Stakeholder Events

Thursday 29 March 2012 - Planetary Stewardship, 15:00 (room 8)

Website: http://www.planetunderpressure2012.net/session_bows.asp

PRESENTATIONS
If you are concerned with the coupled challenges of reducing greenhouse gas emissions whilst at the same time adapting to impacts of climate change, and have an interest in the food system, then this session will offer significant food for thought.

To explore the implications for the food system of both adapting to climate change whilst minimising the production of greenhouse gas emissions, experts from academia and the private sector are being brought together to share their insights on the challenges facing agriculture and farming and associated supply-chains. Following four keynote presentations, there will be an opportunity to question a panel of experts on how academics and organisations including Tesco and Unilever can respond to the demands being placed on the system, with particular reference to the implications for developing countries.

PROGRAMME (15:00 – 16:30)

Chair: Dr Alice Bows, Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of Manchester, UK

Dr Patricia Thornley, Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of Manchester, UK
Adaptation of the agricultural system to climate change is essential to ensure adequate future food supply. Existing policy frameworks to encourage greenhouse gas mitigation could impede adaptation and negatively impact on food security. This keynote will discuss how we need to think about mitigation and adaptation in tandem and that demands a holistic, co-ordinated approach to land-use

Andy Hill, Tesco Plc, UK
Organisations such as Tesco have an increasingly global reach, but recognise the need for adaptation and mitigation strategies across global supply chains. This talk will highlight the important role of retailers in helping to facilitate responses to these great challenges.

Emma Keller, Unilever, UK
Manufacturers are at a highly influential interface between retailers and producers. This talk will summarise Unilever’s targets to improve the sustainability of sourcing and supply chain mitigation, with a particular focus on how they are engaging smallholders to increase their involvement within supply chains.

Henk van Rikxoort, Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR), The Netherlands
Henk will present results of a quantification study of emissions and carbon sequestration in different Latin American coffee production systems, explaining the development of a framework for climate change mitigation in coffee production systems and exploring the synergies between climate change mitigation and adaptation in coffee production systems.

PANEL DISCUSSION

The speakers will be joined on the panel by Dr Arame Tall, a scientist and practitioner from Senegal, working on climate risk management among smallholder farmers. She is allied with the International Research Institute on Climate and Society (IRI), Columbia University.

KEY ISSUES TO BE EXPLORED

• How supply chain actors, particularly retailers that pivot between consumer choice and supply chain practice, can facilitate positive change towards mitigation and adaptation throughout the food system
• The pressures caused by climate impacts on product sourcing, agricultural practices and food supply chain resilience
• Inclusion of smallholder farmers in strategies and incentives for mitigation and adaptation
• Emerging approaches for overcoming key hurdles to chain-wide mitigation and adaptation, e.g. through better estimations of mitigation potential, means of monitoring verifying and reporting (MRV), understanding of the chief vulnerabilities in agricultural supply chains, and identification of the most appropriate means of supporting adaptation on the ground.

CONVENORS
Alice Bows, Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of Manchester, UK
Stephanie Daniels, Sustainable Food Lab USA
Andy Jarvis, CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, Colombia
Sonja, Vermeulen, CGIAR Research Program, on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, Denmark