GFAR Newsletter Issue 21-22, 06/2008
Newsletter date: 01/06/2008
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Editorial
It is my pleasure, as the new Executive Secretary of The Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), to send you this newsletter outlining our recent activities. GFAR is a unique and vital institution and one that I am proud to serve. By bringing together the voices and perspectives of science with those of wider society, GFAR plays a crucial role as the platform that enables all those concerned with agricultural research to shape the future of agriculture and meet the major challenges that lie ahead.
Agriculture has come right back onto the global agenda over the last year. Spiralling food prices have resulted in millions of people being pushed back into poverty and caused riots in over 30 cities. The FAO High level meeting has shown the depth of concern among governments and emphasized that the solutions required go beyond short-term measures. Recent international reports: the World Development Report and the International Assessment of the Role of Agricultural Science, Knowledge and Technology in Development have established that not only does agriculture have to provide the means by which the poor can escape poverty and productivity have to increase dramatically to feed anticipated population growth, but we must also ensure the future environmental sustainability of agricultural practices.
More than ever, these complex issues require the generation, access and use of knowledge to develop solutions that are relevant and accessible to the poor. GFAR provides the space and opportunity for us all to help to shape tomorrow’s agriculture today. However, we should not underestimate the challenges we face. We need to feed a growing population in a world of diminishing resources and changing climates. We need to develop ways and institutions to do so that put the needs of the poor at the centre of research, recognizing the value of agriculture in maintaining rural societies and enabling the poor to escape poverty and live with dignity. Fostering these changes is the role of GFAR; future generations absolutely depend on our success in doing so together.
GFAR has gone through a period of extensive reflection over the last year that has renewed its purpose and focus. We need to get back to basic principles of this Global Forum as a movement for change, a platform involving everyone who cares about the future of agriculture, whether working via global action or through our constituent regional fora and stakeholder bodies.
Since my appointment, I have been working with colleagues from all the constituent communities in agricultural research for development to bring more vigour to the Global Forum, so that GFAR fulfils the essential roles for which it was created. This has included extensive discussion with the CGIAR to build the linkage between processes of regional demand and the shaping of international research, support to the establishment of an NGO platform to work with APAARI in addressing the agricultural research needs of the Asia-Pacific region and participation in the World Farmers Congress of IFAP and the final plenary of the International Assessment on the role of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development. I have also met with representatives from many research-for-development funding bodies, to build their engagement with the Forum, in which they are as much a partner as a contributor.
To make a difference, the effort and the commitment needs to come from us all. We in the GFAR Secretariat pledge our total commitment to supporting you to make change happen. We now look to you all for your commitment to these processes. We are all partners in ensuring the agriculture of tomorrow meets the needs of humanity and the environments in which we live; let us now work together to deliver this. If I may take the liberty of quoting Mahatma Gandhi, we all need to “be the change you wish to see in the world”. Mark Holderness
News from the Secretariat
Dr. Mark Holderness takes office as Executive Secretary
Dr. Mark Holderness, appointed as new Executive Secretary of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research in late 2007, took office in January 2008. Dr. Holderness began his working career in Papua New Guinea ...
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Learning from experience in building and implementing innovative partnerships in ARD: DURAS Documentation Workshop
The implementation of the DURAS Competitive Grants Scheme (CGS) is a very insightful experience. It has afforded both the Project Office and the various stakeholders involved in the 12 projects a rich experience and handful of lessons learnt along the way. ...
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DURAS Project Closing Seminar
After almost four years, the DURAS Project was officially concluded through a seminar organized under the auspices of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) last 11-13 June 2008 in Rome. ...
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News from the Secretariat - GPPs
Recent developments of the Linking Farmers to Markets (LFM) partnership programme
Within the activities for the develoment of the LFM programme recently 4 regional case studies have been completed by AARINENA, APAARI, FARA and FORAGRO. These case studies are documenting successful experiences in linking small holder farmers to markets at a regional level ...
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News from the Global Forum
GFAR Statutory Meetings, Bejing, China, 28/11 - 1/12 2008
Highlights from the 3rd GFAR Program Committee and the 20th GFAR Steering Committee meetings, held in Bejing, China, from 28/11 to 1/12/2008. ...
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Visits of the GFAR Chair
Dr. Adel El-Beltagy, the Chair of GFAR, has represented the Global Forum at several international meetings over the last six months. ...
