IFPRI Podcast International Food Policy Research Institute

IFPRI Policy Seminar
The Unjust Climate: Measuring the impacts of climate change on rural poor, women, and youth
Co-organized by IFPRI, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and Gender, Climate Change and Nutrition Integration Initiative (GCAN)
June 18, 2024
9:30 – 11:00 am (America/New York)
3:30 – 5:00 pm (Europe/Amsterdam)
7:00 – 8:30 pm (Asia/Kolkata)


More intense and frequent climate events are increasingly disrupting agriculture-based livelihoods, with disproportionate effects on marginalized groups, including women farmers. Yet there is a lack of empirical research on the adverse effects of these extreme weather events, making it even more challenging to build smallholders’ resilience and address rising gender inequalities.

In a recent report, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations quantified the negative impacts of certain extreme climate events on poor rural households. The report, which included contributions from the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Gender, Climate Change and Nutrition Integration Initiative (https://www.ifpri.org/project/g-can-gender-responsive-and-climate-resilient-agriculturefor-nutrition), found that both floods and heat stress have already widened the income gap between poor and non-poor households by US$20 billion a year. Among other findings, it also showed that each day with extremely high temperatures reduces the total value of crops produced by women farmers by 3 percent relative to men.

Please join us to discuss key results from the report and hear from policymakers, practitioners, and partners on how they are working to generate relevant evidence and make a difference on the ground.

Opening Remarks
Maximo Torero, Chief Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Key Findings from the Report
Nicholas Sitko, Senior Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Resilience to Climate Change and Gender
Claudia Ringler, Director, Natural Resources and Resilience (NRR), IFPRI

Importance of Data
Carlo Azzarri, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Priorities for Inclusive Climate Action in Asia
Mansi Shah, Program Manager for the Future of Work Activities, Self-Employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA)

Priorities for Inclusive Climate Action in Africa
Faith Gikunda, Communications Director, Inclusive Climate Change Adaptation for a Sustainable Africa (ICCASA)

Donor Perspectives on Addressing Social and Economic Inequalities Through Climate Action
Aslihan Kes, Senior Gender Advisor, Resilience and Food Security, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Closing Remarks
Aditi Mukherji, Director, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Impact Action Platform of the CGIAR

Moderator
Elizabeth Bryan, Senior Scientist, IFPRI

Links:
The Unjust Climate: http://the%20unjust%20climate/

More about this Event: https://www.ifpri.org/event/unjust-climate-measuring-impacts-climate-change-rural-poor-women-and-youth/
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CGIAR SEMINAR SERIES
Famines and Fragility: Making humanitarian, developmental, and peacebuilding responses work
Co-organized by IFPRI, CGIAR, and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
14:30 TO 16:15 CET
JUN 11, 2024 - 9:30 TO 11:15AM EDT

Globally, the number of people facing crisis-level or worse acute food insecurity has more than doubled since 2017. The 2024 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC), which informs the Global Network Against Food Crises on where humanitarian and developmental assistance is most needed, reported 282 million people in 59 food crisis countries faced crisis-levels of acute food insecurity and more than 700,000 people suffered famine in 2023. These numbers have increased with the crises in Gaza, Sudan, and Haiti.

Conflict and fragility are major drivers of food crises, often compounded by weather extremes and economic shocks. Sound understanding of these drivers and of the structural factors underlying fragility is needed for timely and appropriate crisis responses and for preventative action. However, no one size fits all. Food crisis conditions and drivers vary greatly across countries, and crisis responders continue to face challenges to effective action along the humanitarian-development-peacebuilding (HDP) nexus.

As the sixth policy seminar in the CGIAR series on Strengthening Food Systems Resilience, this seminar will take stock of what we know about key drivers of protracted food crises and persistent fragility and about the obstacles to successful HDP action. Speakers will discuss: recent trends in acute food insecurity and their causes; the severity and dynamics of acute malnutrition in rapidly developing food crises, with a focus on new methods of collecting evidence; building resilience to economic shocks in fragile, conflict-affected food crisis countries; and ways to adapt humanitarian assistance, social protection, and livelihood rebuilding programs for fragile contexts with vast numbers of displaced people.

Opening Remarks
Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI and Managing Director, Systems Transformation Science Group, CGIAR
Hendrik Denker, Deputy Head of Division 123, Food and Nutrition Security, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Panel I - Protracted Food Crises: How to break the vicious circle of conflict, climate shocks and economic crises?

