1 IFLA WORLD CONFERENCE NAIROBI 2023 Food Security, Agriculture and Landscape Carlos Jankilevich This work incorporates definitions concepts and criteria adopted as a result of debates, agreements and webinar outcomes, as developed by the members of our Working Group, together with the contribution of the public and those experts who joined us. Demands arising from the global political agenda, in the face of the effects of urban growth, climate change, food insecurity, loss of biodiversity, migration and war, underline the relevance of the bond between Agriculture, and Landscape Architecture, not only because of the shared concern with food production, but also because of its impact on human activity as well as the environment and civil society. In preparation to the next IFLA 2023 World Council in Nairobi this paper focuses on the importance of such bond as a way to allow a discussion imperative to the future of our profession in this regard, 1. On Agriculture Agriculture, an activity on which about 50% of the world's population depends for its livelihood is an important economic force. It is also a way of life, a factor of cultural identity and an ancestral pact with nature. Within the non-monetary values of agriculture are: the landscape, the habitat, and its liaison with territorial planning, as well as its capacity to raise awareness on original communities and our idiosyncrasy. But without a doubt, the most significant contribution of agriculture is that, for more than 811 million undernourished people in the world, most of them in rural areas, it is a means to face hunger. About 10% of the world’s population regularly go to bed facing hunger. 1.1 Food Security The prevalence of undernourishment, as a share of the population, is the main hunger indicator used by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It measures the share of the population which has 2 a caloric (dietary energy) intake which is insufficient to meet the minimum energy requirements defined as necessary for a given population, (Food insecurity). Figure 1.1.1 Share of the population that is undernourished, 2019. Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) via World Bank The global map of the prevalence of undernourishment above, shows the share of undernourished population (Countries with a prevalence below 2.5% are not shown). The war in Ukraine has made conditions worse since 2022, as conflict restricts global food supplies, drives up prices, and threatens the world’s most vulnerable people and countries. Poverty operates as a mechanism of reproduction of gaps between urban and rural that affects access to food and basic services, such as health, education and infrastructure. The global trend shows that the disparity between the supply of services and employment opportunities at the rural level is practically half of the one at urban level. These inequalities are also evident regarding wages and prices. 3 Figure 1.1.2 Access to food, Nominal and Real Terms. Source: FAO (2019) Figure 1.1.2 above presents the difference in nominal and real terms of access to food based on wages. The gap between the two is an indicator of the increase in hunger. The United Nations’ “zero hunger” Sustainable Development Goal calls for ending hunger in the world by 2030. To reach this goal globally USD $ 265 billion per year were estimated to be needed between 2016 and 2030 broken down into USD $ 67,000 million for social protection and USD 198 billion for pro-poor investments. COVID-19 pandemic, extreme weather and the war have intensified underlying inequalities around the world, making this goal even more difficult to achieve. Other variable that affects the percentage of undernourished population is its own growth, which tends to be concentrated in urban areas. According to the World Bank, whereas 56% of the planet’s population live in cities today, this figure is expected to increase to 60% by 2030. United Nations projections estimate that the world's urban population will experience a growth of 75% in the next four decades, (a rise of 6.3 billion by 2050), mainly due to the "unprecedented" push that cities in Africa and Asia will experience. Figure 1.1.3 presented below allows us to observe the behaviour of the population increase by decade and by region worldwide 4 Proyecciones de la población mundial por regiones Fuente Naciones Unidas 2022 Figure 1.1.3 UN Regional Population Projections (Billions, 2015 – 2100). Source: United Nations (2022) Currently, nearly two-thirds of the world's population live in Asia, mostly in India and China. A review of forecasts broken down by region reveals that by 2100, Africa and Asia will be home to 4.4 and 4.9 billion people respectively and together will account for 83% of the world's population. In other words, the share of the non-African or non-Asian world population appears small and relatively constant. At the World Food Summit in Rome in 1996, Food Security was defined as “the situation in which all people at all times, have physical and economic access to get enough nutritious safe food to meet their nutritional needs and develop a healthy life” (FAO 2011). According to the facts stated above, under the present circumstances Food Security appears like a global major concern and a rather difficult target to achieve. 