intra-region links between rural producers and urban consumers [LAC];
• Enable resource resource-poor farmers to use their traditional and local technical knowledge to manage soil fertility, crop and livestock genetic diversity and conserve natural resource (e.g., microcredit for transition-ing toward agroecological practices, processing, and production) to make them sustainable and economically viable;
• Adjust intellectual property rights (IPR) and related framework to allow farmers to managed their seeds and germplasm resources as they wish.
To achieve more sustainable management, institutional and socioeconomic measures are required for the widespread adoption of sustainable practices. Long-term land and water use rights (e.g., land and tree tenure), risk reduction measures (safety nets, credit, insurance, etc.) and establishing profitability of recommended technologies are prerequisites for adoption. For resources with common pool characteristics, common property regimes are needed that most likely will be developed by rural communities and supported by appropriate state institutions. Farmers need guaranteed long-term access to the resources necessary for the implementation of culturally and technically appropriate sustainable practices [Global Chapter 3]. Also needed are new modes of governance that emphasize participatory and democratic approaches and require the development of innovative local networks. Institutional reforms, too, are needed to enable formal AKST to partner effectively with small-scale producers, women, pastoralists, and indigenous and tribal peoples who are sources of environmental knowledge. Stakeholder monitoring of environmental quality can help develop production technologies and environmental services [ESAP; Global Chapter 3].
Given existing and increasing conflicts over natural resources and environmental insecurity (e.g., disputes over fishing rights, water sharing, climate change mitigation), policies, agreements and treaties that promote regional and international cooperation can assist in realizing the development and sustainability goals. Conflict resolution systems for managing conservation programs, monitoring pest and disease incidence, and monitoring development and compliance mechanisms would also help in realizing these goals [ESAP; Global Chapter 3].
There is significant scope for AKST and supporting policies to contribute to more sustainable fisheries and aquacul-ture that can contribute to reducing overfishing. Yet many governments still struggle to translate guidelines and policies into effective interventions able to provide an ecosystem approach to fisheries management. At the least policies are needed to end subsidies that encourage unsustainable practices (e.g., bottom trawling). Small-scale fisheries need explicit support and the promotion of increased awareness of sustainable fishing practices and postharvest technologies, as well as policies that reduce industrial scale fishing. Implications of increased aquaculture production (e.g., loss of coastal habitats, increased antibiotic use, etc.), and catch fisheries should also be considered.
Regardless of the differing opinions about transgen-ics in the regions, all Sub-Synthesis Reports recognized the |
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importance of assessing both the potential environmental, health and social impacts of any new technology, and the appropriate implementation of regulatory frameworks as a principled matter of precaution. Particular concerns exist regarding potential genetic contamination in centers of origin [See SR Part II: Biotechnology].
The formal AKST system is not well equipped to promote the transition toward sustainability. Current ways of organizing technology generation and diffusion will be increasingly inadequate to address emerging environmental challenges, the multifunctionality of agriculture, the loss of biodiversity, and climate change. Focusing AKST systems and actors on sustainability requires a new approach and worldview to guide the development of knowledge, science and technology as well as the policies and institutional changes to enable their sustainability. It also requires a new approach in the knowledge base; the following are important options:
• The revalorization of traditional and local knowledge [CWANA; ESAP; Global; LAC; NAE; SSA] and their interaction with formal science;
• An interdisciplinary (social, biophysical, political and legal), holistic and system-based approaches to knowledge production and sharing [CWANA; ESAP; Global; LAC; NAE; SSA].
Health and nutrition
The inter-linkages between health, nutrition, agriculture and AKST can constrain or facilitate reaching development and sustainability goals. Because multiple stressors affect these inter-linkages, a broad agroecosystem health approach is needed to identify appropriate AKST to increase food security and safety, decrease the incidence and prevalence of a range of infectious and chronic diseases, and decrease occupational exposures, injuries, and deaths.
Food security strategies require a combination of AKST approaches, including:
• Increasing the diversification of small-scale production and improve micronutrient intake;
• Increasing the efficiency and diversity of urban agriculture;
• Developing and deploying existing and new technologies for the production, processing, preservation, and distribution of food.
Food safety can be facilitated by effective, coordinated, and proactive national and international food safety systems, including:
• Enhancing public health and veterinary capacity, and legislative frameworks, for identification and control of biological and non-biological hazards;
• Vertical integration of the food chain to reduce the risks of contamination and alteration;
• Supporting the capacity of developing country governments, municipalities, and civil society organizations to develop systems for monitoring and controlling health risks along the entire food chain. One example is a battery of tests that municipalities could use to monitor pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables that are brought to market. |