Do We Need an IPCC for Food?
Summary
Writing in Science’s Policy Forum this week, researchers discuss the potential benefits and drawbacks that such a global food panel could bring. “Science needs to be better integrated with policy and action,” said Fabrice DeClerck, a researcher at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT contributing to the paper. DeClerck and coauthors suggest that a diverse set of leading food-focused groups could be integrated under a United Nations-style framework to be nimble enough to reach a faster consensus on the major challenges facing food. As the authors note, some feel that the UNFSS is too focused on technology, or member state driven solutions and excludes many stakeholders, including the globe’s roughly 500 million smallholder farmers and low-income consumers who are at the highest risk of malnutrition and hunger. The second is to understand that “if pluralism, equitable participation, and inclusion of diverse forms of knowledge cannot be ensured, a new platform could do more harm than good.” Finally, effective food system governance cannot be based strictly on scientific input, but interaction between science and action.