Agriculture at a Crossroads_Global Summary for Decision Makers (English)

7/28/2019 Agriculture at a Crossroads_Global Summary for Decision Makers (English)

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Global Summary

for Decision Makers

International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge,

Science and Technology for Development

Agriculture

Crossroads

Agriculture

Crossroads

at aat a


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International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science

and Technology for Development

Summary for Decision

Makers of the Global Report

IAASTD


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International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Scienceand Technology for Development

Summary for DecisionMakers of the Global ReportThis summary was approved in detail by Governments attending the IAASTD

Intergovernmental Plenary in Johannesburg, South Africa (7-11 April 2008).

IAASTD


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Contents

Foreword

Summary for Decision Makers

Statement by Governments

Background

Annex A. Reservations by Governments

Annex B. Authors and Review EditorsAnnex C. Secretariat and Cosponsor Focal Points

Annex D. Steering Committee for Consultative Process and Advisory Bureau for Assessment

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retariat. We would specifcally like to thank the cosponsor-ing organizations o the Global Environment Facility (GEF)and the World Bank or their fnancial contributions as wellas the FAO, UNEP, and the United Nations Educational,Scientifc and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) or theircontinued support o this process through allocation o staresources.

We acknowledge with gratitude the governments andorganizations that contributed to the Multidonor TrustFund (Australia, Canada, the European Commission,France, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United King-dom) and the United States Trust Fund. We also thank thegovernments who provided support to Bureau members,authors and reviewers in other ways. In addition, Finlandprovided direct support to the Secretariat. The IAASTD wasespecially successul in engaging a large number o expertsrom developing countries and countries with economies intransition in its work; the Trust Funds enabled fnancial as-sistance or their travel to the IAASTD meetings.

We would also like to make special mention o the Re-gional Organizations who hosted the regional coordinators

and sta and provided assistance in management and timeto ensure success o this enterprise: the Arican Center orTechnology Studies (ACTS) in Kenya, the Inter-AmericanInstitute or Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in CostaRica, the International Center or Agricultural Research inthe Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Syria, and the WorldFish Centerin Malaysia.

The fnal Intergovernmental Plenary in Johannesburg,South Arica was opened on 7 April 2008 by Achim Steiner,Executive Director o UNEP. This Plenary saw the accep-tance o the Reports and the approval o the Summaries orDecision Makers and the Executive Summary o the Synthe-sis Report by an overwhelming majority o governments.

Signed:

Co-chairsHans H. Herren

Judi Wakhungu

DirectorRobert T. Watson

The objective o the International Assessment o Agricul-tural Knowledge, Science and Technology or Development(IAASTD) was to assess the impacts o past, present anduture agricultural knowledge, science and technology onthe: reduction o hunger and poverty, improvement o rural livelihoods and human health,

and equitable, socially, environmentally and economically

sustainable development.

The IAASTD was initiated in 2002 by the World Bank andthe Food and Agriculture Organization o the United Na-tions (FAO) as a global consultative process to determinewhether an international assessment o agricultural knowl-edge, science and technology was needed. Mr. Klaus Teper,Executive Director o the United Nations Environment Pro-gramme (UNEP) opened the frst Intergovernmental Plenary(30 August-3 September 2004) in Nairobi, Kenya, duringwhich participants initiated a detailed scoping, preparation,drating and peer review process.

The outputs rom this assessment are a Global and fveSub-Global reports; a Global and fve Sub-Global Sum-maries or Decision Makers; and a cross-cutting SynthesisReport with an Executive Summary. The Summaries or De-cision Makers and the Synthesis Report specifcally provideoptions or action to governments, international agencies,academia, research organizations and other decision makersaround the world.

The reports draw on the work o hundreds o expertsrom all regions o the world who have participated in thepreparation and peer review process. As has been customaryin many such global assessments, success depended frst andoremost on the dedication, enthusiasm and cooperation othese experts in many dierent but related disciplines. It is

the synergy o these interrelated disciplines that permittedIAASTD to create a unique, interdisciplinary regional andglobal process.

We take this opportunity to express our deep gratitudeto the authors and reviewers o all o the reportstheirdedication and tireless eorts made the process a success.We thank the Steering Committee or distilling the outputso the consultative process into recommendations to thePlenary, the IAASTD Bureau or their advisory role duringthe assessment and the work o those in the extended Sec-

Foreword


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Writing Team: Nienke Beintema (the Netherlands), Deborah

Bossio (USA), Fabrice Dreyfus (France), Maria Fernandez (Peru),

Ameenah Gurib-Fakim (Mauritius), Hans Hurni (Switzerland),

Anne-Marie Izac (France), Janice Jiggins (UK), Gordana Kranjac-

Berisavljevic (Ghana), Roger Leakey (UK), Washington Ochola

(Kenya), Balgis Osman-Elasha (Sudan), Cristina Plencovich (Ar-

gentina), NielsRling (the Netherlands), Mark Rosegrant (USA),

Erika Rosenthal (USA), Linda Smith (UK)

Global Summary for Decision Makers

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International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD)


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2

Statement by Governments

All countries present at the fnal intergovernmental plenarysession held in Johannesburg, South Arica in April 2008welcome the work o the IAASTD and the uniqueness othis independent multistakeholder and multidisciplinaryprocess, and the scale o the challenge o covering a broadrange o complex issues. The Governments present recog-nize that the Global and Sub-Global Reports are the conclu-sions o studies by a wide range o scientifc authors, expertsand development specialists and while presenting an overallconsensus on the importance o agricultural knowledge, sci-ence and technology or development they also provide adiversity o views on some issues.

All countries see these reports as a valuable and im-portant contribution to our understanding on agriculturalknowledge, science and technology or development recog-nizing the need to urther deepen our understanding o thechallenges ahead. This Assessment is a constructive initia-tive and important contribution that all governments needto take orward to ensure that agricultural knowledge, sci-ence and technology ulflls its potential to meet the develop-ment and sustainability goals o the reduction o hunger and

poverty, the improvement o rural livelihoods and humanhealth, and acilitating equitable, socially, environmentallyand economically sustainable development.

In accordance with the above statement, the ollowinggovernments approve the Global Summary or DecisionMakers.

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize,Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, China(Peoples Republic of), Costa Rica, Cuba, DemocraticRepublic of Congo, Dominican Republic, El Salvador,Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gambia, Ghana, Honduras,India, Iran, Ireland, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PeoplesDemocratic Republic, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya,Maldives, Republic of Moldova, Mozambique, Namibia,Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland,Republic of Palau, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal,Solomon Islands, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, UnitedRepublic of Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey,Uganda, United Kingdom of Great Britain, Uruguay, VietNam, Zambia (58 countries).

While approving the above statement the ollowing govern-ments did not ully approve the Global Summary or Deci-

sion Makers and their reservations are entered in Annex A.

Australia, Canada, and United States of America (3countries).


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In August 2002, the World Bank and the Food and Agri-culture Organization (FAO) o the United Nations initiateda global consultative process to determine whether an in-ternational assessment o agricultural knowledge, scienceand technology (AKST) was needed. This was stimulatedby discussions at the World Bank with the private sectorand nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) on the state oscientic understanding o biotechnology and more speci-cally transgenics. During 2003, eleven consultations wereheld, overseen by an international multistakeholder steer-ing committee and involving over 800 participants rom allrelevant stakeholder groups, e.g., governments, the privatesector and civil society. Based on these consultations thesteering committee recommended to an IntergovernmentalPlenary meeting in Nairobi in September 2004 that an inter-national assessment o the role o AKST in reducing hungerand poverty; improving rural livelihoods and acilitatingenvironmentally, socially and economically sustainabledevelopment was needed.The concept o an InternationalAssessment o Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Tech-nology or Development (IAASTD) was endorsed as a multi-

thematic, multi-spatial, multi-temporal intergovernmentalprocess with a multistakeholder Bureau cosponsored by theFood and Agriculture Organization o the United Nations(FAO), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), United Na-tions Development Programme (UNDP), United NationsEnvironment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Educa-tional, Scientic and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), theWorld Bank and World Health Organization (WHO).

The IAASTDs governance structure is a unique hybrido the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)and the nongovernmental Millennium Ecosystem Assess-ment (MA). The stakeholder composition o the Bureau wasagreed at the Intergovernmental Plenary meeting in Nairobi;it is geographically balanced and multistakeholder with 30

government and 30 civil society representatives (NGOs,producer and consumer groups, private sector entities andinternational organizations) in order to ensure ownership othe process and ndings by a range o stakeholders.

