Following strong involvement and recognition of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) in earlier meetings of Agricultural Chief Scientists of the G20 Nations and the involvement of G20 MACS in the GCARD process and key global partnership actions, GFAR was invited to participate in the 3rd MACS meeting. The meeting was organized by Australia as G20 president for 2014, in Brisbane Australia, in June 2014.
Dr Holderness represented GFAR at the G20 Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS) in Brisbane, Australia. The events brought together science and business leaders from G20 participant nations (including the DG for Agriculture and Rural Development for the EC), to examine global links between agric ultural productivity, food security, sustainability and economic growth.
Proceedings:
Presentations demonstrated the importance of science and technology in agricultural productivity growth. The meeting also outlined possibilities for global scientific research and innovation to increase agricultural productivity, improve sustainability, promote food and nutrition security and support the continued delivery of ecosystem services, as well as promoting economic growth and rural development.
The Chief Scientists of the G20 Nations reinforced the need for increased collaboration between countries and the critical work of international organisations in collaborative international research, including FAO, CGIAR, GFAR and OECD, and initiatives including the GEOGLAM, Global Foresight Hub, Open Data Partnership, Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP) and the Wheat Initiative.
The Chief Scientists explicitly recognized GFAR’s facilitating role and support actions in a number of ways as seen in the final communiqué, where the G20 Chief Scientists:
- welcomed the proposed integrated international investment facility for agricultural innovation and growth, as put forward by IFAD, GFAR and FAO in response to request from the second MACS meeting and the opportunity it provides for greater involvement of G20 scientific capabilities in supporting capacity development in agricultural innovation around the world
- agreed that a higher level of formalised information sharing and cooperation between national agricultural research systems could benefit national agricultural research, CGIAR and knowledge exchange systems, with consequent productivity increases and improvements in agricultural sustainability
- encouraged G20 members to consider the opportunities associated with open data networks such as Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) and the Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD)
Outcome
The meeting reinforced the direct linkage between the MACS and GFAR and the value of GFAR’s role. The MACS meetings have also shown the importance of the GCARD as a venue for the MACS to articulate their work with a wider community of all stakeholders.
Next steps
The commitment of G20 research leaders to the integrated international investment facility to be established as a multi-donor trust fund managed by IFAD is particularly important. The G20’s welcoming of this initiative brings high level recognition of the need for coherent increased investment in the sector and of capacity development in agricultural innovation in the less developed economies. The Facility, which also mobilizes support for the FAO-facilitated TAP capacity development platform, will now be further developed with donors and partners from the G20 nations, in support of processes led and articulated by developing countries around the world.