5 1.2 Climate Change Currently, and foreseeable at least during the next two decades, our nations territory, landscape and population are exposed to the threat of great oceanic masses as well as the constant increase of temperature. The rise in quantity of water extreme events and droughts and their effects on production, points to climate change as a global reality as well as the fact that weather patterns are becoming progressively more erratic and severe. Figure 1.2.1 Natural disaster and climate change. Source: Sustainability for all (2019) The incidence of human society in global warming causes atmospheric phenomena to be increasingly violent. The increase becomes apparent through the number of natural disasters and its distribution. Climate change affects infrastructure, public health, agriculture, the loss of lives and productive activities further threatening the already fragile food security of human society. 6 Figure 1.2.2 Worldwide croplands extent, food support and water security map. Source: Global Croplands / Usage: Public Domain. The map above shows cropland distribution across the world. India has the highest net cropland area while South Asia and Europe are considered agricultural capitals of the world. The present global distribution of crops and agricultural activity is undergoing dramatic changes related to the climate, but also with the extension of land consumed by the current production and distribution systems. The conditions indicated up to this point, result in critical thinking regarding the commercial and industrial agricultural trend, focused on the product and not on food. The academy and international organizations such as FAO propose a paradigm shift with production modes closer to nature, aware of the contribution of ancestral communities, and the advantages to the direct consumer, trying to reduce intermediation to zero. This vision allows us to focus on agroecology and the concept of good agricultural practices. The effects of climate change also underline the importance of Water Security. Nearly 80 percent of all human water used across the world goes towards producing food. The world can expect more rainfall 7 as the climate changes, but it can also expect more water to evaporate, complicating efforts to manage reservoirs and irrigate crops in a growing world. Figure 1.2.3 Extreme world regions from drought areas to flooding map. Source: Ashok Mishra, SW Magazine, July 2021. This map shows how the various precipitation regions are distributed throughout the world. According to new research involving Clemson University’s Ashok Mishra, areas in dark orange are most vulnerable to extremes in wet and dry seasons, a trend expected to become more intense as the climate changes. The regions that will be hardest hit by climate change are the ones that already get slammed with rain during wet seasons and struggle with drought during dry ones. Such regions include much of India and its neighbours to the east, including Bangladesh and Myanmar, along with an inland swath of Brazil, two sections running east-west across Africa, and northern Australia. The extreme effects of climate change affect the productive capacity and alter the daily life of communities and their landscape. Both, excess and non-availability of water damage and put food security at risk. Thus, adaptation and mitigation to the effects of climate change becomes a high priority. 8 2. Agriculture and landscape Agricultural Landscape is an expression of the bond between human society and the environment, linked to a wider concept of biodiversity. It is also, the result of a coevolution process between man and nature. A tighter link between landscape and agriculture could be a great opportunity to sustainability both for landscape quality, as well as for people s life quality, allowing access to a healthier environment and food. 2.1 A conceptual update To apprehend the concept of landscape, we must understand it from multiple perspectives. Likewise, to unravel the relationship between agriculture and landscape we have to look through different readings. While agricultural heritage systems are our common roots, agriculture is also the face of rural territory and an important economic resource. For local communities, rural landscapes enhance a sense of belonging and identity and has proven to be the most effective way of giving human scale to natural places. Through history, people devoted to agriculture contributed to the creation of what was then called Rural landscapes and presently are regarded upon as examples of resilient landscapes towards climate change and a valuable resource not to be ignored or misused. But also, over time, and above all, due to the forms of industrial and commercial production at a global level, as part of the phenomenon of urbanization, rural areas and rurality have somehow become synonymous of a process of exclusion. 2.2 Regarding rurality However, and above all, after the pandemic, "the rural" is no longer considered as a space of deficiencies and poverty and it begins to be understood as a space of opportunities to transform food and energy systems and promote ecosystem services, the conservation of biodiversity, the fight against climate change and sustainable management of natural resources like land and water. 9 Food security understood as a way of life and in relation to nature together with the environment, close to these new concepts of rurality and urbanity, opens up a number of options for the improvement of ecosystem services, environmental health, quality of life, identity and communication. Also, calls for a new relationship for consumer distribution and community production associated with a greater and better public space, for the enjoyment of cultural activities and the public. 