About 400 o the worlds experts were selected by theBureau, ollowing nominations by stakeholder groups, toprepare the IAASTD Report (comprised o a Global andve Sub-Global assessments). These experts worked in theirown capacity and did not represent any particular stake-holder group. Additional individuals, organizations andgovernments were involved in the peer review process.

The IAASTD development and sustainability goals wereendorsed at the rst Intergovernmental Plenary and are con-

sistent with a subset o the UN Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs): the reduction o hunger and poverty, theimprovement o rural livelihoods and human health, andacilitating equitable, socially, environmentally and eco-nomically sustainable development. Realizing these goalsrequires acknowledging the multiunctionality o agriculture:the challenge is to simultaneously meet development and sus-tainability goals while increasing agricultural production.

Meeting these goals has to be placed in the context o arapidly changing world o urbanization, growing inequities,human migration, globalization, changing dietary preer-ences, climate change, environmental degradation, a trendtoward biouels and an increasing population. These condi-tions are aecting local and global ood security and put-ting pressure on productive capacity and ecosystems. Hencethere are unprecedented challenges ahead in providing oodwithin a global trading system where there are other com-peting uses or agricultural and other natural resources.AKST alone cannot solve these problems, which are causedby complex political and social dynamics, but it can makea major contribution to meeting development and sustain-

ability goals. Never beore has it been more important orthe world to generate and use AKST.Given the ocus on hunger, poverty and livelihoods,

the IAASTD pays special attention to the current situation,issues and potential opportunities to redirect the currentAKST system to improve the situation or poor rural peo-ple, especially small-scale armers, rural laborers and otherswith limited resources. It addresses issues critical to ormu-lating policy and provides inormation or decision makersconronting conficting views on contentious issues such asthe environmental consequences o productivity increases,environmental and human health impacts o transgeniccrops, the consequences o bioenergy development on theenvironment and on the long-term availability and price o

ood, and the implications o climate change on agriculturalproduction. The Bureau agreed that the scope o the assess-ment needed to go beyond the narrow connes o scienceand technology (S&T) and should encompass other typeso relevant knowledge (e.g., knowledge held by agriculturalproducers, consumers and end users) and that it should alsoassess the role o institutions, organizations, governance,markets and trade.

The IAASTD is a multidisciplinary and multistakeholderenterprise requiring the use and integration o inormation,tools and models rom dierent knowledge paradigms in-cluding local and traditional knowledge. The IAASTD doesnot advocate specic policies or practices; it assesses the ma-

Background

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4 | IAASTD Summary for Decision Makers of the Global Report

The IAASTD drat report was subjected to two roundso peer review by governments, organizations and individu-als. These drats were placed on an open access Web siteand open to comments by anyone. The authors revised thedrats based on numerous peer review comments, with theassistance o review editors who were responsible or ensur-ing the comments were appropriately taken into account.One o the most dicult issues authors had to address wascriticisms that the report was too negative. In a scienticreview based on empirical evidence, this is always a dicultcomment to handle, as criteria are needed in order to saywhether something is negative or positive. Another dicultywas responding to the conficting views expressed by review-ers. The dierence in views was not surprising given therange o stakeholder interests and perspectives. Thus one othe key ndings o the IAASTD is that there are diverse andconficting interpretations o past and current events, whichneed to be acknowledged and respected.

The Global and Sub-Global Summaries or DecisionMakers and the Executive Summary o the Synthesis Reportwere approved at an Intergovernmental Plenary in April2008. The Synthesis Report integrates the key ndings romthe Global and Sub-Global assessments, and ocuses on eightBureau-approved topics: bioenergy; biotechnology; climatechange; human health; natural resource management; tradi-tional knowledge and community based innovation; tradeand markets; and women in agriculture.

The IAASTD builds on and adds value to a number orecent assessments and reports that have provided valuableinormation relevant to the agricultural sector, but have notspecically ocused on the uture role o AKST, the institu-tional dimensions and the multiunctionality o agriculture.These include: FAO State o Food Insecurity in the World(yearly); InterAcademy Council Report: Realizing the Prom-ise and Potential o Arican Agriculture (2004); UN Mil-lennium Project Task Force on Hunger (2005); MillenniumEcosystem Assessment (2005); CGIAR Science CouncilStrategy and Priority Setting Exercise (2006); Comprehen-sive Assessment o Water Management in Agriculture: Guid-ing Policy Investments in Water, Food, Livelihoods andEnvironment (2007); Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange Reports (2001 and 2007); UNEP Fourth GlobalEnvironmental Outlook (2007); World Bank World Devel-opment Report: Agriculture or Development (2008); IFPRIGlobal Hunger Indices (yearly); and World Bank InternalReport o Investments in SSA (2007).

Financial support was provided to the IAASTD bythe cosponsoring agencies, the governments o Australia,

Canada, Finland, France, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, USand UK, and the European Commission. In addition, manyorganizations have provided in-kind support. The authorsand review editors have given reely o their time, largelywithout compensation.

The Global and Sub-Global Summaries or DecisionMakers and the Synthesis Report are written or a range ostakeholders, i.e., government policy makers, private sector,NGOs, producer and consumer groups, international orga-nizations and the scientic community. There are no recom-mendations, only options or action. The options or actionare not prioritized because dierent options are actionableby dierent stakeholders, each o whom have a dierent

jor issues acing AKST and points towards a range o AKSToptions or action that meet development and sustainabilitygoals. It is policy relevant, but not policy prescriptive. Itintegrates scientic inormation on a range o topics thatare critically interlinked, but oten addressed independently,i.e., agriculture, poverty, hunger, human health, natural re-sources, environment, development and innovation. It willenable decision makers to bring a richer base o knowledgeto bear on policy and management decisions on issues previ-ously viewed in isolation. Knowledge gained rom histori-cal analysis (typically the past 50 years) and an analysiso some uture development alternatives to 2050 orm thebasis or assessing options or action on science and tech-nology, capacity development, institutions and policies, andinvestments.

The IAASTD is conducted according to an open, trans-parent, representative and legitimate process; is evidence-based; presents options rather than recommendations;assesses dierent local, regional and global perspectives;presents dierent views, acknowledging that there can bemore than one interpretation o the same evidence basedon dierent worldviews; and identies the key scientic un-certainties and areas on which research could be ocused toadvance development and sustainability goals.

The IAASTD is composed o a Global assessment andve Sub-Global assessments: Central and West Asia andNorth Arica CWANA; East and South Asia and thePacic ESAP; Latin America and the Caribbean LAC;North America and Europe NAE; Sub-Saharan Arica SSA. It (1) assesses the generation, access, disseminationand use o public and private sector AKST in relation tothe goals, using local, traditional and ormal knowledge;(2) analyzes existing and emerging technologies, practices,policies and institutions and their impact on the goals; (3)provides inormation or decision makers in dierent civilsociety, private and public organizations on options or im-proving policies, practices, institutional and organizationalarrangements to enable AKST to meet the goals; (4) bringstogether a range o stakeholders (consumers, governments,international agencies and research organizations, NGOs,private sector, producers, the scientic community) involvedin the agricultural sector and rural development to sharetheir experiences, views, understanding and vision or theuture; and (5) identies options or uture public and pri-vate investments in AKST. In addition, the IAASTD will en-hance local and regional capacity to design, implement andutilize similar assessments.

In this assessment agriculture is used to include produc-

tion o ood, eed, uel, ber and other products and to in-clude all sectors rom production o inputs (e.g., seeds andertilizer) to consumption o products. However, as in allassessments, some topics were covered less extensively thanothers (e.g., livestock, orestry, sheries and the agriculturalsector o small island countries, and agricultural engineer-ing), largely due to the expertise o the selected authors.Originally the Bureau approved a chapter on plausible u-tures (a visioning exercise), but later there was agreementto delete this chapter in avor o a more simple set o modelprojections. Similarly the Bureau approved a chapter on ca-pacity development, but this chapter was dropped and keymessages integrated into other chapters.


