The CGIAR Development Dialogues 2014
The CGIAR Development Dialogues 2014 Delivering solutions to realize the Sustainable Development Goals and Global Climate Agenda The first CGIAR Development Dialogues will focus global attention on the vital role of research on agriculture, livestock, forestry, fisheries, landscapes, and food systems in achieving sustainable development. The event will take place on 25 September 2014 in New York City at the Faculty House at Columbia University, alongside the UN General Assembly (UNGA), the inaugural meeting of the High-‐level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, and the UN Climate Summit. A by-‐invitation-‐only audience of circa 250 will attend. Thousands more will be included online through live webcasting and social media channels. Background The year 2014 marks an historic opportunity to communicate the importance of research on sustainable agriculture to stakeholders involved in the climate change and development policy processes. In Paris in December 2015, the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 21) will seek to agree on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. In September of the same year, the UN hopes to forge a consensus and agreement on the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and accompanying targets, in what UN Secretary-‐General Ban Ki-‐moon has termed the post-‐2015 development framework and agenda. These two processes will in essence define the global development path of donors, civil society, and policymakers in the coming decades. Shaping, delivering, and monitoring the targets set by these agreements will require not only new funding commitments but also the latest knowledge and innovations from the global research and academic communities, in partnership with governments, civil society, and the private sector. To lay the foundation for these agreements, from 16 to 29 September 2014, thousands of influential stakeholders — heads of state; government delegates; business, civil society, community leaders; and global media — will gather for two key UN events in New York: the Climate Summit and the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly. The aim of the Climate Summit is to raise ambitions and mobilize climate action for new commitments and substantial, scalable, and replicable contributions that will help shift the world toward a low-‐carbon economy beyond 2020. In the UNGA, Member States will review the progress of the open working groups toward the selection and definition of the SDGs, and formally launch the intergovernmental process, leading to the adoption of specific Goals, which will be limited in number, aspirational, and easy to 1
communicate. The Goals will address, in a balanced way, all three dimensions of sustainable development and be coherent and integrated into the UN development agenda beyond 2015. Why CGIAR and the Sustainable Development Goals? How we achieve sustainable development will be determined by the opportunities provided to the billions of people engaged in crop and animal agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, and the ways by which they manage the world’s natural resources. Addressing challenges in integrated ways is fundamental for the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of sustainable development. Further, reliable food systems, including value chains, markets, consumption patterns, infrastructure, and natural resources are critical for human health, nutrition, wellbeing, and equity (including gender equity). Producing sufficient and quality food for nine billion people in 2050 is in itself a daunting challenge for research and development. But it must be coupled with access, stability, and safety in the food systems to achieve food security and nutrition for all. Despite significant progress in addressing the needs of the world’s poorest, 800 million people still don’t have enough to eat and 1.2 billion live in extreme poverty. Additionally, climate change, cumulative environmental stress, conflict, dietary-‐induced obesity, animal-‐to-‐human (zoonotic) diseases and other stressors have slowed or reversed advances in both developed and developing countries. At the same time incentive structures, market failures and consumption patterns result in 40% of food being lost or wasted — an enormous misuse of our limited resources pointing to undervaluation of food and subsequent under-‐ investments in food systems. The requirements on our food systems go far beyond ensuring agriculture production per se, and relate to each focus area considered in the SDG negotiations. CGIAR and its rich networks of partners are uniquely placed to address these broad and critical challenges and understand that the research agenda needs to evolve to respond to the needs of people and the planet. For more than four decades, CGIAR, as the world’s leading research partnership on sustainable agriculture, has worked to help solve food insecurity issues with a focus on developing countries. In the 1960s, when many parts of the world faced impending food shortages, CGIAR Centers, with their national and international partners, developed high-‐yielding varieties of staple cereals, helping prevent famines in Asia and leading to abundant food and lower food prices. These successes were replicated in Africa and Latin America, earning CGIAR scientists a Nobel Prize (for Peace) and twelve World Food Prizes. In late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly following the UN Conference on Environment and Development 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, CGIAR’s research was broadened from its initial focus on staple foods to include 2
