The CGIAR Initiative on Agroecology

here we are and we want to present with you uh and together with Chris a little bit on where we are with the cgir initiative on agricology that is has been kind of of created in the context of the TPP as well and now being also implemented uh as part of the TPP so uh next one so uh this is just a reminder where this initiative is up is about so this initiative is uh working in seven countries and in these seven countries we are working on living Landscapes and these living Landscapes are really uh sort of Innovations hubs where we want to uh uh facilitate the co-creation of Innovations not only at farming practices not related only with that but also institutional innovations that can help to support a different type of agricological transitions so for that uh we we established this living landscapes in these seven countries and then we deploy uh different work packages with our partners two of the work packages are the ones on the top are devoted to work on those institutional Innovations mainly in this phase of the initiative we are looking at business models and how the business models can incorporate agricological principles and at the same time support agricological Transitions and the other one is about the policy and institutional Arrangement that are conducive to agricological Transitions so we are working there with a different type of food system actors to see how we can align better current policies or also can improve current institutional Arrangements that can support agricological transitions in the bottom part you have other two word packages that are more require related to uh deprivation of science scientific evidence on what work and what doesn't work uh in agricology basically in relation to the innovations that are going to be co-created in the living Landscapes but also since we are working and as you will see later in setups where that transition has already started that work package of Ace is going also to to kind of learn from what is happening and and see and build evidence of what is working what is not working from different perspective and in relation to different archaeological principles and then we have another word package that is the the one in the very the bottom part that is understanding what triggers and what Drive Behavior change in those living Landscapes and and type of food system actors and then with these to try to set up a strategies that can be more effective when supporting agricological transitions in these areas so and here this is this is just some some adjustment to this uh approach of policeman around the agricult transformation and basically uh here we want to kind of note that when we have arrived to these different settings we have a kind of a knowledge that in many cases we are starting from a level zero I mean this level zero means areas where there is not even any use of inputs so it's not about changing the inputs we use in farming or transforming the farming but it's actually how we can improve productivity there but with uh in a sustainable way so these uh that's why we have made make this adjustment to this at the initial uh the proposal of placement to recognize that it's level zero and then uh as you as you have noted before we are working beyond the farm level so we are talking about policy change we are talking about business models so we really want to go beyond only that redesign or the adjustment of how food is produced but also on how farmers are connected to markets and are connected to the to the to the policy the framework in the countries where we work so kind of going Beyond level two in Practical terms next one so so on this one then you can see uh these differences so so here we just went to show I mean how different are the different settings where we are working across these seven countries that also kind of show the different archaeological transitions we're talking about so for example in Burkina Faso is about optimizing the interaction between livestock and agriculture introducing legumes in India in Andhra Pradesh is is about reducing the Reliance on external inputs and improving water and soil management and in Kenya it's about a kind of improving Pest Management Soil and Water Management through better through co-innovations and also kind of interactive with policies that can support that and it allows better when tunisians in power also the the conditions are pretty different among them so in Laos it is about improving water and land management through integrated a low input Agriculture and Aquatic food production uh in Peru it's about improving our organic cocoa systems that are already happening there but there is still some Gill gaps there and also there are some opportunities to improve the environmental sustainability of those systems and also the the socioeconomic dimensions in Tunisia is about boosting the resilience of Craft Life Livestock systems and also kind of mixing these with other sources of livelihoods and in Zimbabwe we are also co-developing these Innovations also with a focus on cereals legumes livestock and vegetables so here what I wanted to highlight is that the starting point in each of those living Landscapes is very different also we have been engaging with the with the actors to Define okay what is the type of ecological transitions that you want to pursue you are interested in pursuing and then based on that understanding then we are also bringing very different type of Partners into that uh co-creation process in each of the countries next one so in a nutshell this is where we are after almost a year of having started this uh initiative so basically as I said in each of the country we are engaging with different type of actors to understand what is the the vision the common ambition regarding the desired archaeological transitions we want to understand where we can improve things in the Farms or what also in relation to their business models with others and also to the policy environment so here are the numbers when you you see there people