Ruth Meinzen-Dick SPECIAL EVENT UNFSS Science Days Side Event: Promise of the Commons for Sustainable and Equitable Food Systems Co-organized by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); Foundation for Ecological Security (FES, India); University of South Australia; Azim Premji University and the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) JUL 7, 2021 - 07:00 AM TO 08:00 AM EDT

1. Promise of the Commons
for Sustainable and Equitable Food
Systems
UNFSS Science Days Side Event
July 7, 2021
Photo credit: Mark Prein Photo credit: Ruth Meinzen-Dick Photo credit: Ruth Meinzen-Dick

2. • UNFSS Dialogue on Women,
Work and Food Systems nature-
positive game-changing solution
on Management of Commons:
• Water Management Solutions
• Barren Waste Lands,
• Forest and
• Grasslands
• Commons are shared resources:
“resources that are (or could be)
held or used collectively”
(www.iasc-commons.org)
The Commons: A Game-Changing Solution
Photo credit: Ruth Meinzen-Dick

3. Commons Contributions to Food Systems
Direct food provision Critical ecosystem services e.g.
• Fodder
• Fuel
• Water regulation
• Agrobiodiversity
• Pollination
Photo credit:
Mark Prein
Photo credit:
Foundation for Ecological Security
Photo credit:
Foundation for Ecological Security
Photo credit: Ruth Meinzen-Dick

4. 1991
Bathinigaripalle Tanda,
Peddamandem Mandal
Photo credit:
Foundation for Ecological Security

5. 2006
Bathinigaripalle Tanda,
Peddamandem Mandal
Photo credit:
Foundation for Ecological Security

6. Today’s session
• Introduction to the Commons by Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Senior Research Fellow, International Food
Policy Research Institute
• The Values of the Commons Report on Quantifying Ecosystem Services Provided by Land
Commons in India by Harpinder Sandhu, Associate Director, Centre for Markets, Values and Inclusion,
University of South Australia
• The Promise of Commons by Pratiti Priyadarshini, Group Head, Studies and Research, Foundation for
Ecological Security
• Discussants
• Harini Nagendra, Director of Research Center, Azim Premji University
• Insa Theesfeld, Professor of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Policy, Martin Luther
Universitat-Halle and President, International Association for the Study of the Commons
• Moderator
• Charlotte Hebebrand, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, IFPRI