HLPE 3rd note on critical, emerging, and enduring issues (CEEI)
World Bank - Consolidated Comments
The draft note on CEEI identifies seven key issues affecting FSN:
1. Building resilient and equitable supply chains for FSN
2. Urban and peri-urban food systems
3. Conflicts and the fragility of food systems
4. Revitalizing climate policies for FSN
5. Recognizing the role and rights of food system workers
6. Building a meaningful interface for diverse knowledges and practices for FSN
7. Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases challenging FSN
Below are comments from the World Bank for the first three issues.
(1) Building resilient and equitable supply chains for FSN
The World Bank is currently preparing a flagship report “From Surviving to Thriving: Making Cities Green, Resilient, and Inclusive”, which could potentially include relevant insight for this issue on resilient supply chains. This report will look into how food systems interface with climate and cities: including: (a) poor diets for the urban poor, (b) the impact of climate shocks in rural production centers on food prices in cities, (c) the impact of climate change and urban expansion on rural and peri-urban productive land, and (d) interventions and recommendations for building better urban food systems.
In particular, under (b), the literature on the importance of resilient transport systems will be highlighted. Roads and road quality are known to reduce poverty and increase consumption, to reduce price volatility, and to help households cope with shocks (Dercon et al., 2009; Ndiaye et al., 2015; Shively and Thapa, 2016; Nakamura et al., 2019). Roads are important for food security in times of disasters. Economic losses from transport disruptions increase linearly with the duration of disruptions- which calls for quick repairs but also flexible procurement strategies (Colon et al., 2021).
Colon, Celian, Stephane Hallegate, and Julie Rozenberg. (2021). “Criticality analysis of a country’s transport network via an agent-based supply chain model.” Nature Sustainability, 4: 209-215.
Dercon, S., D. O. Gilligan, J. Hoddinott, and T. Woldehanna. 2009. “The Impact of Agricultural Extension and Roads on Poverty and Consumption Growth in Fifteen Ethiopian Villages.” Am. J. Agric. Econ. 91: 1007–21.
Nakamura, S.; Bundervoet, T.; Nuru, M. (2019). Rural Roads, Poverty, and Resilience Evidence from Ethiopia; The World Bank Group Poverty and Equity Global Practice: 2019.
Ndiaye, M., E. Maitre d’Hôtel, and T. Le Cotty. 2015. “Maize Price Volatility: Does Market Remoteness Matter?” Policy Research Working Paper 7202, World Bank, Washington, DC
Shively, G.; Thapa, G (2016). “Markets, Transportation Infrastructure, and Food Prices in Nepal”. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 99, 660-682, doi:10.1093/ajae/aaw086
(2) Urban and peri-urban food systems
We welcome this potential focus on urban and peri-urban food systems, as it is one that will undoubtedly play a crucial role in ensuring a sustainable food system transformation. It is a broad, complex and cross-cutting topic that could easily encompass discussions on the other six CEEIs, but it is also one that lacks a clear understanding amongst the public and stakeholders. This incoherence is exacerbated by the general dearth of city-level data, analyses and empirical evidence to support and inform decision-making on urban and peri-urban food issues, and what does exist is of inconsistent quality and availability. This lack of an evidence base makes it difficult for policymakers to plan, prioritize, design and track interventions related to urban and peri-urban food systems. It would be good to bring out these issues in the Rationale section. Furthermore, the drivers and trends laid out in the Rationale and Key Questions sections deal primarily with the social and economic dimensions of urban and peri-urban food systems’ effects on food security and nutrition outcomes. It does not treat the environmental dimension with the same level of detail. More information could be included on the agriculture sectors’ role in global environmental change and how the incorporation of climate-smart agriculture and/or circular economy practices in urban and peri-urban agriculture can provide immense climate co-benefits, as well as enhance climate resilience.
As mentioned above, the upcoming World Bank flagship report described above on Cities will cover the impact of climate change and urban expansion on rural and peri-urban productive land. Initial analysis and review highlights that how we address climate change has implications for land use. Under a sustainability pathway, cropland will stop expanding and pastures for animal grazing will decline. Urban land will expand. Most urban expansion will be converted from (productive) croplands, followed by forests. This could reduce food production absent measures to encourage compact urban development or to offset the impacts of horizontal urban expansion. Encouraging more compact urban development entails limiting horizontal expansion. Offsetting the impacts of horizontal expansion on food production includes enhancing agricultural productivity and reducing food loss and waste. These offset measures are key, because in addition to land constraints, agriculture faces climate-related productivity losses and urbanization-related labor constraints.
In addition to the upcoming flagship report, existing World Bank reports on the issue of urban food systems include:
G. Acharya, E. Cassou, S. Jaffee, and E. Ludher (2021) RICH Food, Smart City. World Bank
J. Tefft, M. Jonasova, R. Adjao, and A. Morgan (2017). Food Systems for an Urbanizing Worlds. World Bank and FAO.
World Bank, FAO, and RUAF Foundation (2017). Urban Food Systems Diagnostic and Metrics Framework.
J. Tefft, M. Jonasova, F. Zhang, and Y. Zhang (2020). Urban Food Systems Governance: Current Context and Future Opportunities. FAO.
(3) Conflicts and the fragility of food systems
We find that the general framing is appropriate, but it would be good to cite some of the work that has already advanced deeper examinations of how to address food insecurity in FCV settings. In particular, the CFS should consider referencing the World Bank's recent publication on how to build stronger agri-food systems in FCV (see https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/36497). On the proposed key questions, it would be good to expand on Question 6 and ask how UN resolution 2417 (the prohibition on using food as a weapon of war) can be better enforced. Additionally, there was no mention of how to address food security data challenges in FCV contexts, especially in situations in which there are fundamental differences of opinion between humanitarian and government counterparts which can derail and even inhibit collective recognition of an emerging food security crisis (as was the case more recently in South Sudan in which the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification process broke down).
Dr. Felipe Dizon