engage your food system actors engage are those that have been effectively participating in that process of of defining those Transitions and then uh we have now created this uh or established this living landscapes in the seven countries and as I noted already that reflect a variety for context with different type of Partners also all the living Landscapes already have a context assessment where we have kind of noted okay where we are in terms of their ecological principles and where and that's kind of our starting point then we have also developed a new assessment framework that we want to apply in these settings to understand what worked and what doesn't work and what is very key on this one is that we are proposing to use indicators that are uh sensitive and context relevant for the food system actors in each of these landscapes also we have already identified the value change where we see opportunities to incorporate our ecological principles and we started already in Peru kind of nailing that down to specific business models and see in in collaboration with their business partners I mean the farmers for example and the buyer of the product how they can incorporate agricological principles in their business models and here I'm talking about for example inclusion I'm talking about furnace and uh and environmental distillation also we have advanced already with our policy tracking tool that is going to help us to see okay where are those policies that can be influential in an agricological Transitions and how we can track it systematically across the Landscapes and also we have analyzed already some previous experiences in the Landscapes from the behavioral change perspective to understand what really triggers a different type of behaviors and decisions in this living living Landscapes and from their learn and see how we can strategize better in our Landscapes to trigger the desired Behavior change and and just before I pass the floor to Chris uh we are already also engaged in some specific opportunities that we have identified in these living Landscapes to kind of uh trigger some uh impact outcomes I mean changes in Behavior changes in Investments at towards this agricological transitions so for example we are now linked uh to uh the process for developing the national archeology strategy in Kenya we are also now linked to the process in the region in Purdue where we are working at that wants to establish an archaeological Corridor of of of 100 000 actors uh we are also working a link to a process in preview for the promotion of Bio trade and the government is very interested to put a focus on agricology in this strategic plan for biotrade and also with a private sector in Peru we have a weight on exploring how carbon markets can be an alternative or a supplementary Financial mechanisms to support agricological transitions in Cocoa Farmers that are produced in organic so with this I want to pause the floor to Chris to listen a little bit of word is coming next in this year and and what will be our priorities over to Chris greetings everyone so you know we progress has been good this last year and and looking forward to 2023 just to give you a few extra insights into what we're planning so there's been a flood of reports that have come out already so problem with package one you know um the the the essence of the engagement with the uh uh stakeholders in the seven different living Landscapes and then developing a stakeholder mapping plan and how to work with stakeholders but basically on the ground working with stakeholders to code 38 possible Innovations for agriculture agricology which will probably be built on top of a visioning exercise where again working with stakeholders to come up with a vision for agriculture in the region bearing in mind that we're talking about holistic agriculture the whole food system so it's not just the the land practices but also the food chain policy Etc so that work is is starting a pace and there's a great deal that will have to be done this year in support of that the second work package is developing a a new assessment tool and I'm some people might roll the eyes of this but you know there are many assessment rules on the Shelf already and the emphasis of this one is really we've we've given it the acronym of Hope over the emphasis being on hold that it's a holistic performance assessment tool that the the true encompasses all of the environmental the social economic and agricultural factors all of them together and the the idea is that we will synchronize with the visioning factors which is taking place in the living Landscapes and based on the visioning we will introduce specific local indicators which will be matched against General indicators that will be applied in every living landscape so the the tool will be mixture of both General indicators as well as uh context-specific indicators and that that tool is in the process of finalization and then we'll be piloted and then rolled out later in this year so Marcel has already mentioned the the progress that's been made in Peru and Kenya and these are two reports that are being produced and really this is looking at business models and how business models can actually affect the way that agroecology can develop in a living landscape and going forwards the um there's also a Keen Eye on the policies and how policies can be changed and adapted to encourage investment and and development of agricology and in each living landscape and then the final thing is and this report to lose to it as well as identifying the drivers of behavior Behavior change per type of vector and seeing what can be done to to work with behavior issues around the Innovation towards agricology so there's there's a lot of information there are a lot of reports which have already been produced you probably can't click on your link right there but um you can go into the website and there's a lot to be seen and it's still early days in the project and this year we have to achieve a great deal but so far so good thank you very much