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5. Projections based on a continuation o current poli-cies and practices indicate that global demographicchanges and changing patterns o income distributionover the next 50 years will lead to dierent patterns oood consumption and increased demand or ood. Inthe reerence run, global cereal demand is projected to increaseby 75% between 2000 and 2050 and global meat demand isexpected to double. More than three-ourths o growth in de-mand in both cereals and meat is projected to be in developingcountries. Projections indicate a probable tightening o worldood markets with increasing resource scarcity adversely a-ecting poor consumers and poor producers. Overall, cur-rent terms o trade and policies, and growing water andland scarcity, coupled with projected changes in climate isprojected to constrain growth in ood production.

6. Agriculture operates within complex systems and ismultiunctional in its nature. A multiunctional approachto implementing AKST will enhance its impact on hungerand poverty, improving human nutrition and livelihoods in

set o priorities and responsibilities and operate in dierentsocioeconomic and political circumstances.

Key Findings

1. Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology(AKST) has contributed to substantial increases in ag-

ricultural production over time, contributing to oodsecurity. This has been achieved primarily through a strongocus on increasing yields with improved germplasm, andincreased inputs (water, agrochemicals) and mechanization.These increases in productivity have contributed to a net in-crease in global ood availability per person: rom 2360 kcalin the 1960s to 2803 kcal per person per day in the 1990s,at a time when world population signifcantly increased.

2. People have benefted unevenly rom these yield in-creases across regions, in part because o dierentorganizational capacities, sociocultural actors, andinstitutional and policy environments. While in SouthAsia the percentage o people living in poverty (


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pest and nutrient management and inormation and com-munication technologies (ICTs) will create opportunities

or more resource-ecient and site-specic agriculture.2

11. Some challenges will be resolved primarily by de-velopment and appropriate application o new andemerging AKST. Such AKST can contribute to solutionsprovided appropriate institutions and capacities are inplace. Examples include combating livestock diseases, e.g.,vaccine development; mitigating greenhouse gas emissionsrom agriculture; reducing the vulnerability o agriculture toa changing climate; reducing the heavy reliance o agricul-ture and commodity chains on ossil uels; and addressingcomplex socioeconomic issues regarding local, national andinternational public goods.2,3

12. Targeting small-scale agricultural systems by org-ing public and private partnerships, increased publicresearch and extension investment helps realize ex-isting opportunities. Strengthening participatory researchand extension partnerships, development-oriented localgovernance and institutions such as cooperatives, armerorganizations and business associations, scientic institu-tions and unions support small-scale producers and entre-preneurs to capture and add value to existing opportunitieson-arm, post-harvest and in non-arm rural enterprises. Insome instances, opportunities lie in those small-scale arm-ing systems that have high water, nutrient and energy useeciencies and conserve natural resources and biodiversitywithout sacricing yield, but high marketing costs do notallow them to harness these opportunities. The underlyingprinciples, processes and knowledge may be relevant andcapable o extrapolation to larger scale arming systems,particularly in the ace o climate change eects.

13. Signifcant pro-poor progress requires creatingopportunities or innovation and entrepreneurship,which explicitly target resource poor armers and ru-ral laborers. This will require simultaneous investments ininrastructure and acilitating access to markets and tradeopportunities, occupational education and extension servic-es, capital, credit, insurance and in natural resources suchas land and water. The increasing market infuence o largescale buyers and market standards are especially challeng-ing or small producers necessitating urther innovation inpublic and private training, education and extension servic-es and suitable legal, regulatory and policy rameworks.

14. Decisions around small-scale arm sustainabil-ity pose difcult policy choices. Special and dieren-tial treatment or developing countries is an acknowledgedprinciple in Doha agricultural negotiations and it is accept-ed that developing countries can have this special treatmentespecially on the grounds o ood security, armers liveli-hoods and rural development. Suitable action is considerednecessary at the international and national level to enablesmall armers to benet rom these provisions. New pay-ment mechanisms or environmental services by public and2 USA.3 Benin, Botswana, DRC, Ethiopia, Gambia, Kenya, Tanzania,

Togo, Uganda.

an equitable, environmentally, socially and economicallysustainable manner.

7. An increase and strengthening o AKST towards1agroecological sciences will contribute to addressingenvironmental issues while maintaining and increas-ing productivity. Formal, traditional and community-basedAKST need to respond toincreasing pressures on natural re-sources, such as reduced availability and worsening qualityo water, degraded soils and landscapes, loss o biodiversityand agroecosystem unction, degradation and loss o orestcover and degraded marine and inshore sheries. Agricul-tural strategies will also need to include limiting emission ogreenhouse gases and adapting to human-induced climatechange and increased variability.

8. Strengthening and redirecting the generation anddelivery o AKST will contribute to addressing a rangeo persistent socioeconomic inequities. They includereducing the risk o conficts resulting rom competingclaims on land and water resources; assisting individualsand communities in coping with endemic and epidemic hu-man and animal diseases and their consequences; address-ing problems and opportunities associated with local andinternational fows o migrant laborers; and increasing ac-cess to inormation, education and technology to poorerareas and peoples, especially to women. Such redirectionand strengthening requires thorough, open and transparentengagement o all stakeholders.

9. Greater and more eective involvement o womenand use o their knowledge, skills and experience willadvance progress towards sustainability and devel-opment goals and a strengthening and redirection oAKST to address gender issues will help achieve this.Women armers, processors and arm workers have ben-eted less rom AKST than men overall and poor womenleast o all. Eorts to redress persistent biases in their accessto production resources and assets, occupational educationand training, inormation and extension services have metwith limited success. Many o the societal, policy-relatedand operational impediments to more equitable progress,as well as the private and public costs o such an unevenpattern o development, are well understood as are the ac-tors that discourage more determined action to empowerwomen.

10. Many o the challenges acing agriculture currently

and in the uture will require more innovative and in-tegrated applications o existing knowledge, scienceand technology (ormal, traditional and community-based), as well as new approaches or agricultural andnatural resource management. Agricultural soil and bio-diversity, nutrient, pest and water management, and the ca-pacity to respond to environmental stresses such as climatechange can be enhanced by traditional and local knowledgesystems and current technologies. Technological options-such as new genotypes o crops, livestock, sh and trees andadvances in plant, livestock and sh breeding, biotechnol-ogy, remote sensing, agroecology, agroorestry, integrated

1 USA and Botswana.


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IAASTD Summary for Decision Makers of the Global Report | 7

place. Some developing countries with large export sec-tors have achieved aggregate gains in GDP, although theirsmall-scale arm sectors have not necessarily benefted andin many cases have lost out. The small-scale arm sector inthe poorest developing countries is a net loser under mosttrade liberalization scenarios that address this question.These distributional impacts call or dierentiation in poli-cy rameworks as embraced by the Doha work plan (specialand dierential treatment and non-reciprocal access). De-veloping countries could beneft rom reduced barriers andelimination o escalating taris or processed commoditiesin developed and developing countries; and they could alsobeneft rom reduced barriers among themselves; deepergeneralized preerential access to developed country mar-kets or commodities important or rural livelihoods; in-creased public investment in local value addition; improvedaccess or small-scale armers to credit; and strengthenedregional markets.

18. Intensive export-oriented agriculture has increasedunder open market operations but has been accom-

panied by both benets and adverse consequencesdepending on circumstances such as exportation osoil nutrients and water, unsustainable soil or watermanagement or exploitative labor conditions in somecases. AKST innovations that address sustainability anddevelopment goals would be more eective with undamen-tal changes in price signals, or example, internalization oenvironmental externalities and payment or reward or en-vironmental services.

19. The choice o relevant approaches to adoption andimplementation o agricultural innovation is crucial orachieving development and sustainability goals. Thereis a wide range o such approaches in current use. In the

past, most AKST policy and practice in many countries wereundertaken using the transer o technology approach. Acritical decision or AKST stakeholders is the selection oapproaches suited to the advancement o sustainability anddevelopment goals in dierent circumstances.

20. More and better targeted AKST investments, ex-plicitly taking into account the multiunctionality oagriculture, by both public and private sectors canhelp advance development and sustainability goals.Increased investments in AKST, particularly i complement-ed by supporting investments in rural development (or ex-ample, inrastructure, telecommunications and processingacilities) can have high economic rates o return and reduce

poverty. AKST investments also generate environmental, so-cial, health, and cultural impacts. More evidence is neededon the actual levels and distributional eects o the econom-ic and non-economic benefts and costs o these investmentsor better targeting o uture AKST investments.

