The CGIAR Development Dialogues is an invitation only, high-level, one-day event intended to focus global attention on the vital role of agriculture, livestock, forestry, fisheries, landscapes, and food systems in achieving sustainable development. Linking key and innovative research in agriculture specifically to the emerging United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the event will feature lively high-level panel debates among leading scientists, Heads of State, prominent private sector players, philanthropic organizations, and prestigious academic institutions.
The event will take place at the Faculty House of Columbia University. 250 high-level invited guests will participate in person. To reach a global audience, thousands more will be in attendance through live video streaming and social media channels.
Event DetailsSpeakers:
| Akinwumi Adesina, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nigeria |
| Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, UNFCCC COP 20 President and Minster for the Environment of Peru |
| Tumusiime Rhoda-Peace, High-Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union |
| Kanayo F. Nwanze, IFAD President |
1.1 Prosperous, food secure and resilient livelihoods: How can staple crops contribute to food security for 9.6 billion in 2050?
The challenges of sustainably supporting 8-10 billion people by 2030/2050, and the visions for improved crop production that needs to change to ensure food security and to all, will be presented. Five panelists will draw conclusions regarding the priorities for publicly funded international agricultural research. Read more.
2.1 Healthier, innovative, capable and inclusive communities: Nutrition- and gender-sensitive agriculture and food systems: A foundation for sustainable development
Billions of people around the world, especially women and children suffer from undernutrition caused by poor diets and lack of access to health, water and sanitation services. This results in repeated infections, and poor caregiving practices which can lead to lowered IQ, stunting and blindness in children, and increased risk of disease and death in both children and adults. Without improving nutrition, there can be no escape from the cycle of poverty. Read more.
3.1 New partnerships for development impact: Resilient systems and communities towards sustainable development: Fostering the Capacity to Innovate
Smallholder farmers, pastoralists, and fishers exist in a complex reality where a range of social and biophysical processes interact and affect their livelihoods. Reorienting the dynamics of these integrated systems towards desirable outcomes, such as reducing poverty, eliminating conflict and improving livelihoods, is essential for sustainable development. Read more.
4.1 Climate-change resilient agro-ecosystems: Integrated landscape approaches for agriculture, forestry and other land uses
Landscape approaches ensuring that oft-competing land uses can be integrated into joint management are emerging from principle to practice. Such approaches include considerations on “land sparing”, which assumes that agricultural intensification leads to greater returns and therefore reduces the pressure for expansion, and “land sharing” whereby agricultural production takes place within complex multi-functional landscapes. Read more.
Is “climate change and sustainable business” an oxymoron?
Speakers:
| Howard Minigh, Croplife President and CEO |
| Sonja Vermeulen, Head of Research at CCAFS |
| Halldor Thorgeisson, Director for Strategy, UNFCCC |
1.2 Prosperous, food secure and resilient livelihoods: Expanding commercial opportunities for the poor
There are nearly 450 million farmers today who farm less than 2 hectares (ha) of land accounting for about 2 billion people. They comprise about half the world’s undernourished people and more than half of people living in absolute poverty. Although rural to urban migration continues, it is also true that in many countries the absolute number of rural people is growing and is expected to do so for the next couple of decades. Poverty alleviation in rural areas will be linked to more profitable farming and the fostering of other rural non-farm businesses and jobs. Read more.
2.2 Healthier, innovative, capable and inclusive communities: Nutrition-sensitive landscapes
Global concerns about the sustainability of food production systems, as well as the quality of diets resulting from them, are escalating. Natural resource depletion, including diversity loss, changing diets, population increases and urbanization are changing what we produce, market and consume. Read more.
3.2 New partnerships for development impact: Strategic partnerships in agricultural research for inclusive impact: grounds for hope?
Successful global partnerships will be a key prerequisite in achieving the SDGs. The world is facing many apparently intractable challenges, the development world’s so-called ‘wicked problems’. Solving these will require collaboration between many different groups with widely diverging interests and perspectives. Identifying and managing these partnerships to create any significant global impact presents a number of challenges. Read more.
4.2 Climate‐change-resilient agro-ecosystems: Climate-smart agriculture: balancing trade-offs in food systems and ecosystems
Climate-smart agriculture offers a way to transform the world food system and achieve three goals: near-term productivity and food security; longer-term resilience and adaptation; and reductions in emissions across landscapes, agriculture and food systems. But how can these objectives be achieved while also meeting the Sustainable Development goals? Read more.
| Johan Rockstrom, Director of the Stockholm Resilience Center |
| Atsuyuki Oike, Ambassador, Director General for Global Issues, Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
| Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) |
| Gerda Verberg, Chair of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) |
Frank Rijsberman, CEO, CGIAR Consortium with Stef Strom, Journalist, New York Times
