Food Systems Tools

Check out an educational page on Food Systems and tools that encourage systems thinking: http://www.nourishlife.org/teach/food-system-tools/

Emergence of Sustainability in a Complex System

On January 26, CEDARS was featured at a Microlinks Breakfast Seminar, which turned out to be a great success, as well as a unique learning experience for everyone.

Eric Sarriot, joined by Sudhir Wanmali, Sharon Arscott-Mills, and Owen Calvert, presented a simple definition of "Complex Adaptive Systems", described how the concept of Sustainability fits into this definition, and provided real-world examples of its use.

Following the presentation, a thought-provoking Q&A session took place amongst both the panel and the audience. One question, in particular, asked how complex systems in food security could be incorporated into Pastoral Systems, and the bulk of the discussion focused on data collection challenges, the need for accurate indicators, and stakeholder organization in these types of systems.

Watch Eric's follow-up interview:



For more information, view the full presentation with audio or visit the Microlinks website.

Read a detailed summary of the event on ICT 4 Agriculture's Blog: Sustainability Lessons from HSS: Implications for FS and ICTs Projects.


Cheers,

The CEDARS Team

People; Processes and Systems -- What Common Points between Sustainability Planning in Health and Food Security?

Hi all -- we hope to have an interesting discussion with Food Security colleagues at a Microlink Breakfast Seminar on January 26, 2012.

I've been asked to share some of our experience with the Sustainability Framework, and with the help of Sharon Arscott-Mills and two Food Security colleagues, Sudhir Wanmali and Owen Calvert, will try to lead a discussion about how some of the lessons learned can be applied to Food Security. We'll try to address some of the tensions between Value Chains as a strategy and the sustainability of Food Security outcomes in vulnerable populations as a larger goal.

Visit the Microlink page and register for this event here.

Maybe see some of you there.
Cheers,

Eric

Reminder-- the initial study, conducted for UNICEF with Thoric Cederstrom and Patricia Costa, which got CEDARS more concerned about the links between Food Security, Health, and Sustainable Social Development is available here.

Link to Uganda New Food Price Crisis

As we've seen in a number of pieces of work, and most recently for us in 2007-2008 in the Middle East, food security--notably food prices have a direct negative impact on the poor even the middle class of a society. But the indirect effects accrue exponentially to the poorest: first they lack the "buffers" of economic resiliency which others can use, but then government responses tend to be self-protective and aimed at helping the urban middle class first. Nothing is lost, nothing is created: those responses tend to cost money and the money then comes short when it's time to maintain, for example, the health service infrastructure to remove and poor areas. Donor money also runs out...

This explains why there is so much current focus on food security, and why we feel it has to be an area of emphasis if we look at sustaining health outcome and human development.

Here's an updated blog from Bethany Duffield on Will's own blog page -- focused on today's situation in Uganda. A good read.

Food Drives Global Politics

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/18/136394365/food-shortages-the-hidden-driver-of-global-politics

Fresh Air interviewed Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute in a segment about food as a driver of global politics. He wrote on this topic for the May/June issue of Foreign Policy.