21. While public private partnerships are to be encour-aged the establishment and enorcement o codes oconduct by universities and research institutes canhelp avoid conficts o interest and maintain ocus onsustainability and development in AKST when privateunding complements public sector unds. Govern-ment capacity to understand, and where necessary mediate

private utilities such as catchment protection and mitigation

o climate change eects are o increasing importance andopen new opportunities or the small-scale arm sector.

15. Public policy, regulatory rameworks and interna-tional agreements are critical to implementing moresustainable agricultural practices. Urgent challenges re-main that call or additional eective agreements and bio-security measures involving transboundary water, emerg-ing human and animal diseases, agricultural pests, climatechange, environmental pollution and the growing concernsabout ood saety and occupational health.Achieving devel-opment and sustainability goals calls or national and inter-national regulations to address the multiple economic, en-vironmental and social dimensions o these transboundaryissues. These policies need to be inormed by broad-basedevidence rom natural and social sciences with multistake-holder participation. Improved governance and strength-ening engagement o stakeholders can redress some o theinadequacies where identifed in AKST arrangements thatoten privilege short-term over long-term considerationsand productivity over environmental and social sustainabil-ity and the multiple needs o the small-scale arm sector.

16. Innovative institutional arrangements are essentialto the successul design and adoption o ecologicallyand socially sustainable agricultural systems. Sus-tainable agricultural production is more likely when legalrameworks and orms o association provide secure accessto credit, markets, land and water or individuals and com-munities with modest resources. Creating market-based op-portunities or processing and commercializing agriculturalproducts that ensure a air share o value addition or small-scale producers and rural laborers is critical to meeting de-velopment and sustainability goals.

17. Opening national agricultural markets to interna-tional competition can oer economic benets, butcan lead to long term negative eects on poverty al-leviation, ood security and the environment withoutbasic national institutions and inrastructure being in

Biotechnology

The IAASTD defnition o biotechnology is based on that in the

Convention on Biological Diversity and the Cartagena Proto-

col on Biosaety. It is a broad term embracing the manipula-

tion o living organisms and spans the large range o activities

rom conventional techniques or ermentation and plant andanimal breeding to recent innovations in tissue culture, irradia-

tion, genomics and marker-assisted breeding (MAB) or marker

assisted selection (MAS) to augment natural breeding. Some

o the latest biotechnologies, called modern biotechnology,

include the use o in vitro modifed DNA or RNA and the u-

sion o cells rom dierent taxonomic amilies, techniques that

overcome natural physiological reproductive or recombination

barriers.


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By ocusing on development and sustainability goals atthe global scale, this assessment naturally emphasizes thechallenges acing developing countries and poor rural com-munities where the greatest numbers o people depend onagriculture or their livelihoods and where poverty and envi-ronmental degradation exist. However, challenges to meet-ing these goals exist in all countries and local and nationalsolutions need to appreciate their interrelationships and theglobal context.

In order to realize development and sustainability goals,we must distinguish two areas or action. One area is tech-nology development: continued crop, tree, sh and livestockimprovement, and sustainable practices or using water andother natural resources and energy. However, goals can onlybe reached i we pay attention to a second area o action:organizational capacity and policy and institutional devel-opment. For example, the use o new technologies usually ispredicated upon the existence o markets with remunerativeprices, access to credit, inputs and a host o other servicesand supports that are oten neglected.

Trends in investment in agricultural research and de-velopment are a critically important contextual componentrelevant to achieving development and sustainability goalsbecause in general, public unding is more able to incorpo-rate the interests o the underprivileged and the environmentthan private sources o unding. Investments in agriculturalresearch and development (R&D) are still growing, but thegrowth rate declined during the 1990s. In addition, invest-ment trends among countries have increasingly diverged.Investment in publicly unded agricultural R&D in manyindustrialized countries has stalled or declined and has be-come a small proportion o total spending on science andtechnology (S&T). Many developing countries have alsostagnated or slipped in terms o publicly unded agriculturalR&D investments, except or a ew, oten more industri-alized, countries. Investments by the private sector haveincreased in industrialized countries, but have remainedsmall in developing countries. Comprehensive data need tobe compiled or a uller assessment o the state o agricul-tural R&D including areas such as extension, traditionaland local AKST, arming systems evolutions, social sciences,certain health sector research, mitigation and adaptation oclimate change [Chapter 8].

Public investments in AKST can have economic rateso return in the order o 40-50% under avorable marketconditions and contribute to meeting development and sus-tainability goals. But AKST investments also generate social,environmental, health and cultural costs and benets, some

o which are considered as externalities (positive and nega-tive) and spillovers [Chapter 2]. These non-economic eectsare also important to society, but are oten not included inconventional rate o return (ROR) analyses because theypresent problems o attribution, quantication and valua-tion. Furthermore, ROR analysis ails to account or thedistribution o costs and benets among economic classesand stakeholder groups [Chapter 8].

publicprivate partnerships, can be assisted or instance bymeans o monitoring systems.

22. Achieving sustainability and development goals willinvolve creating space or diverse voices and perspec-tives and a multiplicity o scientifcally well-oundedoptions, through, or example,the inclusion o socialscientists in policy and practice o AKST helps directand ocus public and private research, extension andeducation on such goals. Diverse and conficting inter-pretations o past and current events, coupled with the un-der-valuation o dierent types o AKST limit progress inthe eld. Understanding the underlying sources o compet-ing interpretations o AKST is crucial to addressing goals.Some interpretations have been privileged over others andhave helped push ormal AKST along certain pathways, tothe neglect o other scientically sound options. Some othe by-passed options originate in traditional knowledge orcivil society experience and may be better able to contributeto poverty reduction, social inclusion, equity and generatemultiunctional outcomes.

ContextAgricultural knowledge, science and technology can play a keyrole in addressing development and sustainability goalsre-ducing hunger and poverty, improving rural livelihoods andacilitating equitable, environmentally, socially and econom-ically sustainable development. This task requires that AKSTaddress the multiunctionality o agriculture, not just as a siteor ood production, but also as a oundation or communi-ties, economies and a host o ecological relationships. Henceeective management o physical and natural resources, theinternalization o externalized costs and the continuing avail-ability o, and access to, public goods, such as biodiversity,including germplasm, and ecosystem services are critical tomeeting development and sustainability goals [Chapter 3].

Agriculture, or the purposes o the IAASTD, is a rangeo production systems, and is considered to be a linked, dy-namic social-ecological system based on the maintenance,utilization and regeneration o ecosystem services managedby people. It includes cropping, animal husbandry, shing,orestry, biouel and bioproducts industries, and the produc-tion o pharmaceuticals or tissue or transplant in crops andlivestock through genetic engineering. IAASTD looks at theentire system o goods and services rom agriculture.

Agriculture provides a livelihood or 40% o the globalpopulation; 70% o the poor in developing countries livein rural areas and are directly or indirectly dependent on

agriculture or their livelihood. Agriculture also has a majorinfuence on essential ecosystem services such as water sup-ply and purication, pollination, pest and disease control,and the uptake and release o carbon [Chapter 3].

Globally, AKST can contribute in important ways to ad-dressing poverty alleviation or the 3 billion people who liveon less than US $2 per day and must provide adequate andnutritious ood or everyone, particularly or 854 millionundernourished people. Other global development chal-lenges include clean water or the 1.3 billion people who livewithout it and environmentally sustainable energy sourcesor 2 billion people; AKST can also play a role in addressingthese challenges [Chapters 1, 3].


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Figure GSDM-1. Global Hunger (continued next page).

Global challenges

Challenge: Decrease hunger and improve health andhuman nutrition

Food security. Formal, traditional and local AKST havemade positive contributions to addressing hunger, food se-

curity, human health and nutrition [Chapter 2]. Substan-tial gains in agricultural productivity over the past 50 yearshave reduced rates of hunger and malnutrition, improvedthe health and livelihoods of many millions of people and


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Figure GSDM-1. Global Hunger.


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Figure GSDM-2.A Multifunctional Perspective of Agriculture.


