Urban Rural Partnerships Working Group Input to CSD 17

Tue, May 12, 2009

As never before, there is a need for development strategies that emphasize, rather than undermine, the interdependence of economy, society and nature. In this context, a focus on food is an imperative, not an option. And people must be looked at as citizens, rather than consumers (Kevin Morgan and Roberta Sonnino, Cardiff University.)

During both the Review Session of CSD 16 and the Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting (IPM) for CSD there was attention given by governments and major groups of civil society to the important direct linkages between urban and rural sectors to meet the Millenium Development Goals, meet economic development, social protection and environmental goal. Some of these linkages are contained in the draft decision text for CSD 17. This policy brief calls for specific improvements in the final text.

CSD 17 offers an opportunity for policy negotiation that results in government agreement on the sustainable development approach that will help to deal with the food, financial and climate crises at global, national and local levels. Urban rural partnerships can provide a comprehensive framework for action on global food security, enhancing the role of cities and local authorities as drivers of change and creative initiatives that can ensure food security, “green” the food and agricultural economy, and provide economic development and jobs.

FOR THE CSD 17 DECISION:

Governments and major groups are invited to acknowledge the important environmental, social and economic connections between rural and urban sectors, to identify complementary local and international trade relationships, and promote an enabling environment that fosters such linkages. To achieve these ends, governments, intergovernmental organizations and civil society should work together to exchange information and build networks between urban-rural partnerships, between developing countries and developed countries.

Background: Urbanization is a compelling worldwide trend with many implications that touch agriculture. Typically, for example, urban centers provide important markets for agricultural goods. We need to ensure that a portion of the economic potential of such markets is accessible to regional and local producers so as to enhance and sustain rural development, and to provide a buffer from global food system price and supply shocks. Beyond market links, we also need to acknowledge agriculture touches and impacts urban centers and rural communities in a variety of important and interlinked ways – through healthy eating initiatives, school lunch programs, food assistance programs, community food gardens, farmer markets, etc. As food security rises in public visibility, the interests and stakes that are shared by both urban and rural communities should increasingly be considered mutually supportive as opposed to distinct, separate, or in conflict.

In addition to enhancing local food security and positive and reciprocal economic ties, the landscape-scale pattern of land management that surrounds urban centers is shaped in important ways by the nature of the market linkages that the city creates with its surrounding countryside – the ‘foodshed’ is also the watershed that depending on management approaches, can moderate flooding and preserve water quality. Other services include the potential to sequester carbon, to protect biodiversity, and provide the open-space and cultural amenities sought by urban populations.

The experimentation and experience base that has been building across these urban rural links is rich and still in need of comprehensive analysis and coordination to provide solutions in dealing with the food, financial and climate crises at global, national and local levels. Urban rural partnerships can provide a comprehensive framework for action on global food security, enhancing the role of cities and local authorities as drivers of change and creative initiatives that can ensure food security, “green” the food and agricultural economy, and provide economic development and jobs.

“Appreciating that there are many successful experiences and best practices on the ground, and that a key challenge we face is how to replicate, adapt and scale up what we know works”

(CSD 17 unedited text from February IPM).

Specific policy options and practical measures

to strengthen urban rural partnerships:

1. Support increased role of local authorities in urban-rural linkages to foster capacity building and help mayors to develop an understanding of food systems and to create new markets through training, exchange visits, and extension through multi-media.

Mainstream urban agriculture for urban land use planning and environmental management:

The Municipal Development Partnership for Eastern and Southern Africa (MDP-ESA), in partnership with the Resource Centers for Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF) Foundation, are working to help urban authorities recognize urban agriculture as a strategy for fighting poverty, improving food security and nutrition; creating employment; and beautifying the environment.

Scale up programs such as Cities Farming for Future (CFF) to identify strategies for urban poverty reduction, urban food security, improved urban environmental management, and empowerment of urban farms through participatory city governance. The From Seed to Table (FSTT) Program launched in February 2009 to assist urban farmers, particularly women, to secure markets for their produce, is another example (MDP-ESA).

2. Support direct linking of rural and urban sectors and actors: Worldwide, local authorities and other Major Group stakeholders need recognition and support from national governments and international organizations for their roles as drivers of new agricultural production and market development.