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News from the Regional Fora
News from the Regional Fora - AARINENA
Expert Consultation Meeting for the Establishment of the Agricultural Biotechnology Network, Cairo, 15-16 December 2007
Under the patronage of H.E Mr. Amin Abaza, Minster of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of Egypt, the Expert Consultation Meeting for the Establishment of Agricultural Biotechnology Network was held in Cairo, Egypt ...
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AARINENA Executive Committee Meeting, Oman, 7 January 2008
AARINENA Executive Committee and Cosponsors Representatives (BI, FAO, GFAR and ICARDA) met on the 7th January 2008 in Muscat-Oman. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Ahmed Al Bakri, President of AARINENA. ...
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ICT Nodal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman, 8-10 January 2008
AARINENA with support from FAO and GFAR organized the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Nodal Units Workshop, which was held during the period 8-10 January 2008 in Muscat, Oman, and hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. ...
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News from the Regional Fora - APAARI
APARIS Technical Workshop on De-centralized Management of ARD Information Resources and APARIS Steering Committee Meeting, 19-20 April 2008, Bangkok, Thailand
The Asia-Pacific Agricultural Research Information System (APARIS), in collaboration with GFAR and ACIAR, organized a two-day technical workshop on Development and De-Centralized Management of ARD Information Resources. ...
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Formation of the NGO Association for Agriculture Research in Asia-Pacific (NAARAP)
The NGO Association for Agricultural Research in the Asia-Pacific (NAARAP) has been formed after discussions at “Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop on Agricultural Research for Development” organized jointly by APAARI-ANGOC-GFAR on 16-18 April 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand. ...
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News from the Regional Fora - EFARD
European-African workshop on agricultural research organised by EFARD & FARA
The Joint Africa-EU Strategy provides a long-term vision for a strategic partnership between Africa and the European Union. Many countries in Africa are confronting particular challenges in meeting the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, and will require a broad range of strengthened efforts to meet those targets. ...
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News from the Regional Fora - FARA
Updates on the Regional Agricultural Information and Learning Systems (RAILS)
Three consultations meetings took place at the Secretariat Offices in Accra, Ghana on 18-25 February 2008. The RAILS technical group consultation (18-19 Feb) was held for two days in order to elaborate a workprogram on how the information systems will be developed following the framework of RAILS. ...
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MOU signed between FARA and its development partners
30 March 2008: the FARA Chairman signed on behalf of FARA, a memorandum of agreement with development partners who are committed in supporting the core activities of the FARA Secretariat starting in 2008. ...
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FARA Secretariat annual program planning
26-30 March 2008: seven days were allocated by the FARA Executive Board, its technical advisory group, FARA development partners and the Secretariat to reflect on 2007 operation and lessons learnt to guide the planning of activities for 2008. ...
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News from the Regional Fora - FORAGRO
Success stories in the use of ICTs for agricultural research and innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean
IICA, FORAGRO and GFAR launched an invitation to collect success stories in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) within agricultural research and technological innovation projects or programs. The invitation was for anyone with inside information of such a case and wanted to share it. The selected cases were included in a publication. ...
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News from the other Stakeholders
Update on the CGIAR Change management process
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research is a key constituent of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research and of course was one of the bodies instrumental in the foundation of GFAR as a platform bringing together all those concerned with agricultural research for development. ...
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IFAP Congress, Warsaw, 4-6 June 2008
Dr Holderness was invited to attend the IFAP World Farmers Congress in Warsaw, June 4-6. He presented a paper to the Opening Plenary Session, entitled ‘The Global Forum: Shaping Tomorrow’s Agriculture Today’. ...
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FAO High Level Conference on Food Security
The High-Level Conference on World Food Security: The Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy opened at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy on 3 June 2008. Throughout the three days of events, forty-two Heads of State and Government, one hundred high-level Ministers and sixty non-governmental and civil society organizations from one hundred eighty-one member countries discussed the challenges that climate change, bioenergy and soaring food prices posed to world food security. ...
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ICM Corner
The ARD Web Ring
The Global ARD Web Ring is defined as a “voluntary coalition of web spaces that share information related to agricultural research and innovation for development.” These web spaces make ARD related information sources more accessible through each other. ...
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Agri-Directories: close collaboration between GFAR and FAO in implementing global directories
Over the last year, under the umbrella of the Coherence Initiative in Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD), collaboration between GFAR and FAO in the area of information management has become stronger. Common projects have been identified in the implementation of different types of global Directories, or Registries, giving access to distributed sources describing organizations, projects, projects outputs (documents) and experts, as well as news and events. ...
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