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The way the world produces food will have to change radically to better serve the poor and hungry if the world is to cope with a growing population and climate change while avoiding social breakdown and environmental collapse.

This is the message from the report of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) launched on the 15 April 2008.

Professor Robert Watson, Director of the IAASTD Secretariat, said “If we do persist with business as usual, the world’s people cannot be fed over the next half-century. It will mean more environmental degradation, and the gap between the haves and have-nots will further widen. We have an opportunity now to marshal our intellectual resources to avoid that sort of future. Otherwise we face a world no one would want to inhabit.”

According to the report, the way to meet the challenges lies in putting in place institutional, economic and legal frameworks that combine productivity with the protection and conservation of natural resources like soils, water, forests, and biodiversity while meeting production needs.

The report addresses the following questions:

• What challenges does agriculture face today?
• What are the pros and cons of bioenergy?
• Can biotechnology help meet the growing demand for food?
• How is climate change threatening agriculture?
• How is food production affecting health?
• Can traditional knowledge contribute to agriculture?
• How can agriculture make better use of natural resources?
• Why haven’t small farmers benefited more from global trade?
• What is the role of women in agriculture and development?

It then considers the options for action in relation to fighting poverty and improving rural livelihoods, enhancing food security, using natural resources in a sustainable way, improving human health and helping achieve greater equity in agriculture.

View the summary and the full IAASTD Synthesis Report online.

The assessment, the result of a 3-year effort by about 400 experts from around the world, was sponsored by the United Nations, the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), an independent financial organization that provides grants to developing countries. Five U.N. agencies were involved: the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), the U.N. Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Additional individuals, organizations and governments participated in a peer review process.

DEFRA-DFID Joint press statement on IAASTD

The UK welcomes the reports of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) and congratulates the authors, editors, Director and all those involved with the process. Given increasing food prices and their impact on poor people combined with the challenges to agriculture by climate change, they are very timely.

The IAASTD is a unique assessment involving governments, civil society and academics. The IAASTD reports are a very valuable and important contribution to the debate and understanding on agricultural knowledge, science and technology and its potential to reduce poverty and hunger around the world.

The UK is pleased to see that many leading British social and agricultural scientists have been involved, and that Professor Bob Watson was the Director of the Assessment. The UK Government also provided over £500,000 to support the Assessment.

For more information
IAASTD Press Release
BBC News item - Global food system 'must change' (15 April 2008)