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dia, Brazil and Indonesia were primarily responsible or this

marked improvement in average nutrition [Chapter 3].Despite much progress in agricultural technologies,persistent challenges remain that call or action in otherdomains such as governance. Substantial increases in agri-cultural production over time have had an uneven eect onood security.Hunger, malnutrition and ood insecurity re-main high, aecting millions o people, particularly in SouthAsia and sub-Saharan Arica [Chapters 1, 3, 4]. Further-more, expected increases in global population and incomesover the next 50 years will lead to an increased demand orood. Demographic changes, including aging populations,urbanization, changing ood consumption patterns and thedistribution o income, are driving changes in dietary pat-

stimulated economic growth in numerous countries. World

cereal production has more than doubled since 1961 withaverage yields per hectare increasing around 150% in manyhigh and low income countries, with the exception o mostnations in sub-Saharan Arica. Production gains are attrib-uted to improved crop varieties and livestock, soil manage-ment, improved access to resources (nutrients and water),inrastructure developments, policy initiatives, microfnance,education, better communication and advances in marketand trade systems. Globally, until recently, ood has becomecheaper and average calorie availability has increased. Inthe mid-1960s, 57% o the worlds population lived incountries where the average caloric availability was below2200 kcal; now the proportion is 10%. Gains in China, In-

Figure GSDM-3.Public And Private Agricultural R&D Spending by Region, 2000.


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beneft rom this new market. Equally critical, some cropsused or liquid biouel production will require large quanti-ties o water, already a major constraint to agriculture inmany parts o the world [Chapter 3].

The globalized ood system aects local ood systemsthat support the livelihoods o the poor [Chapter 2]. Lowprices or commodity importsin contrast to prices orprocessed oodcan be avorable or poor consumers innet ood-importing developing countries (given appropri-ate institutional arrangements), but imports at prices belowthe cost o local production undercut national armers andrural development. Investment in AKST that builds resil-ience o local ood systems to environmental and economicshocks can stabilize production and increase ood security,provided that appropriate policy measures give temporaryprotection to local markets.

Improve health and human nutrition. Food saety hazards,which are biological, chemical or physical contaminants oragents that aect human health or nutrient bioavailability,may occur anywhere along the ood chain. Pathogenproduced toxins, such as mycotoxins, heavy metals andother contaminants, veterinary drug and pesticide residuescan cause short- and longer-term adverse, even lethal, humanhealth consequences when present in ood systems. Thesehazards increase with the length o the ood chain. Outbreakso diseases transerred rom ood, such as Salmonella andBovine Spongiorm Encephalitis (mad cow disease), haveheightened the demand or ood saety standards [Chapter2]. Concerns about GMOs in ood and eed as well asconsumer choice, have heightened demand or ood saetystandards and prompted countries to develop and implementregulations to address this issue [Chapter 2].4

Demand or products with high quality and saety stan-dards is expected to continue to grow, creating a marketthat will be accessible only to producers and processors withsufcient AKST capacity and knowledge (e.g., postharvesthandling). In developing countries, better national qualitystandards are likely to be a unction o increased knowledgeand public awareness about the health eects o nutritionalchoices and saer production practices and the expansiono public health regulations, liability laws and laboratoryinrastructure [Chapters 5, 8].

Diet is one o the leading risk actors or chronic ill-ness. Malnutrition remains a major cause o death, espe-cially among children, but other illnesses, oten correlated,such as obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, HIV Aidsand cancer have emerged. Cardiovascular disease is a lead-

ing cause o death in both industrialized and developingcountries [Chapters 1, 3]. Changes in ood availability andprices together with environmental, social and demographicactors (e.g., urbanization) have resulted in a worldwide di-etary transition. This transition has aected social groupsdierently. Indeed, undernutrition and overconsumptioncoexist in a wide range o countries. Unbalanced diets areoten related to low intake o ruits and vegetables and highintake o ats, meat, sugar and salt. Many traditional oods,however, are rich in micronutrients and expanding their rolein production systems and diet could have health benefts.

4 Australia and USA.

terns with positive and negative eects on health [Chapters5, 6]. Business-as-usual projections (i.e., broadly a continu-ation o current policies and practices) indicate a probabletightening o world ood markets with increasing resourcescarcity adversely aecting poor consumers and poor pro-ducers [Chapter 5].

Rapid growth in demand or meat and milk is projectedto increase competition or land with crop production andto put pressure on the price or maize and other grains andmeals. This is because it takes 4.5 plant-derived caloriesto produce one calorie o egg or milk and 9 plant-derivedcalories to produce one calorie o bee or lamb meat. Thusgrowing demand usually associated with growing incomemay trigger structural changes in the livestock sector thatcould have signifcant environmental implications but willnot necessarily result in improved human nutrition or poorpeople or better opportunities or all small-scale producers.

Increases in livestock numbers projected to 2050 vary byregion and species, but substantial growth in livestock pro-duction is projected under a business-as-usual approach tooccur in nearly all the developing world. This projectioncalls or an increase in resources allocated to livestock re-lated research; taking an integrated approach to grasslandand crop-livestock systems to solve the multiple problems thatbeset intensive livestock production; and oering better pros-pects or achieving sustainable solutions [Chapters 3, 5].

Marine, coastal and reshwater ecosystems have beendrastically altered over the past 50 years, reducing theirproductivity, resilience to stress, and potential to contributeto uture ood security. The total world production romcapture fsheries has declined in recent years due to overfsh-ing because o ineective management, inappropriate fsh-ing practices and poor understanding o ecosystem-basedmanagement approaches. Future projections indicate that

capture fsheries will continue to decline and aquatic eco-systems will continue to degrade, seriously threatening oodsecurity. Fishing technology has outpaced the developmentand application o sound science and management. Thedevelopment and unregulated use o fshing gears such aslarge-scale trawling, gill nets, long-lining and use o otherdestructive fshing practices, such as dynamite and cyanide,has damaged the productivity o ecosystems and habitatsupon which fshing depends [Chapter 6].

Food production and the price o ood may be aectedby increased biouel production due to competition or landand natural resources. The limited access to land by small-scale armers is likely to limit their ability to supply and

Food security [is] a situation that exists when all people, at all

times, have physical, social and economic access to sufcient,

sae and nutritious ood that meets their dietary needs and ood

preerences or an active and healthy lie (FAO, The State o Food

Insecurity, 2001).

Food sovereignty is defned as the right o peoples and sov-

ereign states to democratically determine their own agricultural

and ood policies.


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The health and environmental risks and eects o agro-chemicals have been extensively documented in the scienticand medical literature. On the other hand, the impacts otransgenic plants, animals and microorganisms are currentlyless understood. This situation calls or broad stakeholderparticipation in decision making as well as more public do-main research on potential risks [Chapters 2, 3].

Challenge: Decrease poverty and improve rurallivelihoodsAKST has the capacity to improve livelihoods, although e-ects have varied by region and social group. The ability toaccess and benet rom AKST is uneven, with industrializedcountries gaining more than developing countries (especiallythose in Arica). The value added per agricultural worker inOECD countries in 2003 was US$23,081 with a growth be-tween 1992 and 2003 o 4.4% per annum. For Arica, thegures were US$327 and 1.4%, respectively. These dispari-ties are partly the result o historical, social, economic politi-cal trajectories and current policy. Developing countries areprojected to increasingly rely on imported ood [Chapter5], oten because local production is not remunerative orcompetitive because o lack o investment. The increase ino-arm employment will not necessarily keep pace with theloss o on-arm livelihoods, and although the proportion opeople working in agriculture will decline with urbaniza-tion, the rural population is not expected to decline.

Many reasons exist or the expansion o agriculturaltrade: increasing interregional relationships, increasing de-mand or ood, and commodity specialization acilitated bytrade liberalization. Globalization and liberalization willaect countries and groups within countries in dierentways. It is projected that agricultural trade among devel-oping countries is likely to increase and their agriculturaltrade decits with industrialized countries are likely to in-crease while industrialized countries will continue to run ag-ricultural trade surpluses [Chapter 4]. In developing countryurban markets with poor rural connectivity there could beincreasing reliance on imports, which provide cheaper oodbut undermine rural employment and livelihoods and deterinvestment in mitigating land degradation. These trade im-balances also avor high-input, energy-intensive agriculture,which currently does not internalize environmental or socialcosts o production, an increasingly unsustainable approach.

Challenge: Increase environmental sustainabilityOver the last century, the agricultural sector has typicallysimplied production systems to maximize the harvest o a

single component, generally ignoring other supporting, pro-visioning, and regulating ecological unctions and services.When these practices have been associated with policies thatprovide resource price-distorting incentives, this has otenled to degradation o environmental and natural resources(e.g., deorestation, introduction o invasive species, in-creased pollution and greenhouse gas emissions).

