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

Finally, it is worth noting that for stakeholder engagement to be effective, the personalities ofall those involved are important; human nature can frustrate earnest attempts to communicategenially and find consensus. It is crucial not to ‘get off on the wrong foot’ so someknowledge of the proposed participants’ personalities is important, especially whenfacilitating first-time interactions. Similarly, knowledge of any ‘history’ of prior interactionsbetween stakeholders (be it good or bad) can be very helpful in designing meetings and otherinteractions. Setting the right atmosphere for the meeting is also important and a range ofinformal and/or social activities can be a key aspect for building trust and developingfriendships. These aspects not only help with the meeting itself, but can also develop a strongfoundation for longer-term collaborations.Interactions with stakeholders to enhance decision support for food securityThe policy community is often the main stakeholder group of interest to researchers workingat the regional level. To be of use in supporting policy formulation, research on thedevelopment and assessment of possible strategies to adapt food systems to the impacts ofGEC should be elaborated in the context of the policy process. As the food security–GECdebate encompasses many complex and interactive issues, a structured dialogue is needed toassist the collaboration among scientists and policy-makers. This can be facilitated by avariety of decision support approaches and tools, ranging from general discussions andmutual awareness-raising (including formal joint exercises such as scenario construction andanalyses; see Box 6) to simulation modelling, geographic information systems and other toolsfor conducting quantitative analyses of trade-offs of given policy options.Box 6 Using scenario exercises to facilitate communication among stakeholders.Scenario exercises can facilitate stakeholder involvement, thus linking research activities more closelyto actual decision processes. This can be especially effective where dialogue is centred onuncertainties and complexity, and an assessment of future trends is sought – as is the case whendiscussing GEC interactions with medium- to long-term implications for food security. Scenarioexercises have shown considerable potential to provide a mechanism for involving a range ofstakeholders and for facilitating communication between them. Generally speaking, scenario exercisescan be and have been effective in supporting three main clusters in any assessment (Henrichs et al.,2010):1. The research and scientific exploration cluster (i.e. helping to better understand the dynamics of(complex) systems by exploring the interaction between key drivers).2. The education and public information cluster (i.e. providing a space for structuring, conveyingand illustrating different perceptions about unfolding and future trends).3. The decision-support and strategic planning cluster (i.e. offering a platform for soliciting viewsabout expected future developments and to analyse trade-offs between pathways).Ideally, a scenario exercise contributes – to some degree – to all of the above by aiming to enhancecredibility through expert knowledge (i.e. ‘Is the exercise convincing?’), salience to stakeholders (i.e.80