2.3 Biodiversity, agriculture and landscape Ecological landscapes are based on the environmental features of a site for the benefit of all forms of life within an ecosystem including human society. High biological diversity goes hand in hand with a great diversity of landscapes. The landscape comprises all forms of biodiversity and integrates them transversally. The effect of climate change places the affected regions in serious exposure to multiple risks that will affect the health of the population, the economic situation, the environment and the availability of natural resources. A key response of landscape to this situation is resilience. In order to face the current challenges, we need to expand the availability of technical resources, as well as promote and support community participation and thus achieve our key objective which is to integrate ecological and social resilience. The resilience of Food productions systems is strongly related to the ecosystem they support. Landscape is the articulator par excellence since it incorporates the visions from the natural to the social and allows the defence, recovery and improvement of the conditions of life which contemplate from the habitat to the identity. At this stage we must ask ourselves: What kind of agriculture where? What kind of agriculture for whom? What kind of agriculture which landscape? 10 To answer these questions, we aim to spread the concept of Productive Landscapes as the current social construction of landscape. A landscape whose management far from exhausting resources contributes to its production 3. The role of Landscape Architects Due to our holistic interdisciplinary vision, we Landscape Architects are uniquely qualified to contribute to large-scale landscape planning and multifunctional landscape design together with food production, food security and sovereignty as well as, the pursuit of territorial justice. 3.1 Our call Traditionally, Landscape Architecture was associated with the design of parks, gardens and green areas for public and private use, which framed emblematic buildings and sites. Currently, the specialist in Landscape Architecture is a professional who covers the entire environment, the treatment of urban, interurban and regional areas, green spaces associated with tourism, works of art and sites of great significance, maintenance and protection of national parks, preservation and recovery of various forms of heritage, taking into account historical, forest and water heritage, lines coastlines and border fringes There is a high expectation towards our profession, regarding our involvement in large areas and scales, along with; the construction of a new rurality and urbanity associated with efforts to halt the loss of biodiversity and enhance adaptation to the effects of climate change. In this regard, we Landscape Architects are specially trained and must contribute to the strengthening of ecological and social resilience. At the present time, the response of the landscape is resilience. 3.2 IFLA World Working Group on Agriculture and Landscape Presently IFLA encompasses five regions worldwide hosting seventy-eight national and two multinational associations. Aware of the serious events that affect agriculture and the landscape in relation to food security and sensitive to the demands and challenges of the global search for a new paradigm, during the International World Conference and Council, held in Oslo in September 2019 11 the IFLA World Working Group on Agriculture and Landscape (WG A&L) was appointed. 3.2.1 Targets and key actions IFLA WG A&L was set up in order to create a globally organized team of specialists capable to fulfil the following targets: i) Co-ordinate, develop and oversee IFLA’s overall framework in all matters dealing with Agriculture and Landscape as to ensure high standards of professional practice by its members; ii) Design and implement Strategic Action Plans by region for the promotion of transformative actions, innovative proposals as well as to prevent and mitigate current threats to urban and rural agriculture and the landscape that identifies them. Also, to develop new forms of management for Territorial and Food Justice as a contribution to the end of world hunger; iii) Awake awareness, understanding, and stimulate commitment as pertains the relation between Agriculture and Productive Landscapes in order to address managing solutions to conflicts and demands identified as priorities. The above mentioned targets to be attained by implementing key actions such as: i) Make an inventory of agricultural heritage systems in each region and nation in response to the safeguard of agricultural biodiversity and wildlife and the dissemination of indigenous knowledge sources and ancestral cultures; ii) Explore and deepen mutual collaboration opportunities between Agriculture, Urban Agriculture, Productive Landscapes, Public Space and Cultural-natural Heritage; iii) Promote actions based on transformation, innovation and resilience, according to the communities and their environment; iv) Establishing a core of thematic axes on emergencies and priority issues as to generate action lines and hands-on-projects by local teams implementing participatory ventures ; v) Identifying and promoting efficient levels of production and consumption according with the living conditions, needs and idiosyncrasy of the communities involved. The IFLA World Working Group on Agriculture and Landscape, as part of the IFLA Standing Committee on Professional Practice and Policy (PPP) contributes on varying degrees with each and all seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 20-30 Agenda, particularly the Second of said objectives "Zero Hunger", which poses to reduce the World Hunger that affects more than eight hundred million people globally, by the year 2030. Even so, as explained in section 1.1 page 12 3, under the present circumstances Food Security appears like a global major concern and a rather difficult target to achieve. 