A powerful instrument for governments – public procurement

– The School Food Revolution, Kevin Morgan and Roberta Sonino

Home-grown school feeding and a sustainable supply chain infrastructure for school food (and other public provisioned food) contributes to reduced food miles and carbon emission reduction, responsible agricultural production and procurement practices that support regional farms. The school food revolution can be a positive catalyst for change.

Local level action emerging in school feeding has helped lead the revolution around the world. From Johannesburg to Rome, New York to London, and in countries such as Ghana, Malawi and Nigeria among many others, lessons are being learned to guide the way forward.

Actions to enhance the potential of school food as a valuable development tool include measures that recognize:

- The importance of action-research and partnerships amongst universities, NGOs and community-based organizations to overcome the delivery deficit and catalyze progress.

- The need to facilitate the diffusion of knowledge. Good practice is a bad traveller. It is essential to incorporate capacity building for sharing lessons learned and ensuring the promise of school feeding (Morgan and Sonnino).

3. Enhance ‘triangular’ strategies that encourage local procurement for “Home Grown” school feeding and other institutional programs, while also supporting small farmer organizations’ capacity to produce for these loci of demand. This addresses long term food security, local economic development and potential for increased school enrollment for girls.

4. Support nutritionally superior food access and food security, especially in low income communities, to address hunger, nutrition, and health disparities related to lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods. Realize universal access to food for all communities, regardless of socio-economic status.

Promote open markets and fair prices:

For example, the World Union of Wholesale Markets (WUWM) emphasizes the importance of both wholesale and retail markets:

“Though the price of food is increasing for consumers, the share of profits is often decreasing for producers and farmers. The problem clearly resides in the fact that producers are not getting their fair percent of the returns, this being due to higher level profits taken further along the retail/supply chain. It is therefore essential that alternative outlets to the marketplace, such as wholesale markets, be not only maintained but also better encouraged (WUWM E-Newsletter 2009, edition 3).

5. Call for public-private partnerships and investments in farm-to-market supply chain infrastructure to support farmers growing for local and regional markets. Revitalize wholesale markets where they have been allowed to deteriorate; develop attractive investment incentives for wholesale markets that temper the concentration and consolidation tendencies of global retail chains and supermarkets.

Biodiversity Protection and Sustainable Agriculture Belong Together

– ICLEI, Local Action for Biodiversity and Urban Nature

Encourage the prioritisation of natural ecosystem conservation as an essential prerequisite for the provision of essential ecosystem goods and services into the future. This would include the development of mechanisms and initiatives that combine poverty alleviation or economic development, with conservation of natural ecosystems and their biodiversity.

Encourage responsible and sustainable agriculture that does not erode the natural resources base. Agriculture (both rural and urban) is a form of land-use that typically displaces ecosystems and wild species. But if carefully planned and managed, this loss of biodiversity can be minimised and even reversed. Furthermore the diversity of agricultural species (referred to as agricultural diversity or also sometimes as biodiversity) themselves is of critical importance to sustainability and in particular food security.

6. Scale up urban food strategies to create sustainable city-regions. Invest in regional agricultural diversity and new markets: Farm-to-market infrastructure at sub-regional and sub-national levels urgently needs new investment with both national and international support. Private-public partnerships, in particular, hold the potential to reduce poverty and hunger by linking national and regional farming and food systems to new wholesale and retail markets in urban centers.

- Promote cooperatives/producer organizations that link small farmers to new market chains as a fundamental step toward economic integration.

MORE FOR THE CSD 17 DECISION:

Strengthen Local Partnerships for Food Security: Urban rural partnerships for food security and vibrant markets take many forms. The diversity of partnerships, reflecting diverse cultural and agroecological systems, can provide crucial food security safety nets. Such partnerships require focused research and political and financial support to allow women, small farmers, indigenous people and other underserved stakeholders to fully participate in their own development.

Support specific initiatives and partnerships to help urban rural jurisdictions/agencies to work together with civil society and to develop mechanisms that allow them to promote best practices; governments should adopt concrete proposals to bring national authorities and international organizations together with Major Groups to provide the resources needed to generate such initiatives and partnership.