(MARCH 24, 2020) – Through a new initiative, Solutions from the Land (SfL) is proactively engaging with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to support their action agenda. SfL is also working closely with other aligned partners to advance a multiple systems approach, policies and roadmap for scaling up the delivery of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) solutions from agricultural landscapes.
A primary focus of SfL is to promote scale-appropriate, pragmatic, science-based innovations that integrate technology and precision farming systems with conservation and agroecology systems and practices to better achieve global (SDGs).
Overseeing this emerging global work stream will be a panel led by SfL Board Co-Chair AG Kawamura, a California grower, shipper, and former Secretary of Agriculture of the world’s fifth largest agricultural economy; SfL Board Co-Chair Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, a world renowned conservation and tropical biologist, and Senior Fellow of the United Nations Foundation; and new SfL board member Dr. Howard-Yana Shapiro, a Senior Fellow in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis, and a leading global expert on plant breeding, molecular biology and genetics.
Other panel members will include SfL Board members and farmers who have been active participants in SfL’s food system, energy, climate and ecosystems services projects across the country. In addition to helping guide SfL’s SDG work, these farmer leaders will also serve as emissaries championing SfL’s guiding principles and enabling policy recommendations at global government, business and NGO forums.
In support of this important work, SfL has been approved for membership in the International Agri-Food Network (IAFN), a move that will further enable and enhance the reach of its expanded global work program. The IAFN is a network that monitors and provides input into multilateral processes related to food and agricultural issues, including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) – the latter being a financial institution and specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries
IAFN is also the co-coordinator for the Private Sector Mechanism, an open platform providing a permanent seat for the broad agri-food business value chain at CFS.
SfL’s first deliverable under this new work stream was the submission of comments on CFS’ Zero Draft on Agroecology and other Innovative Approaches for Sustainable Food Systems that ensure Food Security and Nutrition. SfL’s comments emphasized the need to embrace “proven, pragmatic and science-based approaches and techniques, including agroecology and other innovations” to meet food security and nutrition goals.
“In an era where global pandemics and climate change are threatening food security, land management policies must embrace a systems approach that recognizes the tremendous diversity of agricultural landscapes and ecosystems and enables producers to utilize the systems and practices that best support their farming operations,” said SfL President Ernie Shea. “We look forward to collaborating with our fellow IAFN members as we work to advance land-based solutions to global challenges being addressed by the FAO and other UN platforms.”
For additional information, contact SfL President Ernie Shea at 410-952-0123, or Eshea@SfLDialogue.net.
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Solutions from the Land (SfL) is a not-for-profit corporation focused on land-based solutions to global challenges. SfL’s mission is to identify and facilitate the implementation of policies, practices and projects at a landscape scale that will result in land being sustainably managed to produce food, feed, fiber and energy while protecting and improving critical environmental resources and delivering high value solutions to combat climate change. For more on Solutions from the Land, click HERE.