Agriculture currently contributes 60 and 50% o globalanthropogenic emissions o CH

4and N

2O, respectively.

During the last 50 years, the natural resource base on whichagriculture depends has declined aster than at any othertime in history due to increased global demand and degra-dation; 75% o the crop genetic base o agricultural crops

Inectious diseases, including pandemic HIV/AIDS andmalaria, are among the leading causes o morbidity andmortality worldwide and are severely aecting ood secu-rity in some developing countries. In addition to the majorchallenges that are raised by these illnesses, other diseasesrelated to agricultural activity are expected to emerge orexpand. The incidence and geographic range o many othese diseases are infuenced by production systems (e.g.,intensive crop and livestock), and economic (e.g., expan-sion o international trade), social (e.g., changing diets andliving patterns), demographic (e.g., population growth andmigration), environmental (e.g., land use and global climatechange), and biological actors (e.g., microbial mutations).Most o these actors will continue to be relevant and mayintensiy during this century.

Serious socioeconomic consequences occur when dis-eases spread widely within human or animal populations(e.g., bluetongue disease), or when they spill over rom ani-mal reservoirs to human hosts (e.g., avian infuenza); patho-gens that inect more than one host species are o particularconcern. In large part due to a globalized ood system, theincrease in disease emergence will aect both high- and low-income countries [Chapter 3]. Toxic agrochemicals appliedin a wide range o agricultural systems result in exposureadversely aecting the health o producers, laborers andcommunities. Enorcement o rigorous regulations and im-plementation o eective risk management strategies canhelp reduce exposure but do not eliminate risk.

Figure GSDM-5. Research Budgets of CGIAR, Monsanto and Syn-

genta


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use practices, increases in population and changes in dietare projected to increase water consumption in ood andfber production by 70-90%. I demands or biomass energyincrease, this may aggravate the problem. In addition, sec-toral competition or water resources will intensiy, urtherexacerbating the stress on developing country producers.Reliability o water supply or agriculture is projected todecline in many regions due to climate change and increas-ing climate variability although the potential or AKST toimprove water management is substantial in both rainedand irrigated agriculture.

Projected changes in the requency and severity o ex-treme weather events in addition to increases in fre hazards,pests and diseases will have signifcant implications or agri-cultural production and ood security. The eect o climatechange on crop yields, fsheries, orestry and livestock is

has been lost. Degradation o ecosystem unctions (e.g., nu-trient and water cycling), constrains production and maylimit the ability o agricultural systems to adapt to climaticand other global changes in many regions. Sustainable ag-ricultural practices are part o the solution to current en-vironmental change. Examples include improved carbonstorage in soil and biomass, reduced emissions o CH

4

andN2O rom rice paddies and livestock systems, and decreaseduse o inorganic ertilizers. Appropriate policies can pro-mote mitigation o GHG emissions and increased carbonsequestration.

According to The Comprehensive Assessment o WaterManagement in Agriculture by 2050, agriculture in mostregions will still be the largest user o reshwater resources,although its share is expected to decline relative to indus-trial and domestic uses [Chapter 3]. Under current water

Figure GSDM-6.Areas of Physical and Economic Water Scarcity. Source: IWMI, 2007.


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value vegetable, ruit and fower production or export anda range o agroindustries has required innovative institu-tional arrangements and support to womens organizations,associations o women entrepreneurs and service providersnetworks.

Gender equity is an important part o social equity.Women and men, who oten have dierent roles and re-sponsibilities in households and ood production, otenhave dierent relationships to the various benets derivedrom AKST and innovations. Gender-based patterns arecontext specic, but a persistent eature is that women havea key role in agricultural activities and yet, especially in de-veloping countries, have limited access to and control overproductive resources such as land, labor, technology, credit

and capital including gender equitable land reorm. Despiteadvances in gender awareness, access to AKST products andparticipation in AKST processes remain limited or womenand or other marginalized groups. Limited attention hasbeen paid to issues o vulnerability and social exclusion, orto the interaction o AKST-related opportunities with socialprotection policies [Chapter 3].

AKST alone cannot overcome gender and ethnic bi-ases and inequities in agriculture, but insucient attentionto these issues by AKST actors can lead to unintentionalincreases in inequity. Signicant investment in stang andtraining or women and ethnic minorities within science andtechnology centers increases the probability o more equi-

expected to vary rom region to region; in general, the trop-ics and subtropics will experience negative eects, such asatypical foods and droughts, while temperate regions willhave a longer growing season and hence more agriculturalproduction under modest climate change (about 2-3C risein temperature) [Chapters 1, 5]. Some dry temperate areasmay become drier, resulting in reduced agricultural produc-tion potential.

Challenge: Improve social sustainability, increaseequityProgress toward sustainability and development goals is notachievable without more determined involvement o wom-ens knowledge, skills and experience and a redirection o

AKST in order to provide opportunities or women.Womenarmers, processors and arm workers have beneted less

rom AKST than men overall and poor women least o all.Eorts to redress persistent biases in their access to produc-tion resources, occupational education and training, inor-mation and extension services have met with limited success.The societal, policy-related and operational impediments tomore equitable progress, as well as the private and publiccosts o such an uneven pattern o development, are wellunderstood as are the actors that discourage more orceulaction. Targeted support or womens participation in theirmanagement roles, or instance, in dairying, poultry, smallstock breeding, as well as in new enterprises such as high

Figure GSDM-7.Projected Impacts of Climate Change.Source: Stern Review, 2007.


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actors, such as small-scale armers, with preerence beinggiven to short-term over longer term considerations. Somejudgments have been privileged over others in AKST deci-sion making. They have helped push ormal AKST alongcertain pathways to the neglect o other well-evidenced op-tions, some originating in traditional knowledge or civil so-ciety experience, that are more ocused on the multiple roleso agriculture. Strengthening public support or empower-ing the organizations o armers and other community-basedgroups can increase poor peoples infuence in collaborativeAKST arrangements and decision making. Community-based approaches to natural resource management, such aswatershed management, community orestry management,integrated pest and crop management and the strengthening

o local seed systems, are helping support and integrate so-cial and environmental sustainability although they are nota panacea [Chapters 2, 3; SR-NRM].

Many o the technologies potentially o use in sustain-able arming are not adopted because small-scale producerslack access to the means and supporting services necessaryto employ the technologies protably. Those able to accessinormation, credit, inputs, services and markets are betterplaced to take advantage o what ormal AKST has to oer,thereby widening disparities within arming communities.Over time, a technology may diuse to others, but sincethe same armers tend to benet rom each technology re-lease, the ensuing pressure on arm gate prices eventually

table outcomes or poor women. Unequal gender relationsmay be exacerbated by projected environmental and eco-nomic shocks. Investment in the resilience o local innova-tion systems should increase the equity o AKST outcomes[Chapter 2].

In general, regions with severe trade disadvantages, bio-physical constraints and marginalized social groups havebeneted least rom innovations in AKST. Furthermore, thedistribution o AKST benets has accrued unequally to thosewho already hold agricultural assetsland, water, energyresources, markets, inputs and nance, training, inorma-tion and communications. Policies and institutional arrange-ments that enable the less powerul to participate in AKSTproblem ormulation and decision making can increase the

equity o AKST outcomes, e.g., armer and scientist researchcircles, armer eld schools. Regimes o intellectual propertyrights (IPR) that protect armers and expand participatoryplant breeding and local control over genetic resources andtheir related traditional knowledge can increase equity. Fi-nancial support to armers organizations can enable themto approach a range o knowledge and inormation provid-ers or context-specic solutions.

Challenge: Governance mechanisms for improvedinstitutional and organizational arrangementsAKST arrangements involve ethical choices and value judg-ments. In some cases they have excluded or marginalized key

Figure GSDM-8.Percentage of Women in Labor Force (Total and Agricultural).


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The question o which strategies will be best suited toadvance development and sustainability goals is controver-sial and refects dierent social and political assumptions,interests and values. In many areas o science and technologydiscourse, the tendency is or a single interpretation, whichattributes cause and eect to some events or situations andnot to others. This selectivity has important implicationsor projecting science in specic directions. Acknowledgingcompeting well-supported narratives o science and tech-nology approaches is crucial or designing eective policies.In many cases, AKST strategies that recognize the multipleunctions required o sustainable agricultural systems (e.g.,production, livelihoods, ecosystem services) already exist andsome AKST recognizes the biophysical, socioeconomic andcultural diversity among agricultural systems that necessitatedomain-specic solutions. For example, community-basedinnovation and local knowledge combined with ormalAKST approaches, such as agroecology and agroorestry,can address issues relevant to rural poor people [Chapter 3].