smallholder farming systems, natural resource management, and development of policies and institutions, with new research centers added to focus on forestry, agroforestry, fisheries, and water. CGIAR genebanks safeguard the world’s largest and most diverse crop and forage germplasm, which are indispensable to future food security. Over the past 20 years, the CGIAR Centers have worked to deliver more food and renewable products while ensuring environmental and social sustainability. Today, CGIAR is the world’s leading research partnership on sustainable crop and animal agriculture, forestry and fisheries, with annual turnover of US$1 billion and over 10,000 staff in 96 countries. Fifteen research centers implement collaborative large-‐scale research programs. CGIAR members, countries in all regions, private foundations, as well as regional and international organizations all contribute financing, technical support, and strategic direction. The long-‐term productivity of agriculture remains core to CGIAR’s work, around which new challenges accumulate, relating to the broader development agenda: How will capital for agricultural investments be deployed in equitable and affordable ways to support smallholder livelihoods? How will continued economic growth and urbanization affect land use practices around the world? How can expansion of industrial-‐scale agriculture co-‐exist with needs for environmental integrity and protection? How will the land-‐based sectors cope with and deal with climate change? How can multi-‐layered governance and land/resource tenure arrangements be improved? To what extent can land-‐based sectors contribute to poverty alleviation? How can we improve resource efficiency and profitability throughout the food systems? How can new information technology help share knowledge and scale up solutions? These are some questions that current and future research must grapple with. As the world’s leading global partnership of agricultural science for development, the expectations of CGIAR have never been higher, and the partnership’s priorities continue to evolve to meet the world’s most complex developmental challenges — simultaneously ensuring sustainable food systems, resilient lands, and rural prosperity. The progressively complex, interlinked and urgent global challenges require CGIAR to create innovative research that leads to new solutions for the post-‐2015 development agenda. Why CGIAR Development Dialogues? The Development Dialogues present an opportunity for participants to help shape research and development for tomorrow’s food systems, landscapes and rural economies. The Dialogues are designed to be a yearly event to inform policy and leverage the global attention of world leaders, scientists, donor agents, journalists, civil society figures, private-‐sector actors, and SDG negotiators on the vital role that crop and animal agriculture, forestry, fisheries, landscapes and food systems play in sustainable development. The first CGIAR Development Dialogues offer a unique opportunity to debate the importance of agriculture
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in the implementation and achievement of the emerging SDGs. The event will take place alongside the most important set of conversations on global development in recent years and is designed to leverage the presence of key players at the events in New York. Dialogues objectives: •
Demonstrate the fundamental role of research in crop and animal agriculture, forestry, fisheries, landscapes and food systems for achieving each of the emerging SDGs
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Highlight key areas of opportunities, including: a. improving livelihood opportunities for poor rural people b. reducing risks in long-‐term food supply c. improving nutrition d. enhancing efficiency in food systems and renewable products’ value chains e. investing in sustainable landscapes f.
conserving and wisely using biodiversity
g. meeting the challenges of climate change •
Point to important gaps in knowledge and the need for public and private investments in research, outreach, and capacity development
Intended Outcomes •
Improved clarity for key decision-‐makers on the importance of research on crop and livestock agriculture, forestry, fisheries, landscapes, and food systems in achieving the SDGs and the climate agenda
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Raised profile for food systems and landscapes as cross-‐cutting issues
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Identification of research gaps to achieve the SDGs and targets under the climate agreement
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Commitments to investments in research and capacity development
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Strengthened and new external partnerships with CGIAR
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Identification of key recommendations for further discussion and debate, to be delivered to the UNGA
Themes The CGIAR Development Dialogues will use a variety of methods — plenary sessions, interactive discussion forums with both participants and an online audience, exhibit booths, and discussion corners — to debate 4