3.2.2 Structure Our IFLA WG A&L, aims reaching responsible responses regarding the bond between Agriculture and Landscape Architecture favoring binding actions in favor of Territorial Justice and Food Security. The latter, through innovative conceptual frameworks, community involvement and landscape management Our working group is made up by a representative from each of the IFLA regions and a Chair Person Figure 3.2.2 Members of the IFLA Working Group on Agriculture and Landscape. Source: Prepared by author (2023) 3.2.3 Achievements and Main Action Axes IFLA WG A&L seeks to achieve its goals through Regional Strategic Plans, local hand-om projects, and global debate- feedback seminars. Also, supporting the development of communication networks and platforms, among which a remarkable case in point is "Living with Disaster", a platform hosted by teachable.com developed by Misato Uehara and his Shinshu University team within the Asia http://teachable.com/ 13 Pacific Region. Followed by the recent set up in the America s of the “Landscape Platform” led by Pedro Camarena and his colleagues from UNAM (University of Mexico). From its creation to the present, at least three webinars have been held per year with wide participation and great dissemination of their results. Also, in 2023 the broadcasting of short interviews on key topics was launched These activities are framed within the group four main Action Axes, each of them referring to a key issue on the global agenda. Table 3.2.3 IFLA WG A&L Main Action Axes. Source: Prepared by author (2023) Within this wide spectrum of challenges and opportunities a crucial tool is the development of liaisons and establishment of stable relationships with national and local governments, professional boards and community associations. Also, building up agreements and joint actions with international allies, such us, United Nations agencies, like Habitat and FAO and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In this regard, we have been implementing for the last three years hands on projects along the America s region within the framework of the IICA-IFLA agreement, which have recently been extended util 2025. IICA is the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Cooperation, the largest agency of the Organization of American States encompassing thirty-four nations. Please see examples of these IFLA STRATEGY FOR RURAL ANCESTRAL AND INNOVATIVE LANDSCAPES Focused on rural landscape as a heritage to be preserved and learn from. Also, as source for innovation based on ancestral knowledge and creation of alternative system (led by IFLA Europe) IFLA INITIATIVE ON OASIS, LANDSCAPES & AGRICULTURE Devoted to agriculture solution through productive landscapes in oasis and drought areas (led by IFLA Africa and the Middle East) IFLA PROJECT ON EXTREME WATER RELATED EVENTS AND AGRICULTURE Attentive to the prevention and solution to disastrous emerging from flooding, tsunamis, see level rising and others forms of water related extreme events. (led by IFLA Asia Pacific) IFLA PROPOSAL FOR LANDSCAPE, AGRICULTURE AND MIGRATION REFUGEE CAMPS versus REFUGEE FARMS Dedicated to the pursue of landscape – agriculture related solution populations in their new temporary permanent settlements (led by IFLA Americas) 14 projects through the following link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YNlUlm_NmZ6DCU7iazeliEYKHN7Tmai/view?usp=sharing References Ashok Mishra (2021) “Extreme world regions from drought areas to flooding” in Periods of extreme heat to increase, SW Magazine https://news.clemson.edu/can-south- carolina-beat-the-heat/ FAO (2011) Food Nutrition Security, Basic Concepts 3rd Edition https://www.fao.org/3/at772s/at772s.pdf FAO (2021) Food Price Index 1961–2021, Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FAO_Food_Price_Index_1961%E2 %80%932021.jpg M, Roser and H, Ritchie (2019) Hunger and Undernourishment, Our world in Data https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment United Nations (2022) World Population Prospects (Summary of Results). https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.de sa.pd/files/wpp2022_summary_of_results.pdf Sustainability for all (2019) Natural disaster and climate change https://www.sostenibilidad.com/cambio-climatico/desastres-naturales-y- cambio-climatico/?_adin=1174174195 USGS Science for a Changing World (2017) Worldwide Croplands Supports Food and Water Security https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/new-map-worldwide-croplands- supports-food-and-water-security https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YNlUlm_NmZ6DCU7iazeliEYKHN7Tmai/view?usp=sharing https://news.clemson.edu/can-south-carolina-beat-the-heat/ https://news.clemson.edu/can-south-carolina-beat-the-heat/ https://www.fao.org/3/at772s/at772s.pdf https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FAO_Food_Price_Index_1961%E2%80%932021.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FAO_Food_Price_Index_1961%E2%80%932021.jpg https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/wpp2022_summary_of_results.pdf https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/wpp2022_summary_of_results.pdf https://www.sostenibilidad.com/cambio-climatico/desastres-naturales-y-cambio-climatico/?_adin=1174174195 https://www.sostenibilidad.com/cambio-climatico/desastres-naturales-y-cambio-climatico/?_adin=1174174195 https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/new-map-worldwide-croplands-supports-food-and-water-security https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/new-map-worldwide-croplands-supports-food-and-water-security