This document summarizes the Knowledge Lab on Climate-Resilient Food Systems. The lab has three pillars: 1) two-way integration of expertise between developing and developed countries, 2) a collaborative research program, and 3) partnerships for impact. The collaborative research program will focus on leveraging new technologies, facilitating social change, and assessing country resilience using various models and frameworks. The goal of partnerships is to establish clear pathways for research to have real-world impact.

1. Knowledge Lab on Climate
Resilient Food Systems
Channing Arndt, Director
Environment and Production Technology Division
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
IFPRI/AGRA Workshop
Nairobi, Kenya, February 7, 2019

2. Food systems fundamentally influence the environment
of the planet, the livelihoods of billions of people
(including most of the world’s poor), and the nutrition of
every human being. Robust food systems can serve as
catalysts for achieving the Sustainable Development
Goals, but their current weaknesses are major sources of
vulnerability to a variable and changing climate.
The Knowledge Lab on Climate-Resilient Food
Systems

3. What is resilience?
 An ability to withstand shocks:
o Climate/weather
o Economic
o Health
 At various levels:
o Household
o Institution/firm
o Country/region

4. 1. Two-Way Integration of Expertise
2. A High Impact Collaborative Research Program
3. Partnerships for Impact
Three Pillars of the Knowledge Lab

5. A. Leveraging new technologies
B. Facilitating social change
C. Assessing country resilience
Pillar 2 - Collaborative Research

6. A. Leveraging new technologies
• Information and communications technologies including remote sensing
• Distributed energy systems and the energy-water-food nexus
• Bio-innovation
B. Facilitating social change
• Management of common property
• ICT enabled extension
• Gender relations in a context of change
C. Assessing country resilience (model framework)
• Investment analysis (DREAMpy and RIAPA)
• Linked biophysical and economic models (IMPACT-SIMM and SACRED at the
country/regional scale and the full IMPACT modeling suite at global scale)
• Linked energy planning and economywide modeling (ISM_E)
Pillar 2 - Collaborative Research

7.  Vastly greater human and institutional capabilities in developing
countries.
 Greater capabilities in developing countries leads to greater
emphasis on enhancing capabilities.
 Quality analytical work must build on a large and increasing
stock of knowledge requiring partnerships.
Pillar 1 - Two-way Integration of Expertise

8.  Formal courses taught on a regular basis targeted at:
• Users of research (basic concepts and intuition)
• Producers of research (advanced frameworks)
o Space exists between what is taught at universities and actual research
practice.
 Four domains within IFPRI
• Models for assessing resilience (start here)
• Impact evaluation
• Remote sensing
• Welfare measurement
Pillar 1 – Distance learning

9.  Efficiently meet ongoing capacity building objectives.
 Develop and maintain relationships with key individuals
and key institutions in developing countries.
 Expand the user base of IFPRI research products and
frameworks.
 Set the groundwork for effective research collaboration.
Pillar 1 - Goals of Distance Learning Program

10.  Contacted
• African Research Universities Alliance (12 top universities in Africa)
• African Economic Research Consortium (1000+ African researchers)
• The Think Initiative (46 think tanks in 23 countries such the Centre for
the Study of the Economies of Africa in Nigeria and REPOA in Tanzania)
• Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
• Planning/Finance units (BAPPENAS in Indonesia, NEDA in the
Philippines, CIEM in Vietnam, Economic Policy in South Africa, KIPPRA
in Kenya, etc.)
• Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ReNAPRI)
Pillar 1 - Potential partners

11.  Establish clear pathways to impact
• Leveraging new technologies
o Digital Green and the Ethiopian Extension Service
o Program on Bio-Safety (PBS)
• Facilitating social change
o Foundation for Ecological Security
o Self-Employed Women’s Association
• Assessing country resilience
o National Economic Development Agency of the Philippines
o Southern Africa and the Global Commission on Adaptation
Pillar 3 – Partnerships for impact