Global Food Crises and Fragility: Trends and drivers
Sara McHattie, Global Coordinator, Food Security Information Network (FSIN)

Anticipating and Dealing with Food Crisis Risks: The role of preventative lending windows
Sarah Simons, Program Manager, Partnerships & Quality Team, Agriculture and Food Global Practice, The World Bank

Addressing Food Crises Through the Humanitarian-Development-Peacebuilding (HDP) Nexus: Challenges and opportunities
Mia Beers, Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Resilience, Environment and Food Security, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Panel II – Lessons for Research and Policy from Four Hotspots of Hunger, Famine, and Fragility

Famine in Gaza: Questions for food crisis risk monitoring and preventive action in fragile and conflict-ridden contexts
Rob Vos, Director Markets, Trade, and Institutions, IFPRI

Methodological Innovations for Understanding Myanmar’s Current Food Crisis and Post-Conflict Reconstruction
Derek Headey, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Sudan’s Imminent Famine: What do we know and what can be done to prevent a major humanitarian disaster?
Khalid Siddig, Senior Research Fellow, and Sudan Country Strategy Support Program Leader, IFPRI

Moderator

Charlotte Hebebrand, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, IFPRI

More about this Event: https://www.ifpri.org/event/famines-and-fragility-making-humanitarian-developmental-and-peacebuilding-responses-work
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HYBRID POLICY SEMINAR
Tackling the Hidden Costs of our Food Systems
Co-organized by IFPRI, The Food System Economics Commission (FSEC), and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
JUN 6, 2024 - 9:30 TO 11:00AM EDT

Food systems provide important benefits to the global population, not only providing food but also supporting livelihoods for more than one billion people around the globe. However, food systems also encompass hidden environmental, health, and social costs, estimated to be at least $10 trillion per year, as mapped out in two separate seminal reports from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Food System Economics Commission (FSEC).

Please join us for a discussion on these hidden costs of food systems and the remedies to reduce this economic burden, while moving toward more sustainable, health-promoting, and socially inclusive food systems.

Speakers include experts involved in FAO’s report, The State of Food and Agriculture 2023, and FSEC’s Global Policy Report, The Economics of the Food System Transformation. Additional food system experts will delineate the hidden costs of food systems and examine transformative approaches for reducing them.

Open and Welcome Remarks | Setting the Scene
Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI and Managing Director, Systems Transformation Science Group, CGIAR
Maximo Torero, Chief Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

FAO SOFA report
Andrea Cattaneo, Senior Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

FSEC Global Policy Report Findings
Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi, Director, Food System Economics Commission (FSEC)

The Role of Diets in Reducing Food System's Hidden Costs
Jessica Fanzo, Professor of Climate and Food at Columbia University

Addressing Obstacles to Food Systems Transformation
Danielle Resnick, Senior Research Fellow, Development Strategies and Governance Unit (DSG), IFPRI

Moderator
Charlotte Hebebrand, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, IFPRI

More about this Event: hhttps://www.ifpri.org/event/tackling-hidden-costs-our-food-systems
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SPECIAL EVENT
Understanding the New Dynamics of Agrifood Trade, Perspectives by Pascal Lamy
Co-hosted jointly by IFPRI and Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
MAY 30, 2024 - 2:30 TO 4:00PM EDT

Geopolitical tensions, as well as conflicts at the regional, national, and local levels, climate change and sustainability challenges, and the troubling rise in the number of malnourished people worldwide form part of the complex web of factors shaping agrifood dynamics, and in turn, trade policies and negotiations.

Please join us for a lecture by IFPRI Board Chair Pascal Lamy, a foremost expert in international trade matters, who served as the European Union’s Trade Commissioner and as the World Trade Organization’s Director General. In examining past, present, and possible future dynamics of agrifood trade, Lamy will focus on evolving implications for developing countries and set forth potential approaches to aligning trade policies with the imperatives of sustainability, climate change adaptation and mitigation, food security, and poverty reduction.

The lecture will be followed by comments from a panel of international trade experts and a Q&A session.

Opening Remarks
Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI; Managing Director, Systems Transformation, CGIAR
Marcus Noland, Director General, Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)

Keynote Speaker
Pascal Lamy, Director General of the World Trade Organization (2005–2013); President emeritus, Jacques Delors Institute

International Trade Expert Panel
Mary Lovely, Anthony M. Solomon Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Mari Elka Pangestu, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Joseph Glauber, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI
Anabel González, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Sherman Robinson, Research Fellow Emeritus, IFPRI

Moderator
Charlotte Hebebrand, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, IFPRI

More about this Event: https://www.ifpri.org/event/understanding-new-dynamics-agri-food-trade-perspectives-pascal-lamy
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Despite significant progress in addressing hunger, malnutrition remains a major challenge in all regions of the world. Unhealthy diets are a major driver of all forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition, overweight and obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies, as well as diet-related noncommunicable diseases. Worldwide, as many as 3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet. The imperative to transform our food systems to ensure sustainable healthy diets for all has never been stronger; meaningful change will require that we deploy high-impact, evidence-based solutions in context-specific ways that are adaptable, dynamic, and equitable.

IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report on Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition presents policy and governance solutions to strengthen diet quality and nutrition in low- and middle-income countries, and examines priorities for future research on food systems for better nutrition. Drawing on a substantial body of research on diets, agriculture, and food systems from IFPRI and CGIAR, in partnership with colleagues around the world, the report emphasizes the critical need to focus on diets that benefit both people and the planet. It explores how demand-side approaches can support healthy dietary choices, the need to invest in improving affordability, and ways to strengthen food environments to support healthy diets. The report also highlights supply-side ways to improve diets, including increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables and assessing the role of animal-source foods, and discusses how effective governance can help achieve change. For each of the world’s major regions, the report identifies critical challenges and opportunities for contextually relevant actions to deliver healthy diets and nutrition for all.

Following a presentation of the report’s key findings and recommendations by IFPRI’s leading researchers in diets and nutrition, a distinguished panel of partners and experts will discuss the report. Remarks will focus on challenges and opportunities to transform food systems so that everyone everywhere can reap the benefits of sustainable healthy diets.

Opening and Report Launch
Johan Swinnen, Director General, IFPRI and Managing Director, Systems Transformation Science Group, CGIAR
Deanna Olney, Director, Nutrition, Diets, and Health (NDH), IFPRI

Selected findings from the 2024 GFPR

Opportunities and Challenges of Using a Food Systems Framework
Marie Ruel, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Demand-side Determinants and Solutions
Sunny Kim, Research Fellow, IFPRI

Food Environments for Better Nutrition
Gabriela Fretes, Associate Research Fellow, IFPRI

Enabling Environments
Danielle Resnick, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Panel Reflections
Moderated by Purnima Menon, Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy, CGIAR and IFPRI
Soumya Swaminathan, Chairperson, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), India
Namukolo Covic, Director General’s Representative to Ethiopia, CGIAR Ethiopia Country Convenor and CGIAR Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Ethiopia
Christopher Barrett, Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management and Co-Editor-in-Chief, Food Policy, Cornell University
Lynnette Neufeld, Director, Food and Nutrition Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), Italy
Shelly Sundberg, Interim Director, Agricultural Development, Nutrition, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)

Closing Reflections
Purnima Menon, Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy, CGIAR and IFPRI

Moderator
Charlotte Hebebrand, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, IFPRI

More about this Event: https://www.ifpri.org/event/improving-diets-and-nutrition-through-food-systems-what-will-it-take
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HYBRID POLICY SEMINAR
Globalization of the Bioeconomy: Recent Trends and Drivers of Bioeconomy Programs and Policies
Co-organized by IFPRI, International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy (IACGB) and CGIAR
MAY 7, 2024 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EDT

The bioeconomy approach to sustainable development holds great promise in reducing dependence on fossil fuels, addressing climate change, and promoting resource-use efficiency, thereby stimulating economic growth, enabling innovation, and improving food security. The bioeconomy is the production, utilization, conservation, and regeneration of biological resources, including related knowledge, science, technology, and innovation, to provide sustainable solutions (information, products, processes, and services) within and across all economic sectors and enable a transformation to a sustainable economy.

Multilateral organizations have intensified their engagement in, and for, the bioeconomy. Under India’s lead in 2023, the G20 drew attention to the bioeconomy and, in 2024, Brazil put the bioeconomy prominently on the G20 agenda. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) included bioeconomy in its most recent science strategy. At the same time, national bioeconomy strategies are emerging to shape multisectoral approaches to climate neutrality, food and nutrition security, improved health, economic growth, and other objectives aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.

In April 2024, the International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy (IACGB) released a new policy review in preparation for the Global Bioeconomy Summit in October 2024. The new report analyzes bioeconomy policy trends and their determinants, and highlights the growing importance of the bioeconomy as a key enabler and solution provider to global sustainability challenges across various sectors and dimensions of society. Importantly, the report identifies international and multilateral cooperation as a key building block.

The report—and the growing body of research on the bioeconomy—emphasizes the opportunities to advance innovation and facilitate the rise of a bio-based industry and manufacturing, sustainable and regenerative agriculture, human health, and circular bio-based economies. This seminar will spotlight key findings from the IACBG report and explore the role of the bioeconomy in addressing food security, nutrition and diets, and poverty reduction in low- and middle-income countries. Please join us on May 7, 2024, at the International Food Policy Research Institute (in-person or online) for an exciting seminar on the globalization of the bioeconomy.

Welcome Remarks
Johan Swinnen, Managing Director, Systems Transformation, CGIAR; Director General, IFPRI

Keynote Speaker
Joachim von Braun, Distinguished Professor for Economic and Technological Change, Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn University

Panel Discussion
Julius Ecuru, Principal Scientist and Manager, Research Innovation Coordination Units, BioInnovate Africa Programme, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology
Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director, CGIAR (Video Remarks)
Mary E. Maxon, Executive Director, BioFutures
Hugo Alexander Chavarría Miranda, Program Manager for Innovation and Bioeconomy, and Executive Secretary Latin American Bioeconomy Network, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) (Video Remarks)

Moderator
David Spielman, Director, Innovation Policy, and Scaling (IPS), IFPRI

More about this Event: https://www.ifpri.org/event/globalization-bioeconomy-recent-trends-and-drivers-bioeconomy-programs-and-policies
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