By integrating expertise rom other sectors there is morepotential to develop solutions that increase productivity,protect natural resources and livelihoods and minimize ag-ricultures negative impact on the environment. Knowledgeand technology rom sectors such as communication, energyand health, as well as culture and arts can enhance the ca-pacity o agriculture to contribute to reaching developmentand sustainability goals. Farmers need a choice o optionsto respond to challenges, given their diverse needs and re-sources, and to address the increasing complexity o stressesunder which they operate [Chapters 2, 3].

Creating such opportunities requires more targetedchanges, such as providing poor armers in developing coun-tries with inrastructural and institutional support (e.g., ac-cess to land and water, transport acilities, AKST, marketinormation, entry into higher value markets, protectionrom unair competition) ood stockholding policies, andagreements between consumers in industrialized economiesand producers in developing countries, as well as supportto armers organizations and or armer to armer arrange-ments within and between countries [Chapters 2, 3, 7].

The need is urgent to develop and retain knowledge inthe agricultural sector. Local authorities, national govern-ments and international organizations can acilitate and de-velop capacity by investing in education and by promotingnew skills and technologies among all arming communities.Policy options include (1) reorming curricula at all levels toimprove the attractiveness and societal relevance o agricul-tural studies; (2) increasing access to technology education

and scienceinormed arm and agroecosystem manage-ment knowledge to all those working in the agriculturalsector; (3) improving collaboration between ministries (ag-riculture, water, environment, education) and universities;(4) developing inrastructure to acilitate the use o inor-mation and communications technology (ICT) in inormaland ormal education systems; (5) mobilizing unds rom avariety o sources to support agricultural education reorm;and (6) encouraging university participation in recoveringand recognizing traditional and local knowledge and includ-ing the participation o traditional knowledge actors in cur-ricula design [Chapters 2, 3, 7].

leads to marginalization o those unable to keep up andto scale enlargement or those who remain. Comparativeadvantage demonstrates the theoretical eciency o such amovement o labor to other sectors where it can be produc-tively employed. Yet rural conditions may drive increasingnumbers into civil disorder or insurrection and others intounregulated internal or trans-boundary migration, imposingcosts that prove unmanageable in the short term. Stagnantnational economies and urban areas may not oer a betterlivelihood or a pathway out o poverty.

These dilemmas pose dicult choices. The challenge ocreating realistic arm-based opportunities or small-scaleproducers requires investments and institutional arrange-ments that create the conditions in which ormal AKST re-duces the risk o adoption and increases arm protability. Inthe past this has been considered largely a public sector task;the challenge or the uture lies in involving a wider rangeo actors beyond the public sector, including armers orga-nizations and commercial enterprises [Chapter 3]. Stronggovernment capacity to understand and where necessaryregulate the private sector is needed; or instance throughmonitoring systems and enorcement o rules, which willhelp avoid conficts o interest in AKST decision making.Universities and research institutes receiving substantial pri-vate unding may need to set in place oversight mechanismsand codes o conduct that preserve their independence.

The numerous institutional arrangements that connectAKST to practical applications are one o the most widelystudied elds in the applied social sciences. Empiricallybased analysis robustly demonstrates that the transer otechnology approach to date has been the most widely usedinstitutional model or science-driven technology supply inthe public sector. This model has successully driven produc-tivity gains and scale enlargement when applied to properlymanaged technologies relevant to the target armers and un-der the necessary conditions, such as access to markets andproperly unctioning services. The Chain-linked approach isthe model most widely used in demand-led commercial de-velopment and is likely to become more dominant as mod-ern markets penetrate deeper into rural areas. It is driven byregular eedback rom market research on consumer prolesand preerences throughout the process o technology de-sign and prototype testing.

In general neither model has been suciently eective inpromoting combined sustainability and development goals.Approaches that oster development o innovation systemsalong value chains and wide stakeholder participation directAKST to realizable opportunities. Sustainable management

o agroecosystems by armers requires approaches that de-velop by a shared understanding o principles and coordina-tion o practices across multiple scales [Chapter 2].

Options for Action

Many o the challenges acing agriculture over the next 50years will require more integrated application o existingscience and technology development (ormal, traditionaland community-based) as well as new approaches or ag-ricultural and natural resource management. Other chal-lenges will only be resolved by development and applicationo new AKST [Chapter 6].


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and social costs that modern practices have externalized. Suchapproaches can become eective i alliances exist among pro-ducers and consumers. One technique or land rehabilitationis agroorestry, which has developed community-based tech-niques in land rehabilitation that oer opportunities to (1) in-crease yields o staple ood crops; and (2) create productivemixed cropping systems or small-scale producers in whichperennial cash crops and indigenous ood species replace theneed or unproductive orest allows in shiting cultivation andsupport ood sovereignty [Chapters 2, 3, 7].

Internet access and the spread o mobile phones al-ready acilitate the exchange o scientifc, technological andmarket inormation among armers, scientists, commer-cial enterprises, advisory and extension workers and otherstakeholders. However, private and public organizationswill need to provide more access to inormation, such asclimate orecasts, market prices and pest dynamics, or adiversity o user groups. The ready availability o aordableICT will provide new opportunities or improving naturalresource management, ood security and livelihood strate-gies o rural communities [Chapters 3, 5, 6].

The potential or precision agriculture, ICTs, ecologi-cal production, nanotechnology and other emerging tech-nologies to help advance development requires institutionaldevelopment to create the conditions in which such tech-nologies can generate opportunities or resource-poor pro-ducers in diverse local conditions. Technological, policy andinstitutional development go hand in hand and reinorceeach other. Global ood security and national ood sover-eignty call or ending the marginalization o producers indeveloping countries [Chapter 3].

Improve human health and nutrition.Promotion o healthand good nutrition levels cannot be divorced rom politicaland social conditions that are grounded in environmentallysustainable approaches, and that include an educatedand inormed public, a regulatory and implementationramework, and government accountability that ensuresood stock management, control over ood production,marketing, pricing and distribution, disaster preparednessand other aspects embedded in ood sovereignty.

Developing and implementing good agricultural prac-tices (GAPs), including integration o ecological processesacross production systems, will help ensure animal andplant health as well as promote ood saety. In countrieswith limited acilities or implementation and monitoringo occupational health and ood saety standards, the bestoption to limit risks rom exposure to agrochemicals is to

eliminate the use o category 1a/1b chemicals (WHO HighlyHazardous Chemicals) and promote alternative pest man-agement including IPM, agroecological approaches, biocon-trols, organic arming, and armer feld schools.

Where they can be eectively monitored and enorced,GAPs can help manage risks associated with pathogen con-tamination o such oods as ruits and vegetables. Imple-menting GAPs may help developing countries cope withglobalization without compromising sustainable develop-ment objectives. Analysis o hazards can target issues obiosecurity, disease monitoring and reporting, input saety(including agricultural and veterinary chemicals), control

Decrease hunger and improve health and human

nutrition

Decrease hunger and increase food security. Many o thechallenges acing agriculture over the next 50 years will beable to be resolved by more targeted application o existingAKST, institutional reorm, approaches or modern andtraditional agricultural and natural resource management,and breakthroughs in science and technology. Examplesinvolving better resource management include improvedsoil and water management to increase water retention anddecrease erosion; strengthened organizational capacitiesto address emerging water scarcity by increasing waterproductivity and providing increased value per unit o waterused; wider deployment o soil conservation measures; useo microbiological techniques to suppress diseases in soils;and the use o phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria. Otherexamples o using existing AKST include integrated pestmanagement (IPM) supported by armer experimentationand learning; molecular techniques; and modeling o pestand alien species dynamics to reduce reliance on chemicalsto maintain human and ecosystem health while addressingemerging pest threats posed by climate change. Integratedcrop, tree, livestock and fsh systems can be intensifed andmanaged as multiunctional agricultural systems with lessnegative consequences to ecosystems [Chapter 6].

