From Food Production to Food Security - Global Environmental ...

Strengthening policy formulation and feedbacks to the science agendaNot all research need have direct value to policy formulation, whether this be formal,governmental policy or policy for a business or civil society group. If, however, the value topolicy formulation is a prime motive of the research (as is often the case in food securityresearch), the information needs of the policy makers needs to drive research design. Thismeans that setting a food security research agenda needs a highly consultative and inclusiveapproach, engaging with a range of stakeholders (Paper 5). It also needs to recognise thecomplexity of stakeholder needs and interactions. Further, and if conducted in the developingworld, the links to the development agenda, and particularly to the Millennium DevelopmentGoals, must be explicit.Real research impact will occur only once intended beneficiaries see the benefits of makingsuch changes. From the policy perspective, these benefits must therefore be deemedimportant, relevant and likely to happen. In addition, potential beneficiaries need tounderstand and trust the research process – and this will most likely be the case if stakeholderengagement is a fundamental aspect of research. But an indispensable condition for asuccessful stakeholder dialogue is a shared sense of urgency and ambition; all participantsshould feel the need to solve the problem that is at stake and to make concrete steps in thatdirection. They also need to see where the specific research project fits within the broad foodsecurity agenda and the food system approach can help in this regard.As noted above, the approach is also being increasingly accepted by a range of organisationsand national agencies in setting policy and calling for new research. It is recognised asbringing structure to the necessary science/policy dialogues, highlighting the fact that foodsecurity policy needs to be set cognisant of the range of information needs over differenttemporal and spatial levels. The dialogues with the policy process also challenge the researchcommunity to develop projects which require enhanced interdisciplinarity and novelapproaches. A key message for science and policy is that the multiple pathways to achievegreater synergy between enhanced food security and improved environmental outcomesrequire more coordination than presently exists.Future research needsFood systems, and analyses of food security which they underpin, provide a rich ground forresearch. While there is a long list of research questions in agricultural science (e.g. Pretty etal., 2010), there is a major need to extend the research agenda in non-agricultural aspects, asnoted in Paper 3. Technical fixes alone will not solve the food security challenge andadapting to future demands and stresses requires an integrated food system approach, not justa focus on agricultural practices. Two areas therefore warrant particular attention: improvinginput use efficiency within other food system activities, i.e. across the whole food system;and enhancing food system governance.117