and explore the connections and the potential contributions of crop farming, livestock, forestry, fisheries, landscapes, and food systems to the SDGs. The four cross-‐cutting conference themes, with specific sessions under each, draw on the progress of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals and the 16 focus areas defined for the May 2014 meeting of the OWG. 1. Prosperous, food-‐secure, and resilient livelihoods 2. Healthy, innovative, capable, and inclusive communities 3. Efficient agricultural technologies for sustainable intensification 4. Climate-‐change resilient agro-‐ecosystems Conference process The day will start with a welcome by the CEO of the CGIAR Consortium, Dr. Frank Rijsberman. Keynote addresses will follow from two high-‐level speakers. These speeches will set the tone and will be followed by a lively debate from a high-‐level panel. Following this opening plenary, the participants will choose from among four concurrent sessions to attend. A moderator will introduce the topic and facilitate dynamic debate among engaging and well-‐known experts drawn from the worlds of politics, business, academia, civil society, and donors. The common task of the panels is to debate the session proposition, in relation to the SDGs, set challenging recommendations that spur debate or deduce policy and research recommendations aimed at achieving the SDGs. The moderator will ensure a dynamic exchange of views, enthusiastic audience participation and solid conclusions. There will be keynote speeches taking place during the lunch break. After lunch, in breakout rooms, two further sets of concurrent high-‐level sessions will take place. The content of all sessions will be organized by science leaders from CGIAR Research Programs and Centers, and will be facilitated by a broad mix of high-‐level panel members, both external and from amongst CGIAR directors general. No slide presentations will be permitted and interventions from experts will be no longer than five minutes each — the emphasis being on lively debate and discussion driven towards clear conclusions to be used as part of the ‘CGIAR Development Dialogues Recommendation Paper’ to be developed as an outcome of the conference, and delivered directly to the UN Secretary General’s office. The recommendation paper will summarize the key messages delivered during the conference. 5
The closing keynote addresses will tie the four themes together and set the scene for concrete recommendations on how crop and livestock agriculture, forestry, fisheries, landscapes, and food systems can best help realize the Sustainable Development Goals and inform future agreements. The day will culminate in a reception — a sponsorship opportunity — where participants can mingle and network. Communications and Outreach The communications teams from all 15 CGIAR Research Centers and 16 CGIAR Research Programs will partner on the outreach for this event. The CGIAR communications engine can reach a combined audience of 1–2 million unique visitors per month on their websites, and millions more through social media feeds, giving it enormous power and global reach. The Dialogues Communications Team will work collaboratively to promote the event, as will the participating organizations and keynote speakers. Traditional media will be invited to the event, and are expected to show particular interest, given its connection to the UNGA, the SDGs, and the UN Climate Summit, including the Climate-‐Smart Agriculture Alliance. The organizers will work with an elite publicity team to design and implement an extensive outreach and media strategy to ensure the event receives prominent attention before, during, and after UN General Assembly Week, and thus achieve the event’s objectives. Who Should Attend? Attending this event is a must for leading donors, global policymakers, and country-‐based representatives in charge of implementing the SDGs, SDG negotiators and development thought-‐leaders. Lively debates on challenging issues will bring to the forefront key recommendations for the UNGA as it moves forward. Sponsorship Opportunities Donors and private-‐sector partners will have several opportunities to support this event, including the luncheon and the cocktail reception. For more information on how to become involved, please contact [email protected]
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Timed Agenda [08:00-‐10:00
Funders Event, by invitation only]
09:00–10:00
Registration and networking
10:15–11:15
Opening Plenary (2 X keynotes)
11:30–13:00
High-‐level session debates I
1.1) Prosperous, food-‐secure, and resilient livelihoods: Breeding for the future 2.1) Healthier, innovative, capable, and inclusive communities: Improving nutrition through agriculture and women’s empowerment 3.1) Efficient agricultural technologies and partnerships for sustainable intensification: Systems research toward development impact 4.1) Climate-‐change resilient agro-‐ecosystems: Integrated landscape approaches for crop and animal agriculture, forestry and other land uses 13:00–14:30
Lunch and keynote speeches (2 X keynotes)
14:45–16:15
High-‐level session debates II
1.2) Prosperous, food-‐secure, and resilient livelihoods: Expanding commercial opportunities for the poor 2.2) Healthier, innovative, capable, and inclusive communities: Nutrition-‐sensitive landscapes, healthy ecosystems, and healthy diets 3.2) Efficient agricultural technologies and partnerships for sustainable intensification: Strategic and effective partnerships 4.2) Climate-‐change-‐resilient agro-‐ecosystems: Climate-‐smart agriculture: balancing trade-‐offs in food systems and ecosystems 16:30 – 17:00
High-‐level session wrap-‐up/reporting
17:00 –18:00
Closing plenary + keynotes (2 X keynotes)
18:00 – 20:00
Cocktail networking reception
CGIAR is a global partnership that unites organizations engaged in research for a food-‐secure future. CGIAR research is dedicated to reducing rural poverty, increasing food security, improving human health and nutrition, and ensuring more sustainable management of natural resources. It is carried out by 15 centers that are members of the CGIAR Consortium in close collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, and the private sector. www.cgiar.org
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