Future options include new cultivation techniques andimproved varieties o crops, livestock, fsh and trees de-veloped through accelerated processes, such as traditionaland participatory breeding combined with marker assistedselection, genomics and transgenic approaches. These op-tions could acilitate adaptation to a wider range o habitatsand biotic and abiotic conditions, increase yields, enhancenutritional quality o ood, produce nontraditional prod-ucts and complement new production systems, providedenvironmental and social risks are properly addressed. In-tegrated advances in nanotechnology, remote sensing, geo-graphic inormation systems, global positioning systemsand inormation communication technology could provideopportunities or more resource-efcient and site-specifcagriculture.5 [Chapter 6].

AKST can be harnessed to mitigate greenhouse gas(GHG) emissions rom agriculture and to increase carbonsinks and enhance adaptation o agricultural systems to cli-mate change impacts. New technologies could reduce thereliance o agriculture and the ood chain on ossil uels oragrochemicals, machinery, transport and distribution. Ex-isting AKST could also help reduce ossil uel dependencygiven changes in institutional arrangements and incentives.

Emerging research on energy efciency and alternative en-ergy sources or agriculture will have multiple benefts orsustainability. There is considerable potential or expandingthe use o digesters (e.g., rom livestock manure), gasifersand direct combustion devices to generate electricity. Moreresearch and development is needed to reduce costs and im-prove operational reliability [Chapter 6].

Some existing approaches to ood production have thepotential to address inequities created by industrial agricul-tural practices and to internalize many o the environmental

5 Kyrgyzstan.


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economic shocks. Policy options to enable these countries torespond to crises and achieve ood security and sovereigntyinclude greater democratic control (local, national, regional)and public sector involvement in agricultural policy, speci-cally through empowering armer organizations, nationalgovernments and regional trading blocs. Other policy op-tions include improving (1) security o tenure and accessto land, germplasm and other resources; (2) diversicationwith locally important crop species; (3) access to resources(e.g., credit, nutrients); (4) supporting rural livelihoods bytransparent price ormation and unctioning markets withthe objectives o improving small arm protability andhelping ensure that arm-gate prices are above marginalcosts o local production; and (5) strengthen social saetynets. These options imply a undamental transormation oAKST and economy wide approach to agricultural policy[Chapters 3, 7].6

Increased agricultural trade can oer opportunities orthe poor. At the same time, growing evidence indicates ag-ricultural trade liberalization to date has not signicantlybeneted small scale armers or rural communities in manycountries. Approaches to give small-scale armers greateropportunity to invest, innovate and to make AKST eectiveas a tool or improving rural livelihoods include a suite opolicy options to stabilize and increase arm-gate prices.7These options include developing rational subsidy strate-gies wherever possible and renewed eorts to reduce tradedistorting subsidies in developed countries to establish aircompetition in the global market; streamline and improveprovision o legitimate anti-dumping measures and providetemporary protection; and improve international market ac-cess or developing countries, and establish new contractualarrangements8,9 [Chapters 3, 7].

Increase equity

Opening national agricultural markets to internationalcompetition can oer economic benets, but can lead tolong-term negative eects on poverty alleviation, ood se-curity and the environment without basic national institu-tions and inrastructure being in place. Some developingcountries with large export sectors have achieved aggregategains in GDP, although their small-scale arm sectors havenot necessarily beneted and in many cases have lost out.The small scale arm sector in the poorest developing coun-tries is a net loser under most trade liberalization scenariosthat address this question. These distributional impacts callor dierentiation in policy rameworks as embraced bythe Doha work plan (special and dierential treatment and

non-reciprocal access). Developing countries could benetrom reduced barriers and elimination o escalating tarisor processed commodities in developed and developingcountries; and they could also benet rom reduced barriersamong themselves; deeper generalized preerential access todeveloped country markets or commodities important orrural livelihoods; increased public investment in local value

6 Australia and USA.7 Cameroon.8 Australia.9 Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Hon-

duras, Panama, Paraguay, USA and Uruguay.

o potential oodborne pathogens and traceability. Publiceducation on improved ood handling and nutrition andimproved sanitation systems throughout the ood produc-tion chain are integral to managing the risks associated withpathogens. With new research on the eects o agriculturalpractices on environmental and human health, and thedevelopment o environmentally sae alternative practices,saety standards will need to evolve that are capable o re-sponding to the eects o climate change, new technologiesand human mobility [Chapters 3, 6]. One o the problemswith GAPs, standards, sanitation systems, hazard analysis,etc., (particularly in the poorest countries) is that they re-quire oten unaordable resources, and assume standardso implementation that are as yet beyond reach.

Integrating policies and programs across the ood chaincan help reduce the spread o inectious diseases. Focusingon interventions at a single point along the ood chain maynot provide the most ecient and eective control. Controlo zoonotic diseases requires rapid identication and com-munication o disease outbreaks; nancial compensation;and training and strengthening o coordination between vet-erinary and public health inrastructure. Identiying emerg-ing inectious diseases and responding eectively to themrequires enhancing epidemiologic and laboratory capacityand providing training opportunities. Grounding agricul-tural systems and advances in AKST in ecological and epide-miological principles would help avoid emerging outbreakso pests and diseases.

Strategies or improving nutritional health include nu-trition education at all levels, regulation o product ormula-tion through legislation (e.g., banning the use o transats inprocessed oods in Sweden, reducing quantities o salt in theUK); increasing the marketing incentives or resh producesuch as ruits and vegetables; and adopting scal policies(taxation, trade regimes) that take into account populationhealth eects. New eorts to use indigenous species andproduce locally important oods may help to improve mi-cronutrient intake [Chapters 3, 6, 7].

Many constraints (e.g., political, market, trade, eco-nomic, institutional) prevent the ull deployment o currenttechnologies to improve ood saety and public health. E-ective national regulatory standards and liability laws thatare consistent with international best practice and the in-rastructure to ensure compliance will be necessary to meetdevelopment and sustainability goals. Inrastructure needsinclude sanitary and phytosanitary surveillance programsor animal and human health, laboratory analysis and re-search capabilities (e.g., skilled sta or research) and train-

ing and auditing programs [Chapter 2]. However, giventhe limited resources and lack o eective control o publicagencies in many countries, the most eective options are toremove hazards to the extent possible, and promote coher-ent policies that support saer pest and disease management.National and regional trust unds and expanding current aidor trade commitments are innovative ways to nance thiscapacity development [Chapter 7].

Decrease poverty and improve rural livelihoods

Developing countries are vulnerable to rapid fuctuations inworld ood prices and their agricultural and ood systemsare unlikely to be resilient to environmental, political and


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rations, rather than the most vulnerable ones. To ensure thattechnology supports development and sustainability goals,strong policy and institutional arrangements are needed tobalance private, communal and national rights systems re-garding knowledge and resources. Policy options to redressthe weaknesses and inequities12 in the current rights systemson intellectual property and genetic resources may include(1) a closer connection between protection levels and devel-opment goals; (2) explicit policies regarding the manage-ment o intellectual property in public organizations; (3) thepreservation, maintenance, promotion and legal protectiono traditional knowledge and community-based innovation;and (4) options or beneft-sharing o genetic resources andderived products.13 Natural resource management policiesare needed to explicitly address how access and ownership isshared among the communities rom which these resourcesoriginate [Chapters 3, 7].

Society benefts when women are engaged in decisionmaking, and when they have access to AKST and resourcessuch as land, water and agricultural inputs and seeds. Healthservices, childcare and education support womens partici-pation in agriculture. Preerential targeting o AKST and ad-ditional public support are needed to prepare resource poorwomen to become eective market participants [Chapter 5].

Environmental Sustainability and Natural ResourceManagement

Advances in AKST can help create synergy among agricul-tural growth, social equity and environmental sustainability[Chapters 3, 5]. Integrated approaches to AKST can helpagriculture adapt to water scarcity, provide global ood se-curity, maintain ecosystems and provide sustainable liveli-hoods or the rural poor. Integration o ood productionwith other ecosystem services in multiunctional systems canadvance multiple goals (e.g., integrated rice and aquacul-ture systems, integrated crop and livestock systems). AKSTcan help increase water productivity by reducing feld losseso water (e.g., precision and micro-irrigation) and throughbreeding and soil and crop management. The greatest po-tential increases in water productivity are in rain ed areasin developing countries; contour arming, ridging, no-till,increased soil organic matter and water harvesting can in-crease soil water retention and reduce runo in these ar-eas [Chapter 3]. Improved design and management o largedams and irrigation systems can

Agriculture at a Crossroads_Global Summary for Decision Makers (English)

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