Discussion: training manuals on food security

Contribution by Julien Custot and the “Food for the cities” interdisciplinary initiative from FAO Italy

Dear FSN members,

Since 2007, more than 50 % of the world’s population lives in cities. Urbanization is a constant trend and by 2050, the UN estimates that about 70 % of the population will live in urban areas. Covering staple food needs has always been a priority for governments and has been a major driver of food – agriculture and trade – policies. The present crises raise questions as to the sustainability of the approach so far. So; when we try to answer to the question “How to feed the world in 2050?”; we need to revisit urban-rural linkages and aim for sustainable food security of both rural and urban populations. The linkages between food, agriculture and cities need to be thoroughly reviewed, and present food and agriculture policies be revisited to ensure sustainable food systems and appropriate territorial planning.

For more than 20 years, work has been done. “Food for the cities” has been officially identified in 2000 as a priority area of interdisciplinary action for FAO. A technical consultation on “Food, agriculture and cities: challenges and way forward” recently organized in collaboration with RUAF gathered experts from a variety of organisations, including CGIAR institutions (CIP/Urban Harvest. Biodiversity International, IWMI), IDRC, CIRAD, GTZ, Heifer international, as well as universities.

During the workshop, the different sessions showed the wide range of experiences and expertise build during the last decade either in nutrition, urban agriculture, water management, land use planning or crisis responses. From this global picture emerged the need to have local integrated approaches.

A two page document (draft below) is presently being finalised by FAO to summarize key issues and priorities for action. Inputs will be made by the participants. We hope this document will provide a useful background document for the debate and look forward to your feedbacks on the analysis and recommendations made.

Sincerely,

For the Food for the Cities interdisciplinary initiative,

Julien Custot, FAO Food for the Cities facilitator
Food, Agriculture, and Cities: Where do we stand?
Context and issues
In 2008, the world’s urban population outnumbered its rural population. The world population is expected to increase from 6.5 billion in 2005 to 9.2 billion by 2050, and will take place mainly in urban areas of developing countries, which are expected to count 3.9 billion people in 2030. The impact of strong urbanization will be country-specific and can affect hunger and poverty in both positive and negative ways depending on the overall policy settings and national economic structure.

The recent food and financial crisis, by eroding the purchasing power of urban households, mostly all net consumers without any capacity of self food production, has made the problem of urban food insecurity very visible. The negative impacts of climate change will further affect the urban areas that too often lack natural buffers, particularly for flood prevention.

In order to reach the Millennium Development Goal 1, Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, urgent attention will need to be given to cities all over the world. Ensuring that people living in urban areas are food secure and enjoy a health and safe environment, with food security and better safety of the environment, is a major challenge to be faced. Feeding urban population will also prevent risks of social instability and conflicts in fragile countries. Therefore, the role of food and agriculture in and for cities will become increasingly important, either in developing or developed countries, though it is to date not sufficiently acknowledged. Food production, marketing, and transportation, natural resources management in and around cities will play an important role in responding to these challenges. On the other hand, urban consumption, as an economic force and social model, drives both food production and consumption in rural areas.

Specific attention therefore needs to be given to rural-urban linkages in terms of people, goods and natural resources. At a time where cities are born, expand and merge, it is urgent to bridge the increasingly unclear divide between urban, peri-urban and rural areas and to think in terms of territorial planning and urban-focused food systems. Urban food production and supply of diversified food, processing and marketing are interlinked and should mutually strengthen each other. This includes the need for protecting and preserving agricultural land areas and forestry resources, managing the livestock, promoting sustainable management of land and water resources, as well as treatment and productive recycling and safe reuse of waste and wastewater. Adequate food processing and marketing should also be promoted, linked to improved access to healthy and nutritious food and better consumption patterns.

In addition to that, in urban and peri-urban areas, responses to man made or natural disasters and to the needs of Internal Displaced People (IDPs) require integrating food and agriculture dimensions from the start of any emergency response project.

More than 40 cities receive FAO assistance all over the world, especially in Africa and Latin America, with specific approaches corresponding to local priorities. Some of them deal with food production and water management in the city, some with land and forestry management, and others on social inclusion linked with food production activities, producer’s organizations, etc... A high level of expertise now exists. Thematic actions turn out to be useful to secure food, they also have broader impacts on social links in the city. Commitment of local authorities and integrated approaches are necessary to guarantee sustainability of the projects.

Networking and partnership

FAO has been working since the early 1990s with a variety of international organisations. NGOs, national and local authorities are already working on food for the cities thematics, including among others UN-Habitat, World Bank, the RUAF Foundation (Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security), IDRC (International Development Research Centre), CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research) (e.g. Biodiversity International, Urban Harvest, International Water Management Institute), CIRAD (Centre de Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement), International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO), Danish Center for Forest Landscape and Planning of the University of Copenhagen, European Urban Forestry Research and Information Centre (EUFORIC).

Priorities for action¹

In light of the experience generated by FAO and partner organisations in the last ten years, the following priorities have been identified:

1/ bring cities on the agenda of food and agriculture policy makers, planners and institutions, and

2/ bring food and agriculture into the agenda of urban planners and local authorities.
At global level :

1. 
   Taking stock of the urban food security and agriculture policies, legal frameworks, programmes that cities and countries around the world have developed, or are developing, with view to their systematisation and wider dissemination.
   
2. 
   Developing decision making and planning tools for policy makers at national and local level (such as guidelines, criteria and indicators) regarding urban development in relation to agriculture, livestock, aquaculture, land use planning and forestry, as well as regarding local food systems planning and development.
   
3. 
   Setting up multistakeholder plateform for dialogue on good governance on food, agriculture and cities (towards Right to Food) with a high level advisory panel to FAO, involving main international organisations, national and regional representatives and related sectoral expertise; implementing decentralized cooperation programs.
   

At local and national level :

1. 
   Assisting local and national governments in the development of policies and programmes on “food, agriculture and cities”
   
   1. 
      Enhancing the productive capacity of urban and peri-urban areas for sustained food production, with particular attention to indigenous foods. Important natural and/or agricultural areas are to be taken up in city development and land use plans and protected by strengthening integrated management of the urban/peri urban landscape (trees, land, water) and by linking urban and peri-urban agriculture with urban environmental challenges (mitigation of effects of climate change, urban heat island effect, floods; multi-functional land use).
      
   2. 
      Strengthening post-harvest and urban food systems, by organising urban producers and consumers (with evolutions of consumption patterns), supporting technical innovation and direct marketing and supporting a shift to safer production, processing and marketing systems (formal or informal). Actions can be fostered by innovative financing for projects, use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and helping small-scale food production interventions for better nutrition.
      

2. 
   Promoting uptake of issues related to food systems linked with cities in national research institutions or programmes, by enhancing action and policy oriented research, inserting monitoring and capitalization activities in all programmes on urban food security / agriculture and promoting uptake in curricula of universities,.