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Knowledge4Policy
Knowledge for policy

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  • Publication | 2022

Sustainable and Resilient Agricultural Value Chains: Addressing Multiple Vulnerabilities with a new Partnership Approach

Global Food and Nutrition Security

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine meet longer-term impacts of climate change and no-less pressing challenges of social and environmental sustainability in and around agriculture, food and nutrition security. Many international mechanisms are already in place for agriculture and food systems. They are, however, not (yet) sufficiently coordinated, and there are gaps in terms of addressing the above-mentioned objectives: safeguarding food security and promoting sustainability. Due diligence laws, as a new type of policy approach, have recently been initiated by many industrialized countries to improve social and environmental conditions in (agricultural) supply chains. However, these regulations also bear the risk of generating unintended negative consequences, particularly for smallholder farmers in poor countries. Against this background, the T7 puts forward four proposals at different degree of specificity: 1) Reacting to geopolitical risks: Immediate and long-term measures to safeguard food security in light of Russia’s war against Ukraine; 2) Balancing and integrating food security and sustainability; 3) Initiating an observatory on new due diligence measures as one concrete step in that direction; 4) Striving towards better integrated global governance of agriculture and the food system, and Initiating a strategic partnership with African countries.