Title of Event:

Name of Organisation:

Date and time of the session:

Cultivating Inclusive Cities: Multi-stakeholder Policy Making and Action Planning for Urban Agriculture and Food Security

Organized by the International Network of Resource Centers on Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF Foundation) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Thursday, June 22 nd, 1:30 - 3:30

Key Highlights

1. Estimated no of participants: Over 150 participants
2. Stakeholder group representation at the event: urban farmer, RUAF project coordinator, NGO director, researcher, municipal councilor, Minister of Housing Netherlands (Absent)
3. What were the expected objectives: to generate discussion and understanding of the role that multi-stakeholder consultations and action play in developing better urban agriculture management and programming.
4. What did the networking event achieve: participants from cities in the North and South discussed the importance of urban agriculture for social inclusion, poverty alleviation, food security, environmental management and shared experiences regarding the use of participatory and multi-stakeholder approach to policy formulation and action planning.

2. What were the core issues identified in your event as they relate to the theme and sub-themes of WUFIII? In terms of the WUF III themes, the panel primarily addressed the issue of poverty alleviation and social inclusion as well as how urban agriculture is a land and environmental management strategy .

The multiple stakeholders represented on the panel stressed that urban agriculture has to be seen as a permanent trait of the urban socio-economic and ecological system and has to be attended properly by the local authorities in order to enhance the benefits of urban agriculture (income, food, greening, recycling, etcetera) whilst reducing the associated risks (e.g. the risks related with irrigation with water from contaminated streams).

The panellists showed that a participatory and multi-actor approach to policy formulation, action planning and implementation regarding urban agriculture enhances substantially the social acceptability of such policies and the likelihood of success of the interventions, whilst contributing to good governance.

3. What were the main points raised by panellists and participants in relation to these different issues? What new ideas have been generated as a result of the discussion? Moderator Dinesh Mehta, officer in charge of Urban Development UN-HABITAT, noted the potential for urban poor to attain food security and income generation through agriculture.

Henk de Zeeuw, Director, Resource Centre on Urban Agriculture and Forestry (RUAF), delivered a message on behalf of Sybilla Dekker, Minster of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment of the Netherlands, cautioning against viewing rural and urban as separate entities, suggesting the integration of multi-functional open spaces in "city networks", and urging a participatory approach to encourage adoption of political plans.

De Zeeuw then presented the RUAF programme, noting that urban agriculture is an integral yet sometimes unrecognized part of cities, adding that it produces 15-20 percent of the world's food.
George Matovu, Municipal Partnership for East and Southern Africa (MDP-ESA), Zimbabwe, described the evolution of urban agriculture in his country, noting that although no law explicitly prohibits it, rigid regulatory frameworks and competition for land pose obstacles. He described how support for urban agriculture was achieved from the local governments in Harare and Bualawayo by organizing multi-stakeholder forums, where data on the presence and impacts of urban agriculture were discussed and effective intervention strategies were designed.

Raquel Barriga Velasco, Councilor, Villa Maria del Triunfo, Peru, described successes achieved through the introduction of urban agriculture to her impoverished municipality, including food security and greening of the city. She emphasized information dissemination and having urban agriculture institutionalized within the municipal government.

Gayathri Devi, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), described the benefits of using wastewater in urban agriculture, including improved nutrition, drought resistance, and avoidance of agro-chemicals as well as associated risks, which include diarrhea and intestinal worm infections, and soil and groundwater contamination. She presented various ways of minimizing health and environmental risks associated with this practice.

El Hadji Oumar Sissokho, Provania, described Provania's efforts to develop urban agriculture in Dakar, Senegal, noting constraints such as water access and land use rights, and benefits such as training, composting, and strengthened farmers' organizations. He identified the need for increased public engagement, capacity building, and inclusion of women in decision-making processes.

Participants discussed: strategies to attain legal recognition of urban agriculture; benefits associated with decreased fossil fuel and pesticide use, increased diet diversity; bio-filtration of wastewater prior to use for agriculture; the loss of agricultural land to urban sprawl; the logistics of urban subsistence food production ; the role of urban agriculture in emergency relief and in refugee camps; how to develop pro-urban agriculture strategies related to land management; how roof top gardens present opportunities (particularly in the North).

4. What process steps have been identified in your event that could help turn ideas into operational reality? The presentations on the RUAF developed Multi-Stakeholder Policy and Action Planning process regarding urban agriculture generated a lot of interest and motivated participants from Municipalities, government organisations, research institutes, NGOs and CBO's to reflect on the role urban agriculture may play in their own policies and programmes and/or the application of a multi-stakeholder approach.

The participants were invited to share their experiences with each other and with the many local partners in the RUAF network through the Urban Agriculture Magazine ( ruaf@etcnl.nl ) or the RUAF website ( www.ruaf.org ). Possibilities for follow up exist in the context of the RUAF "Cities Farming for the Future" programme that is ongoing in 18 developing countries.

During this session many participants established contacts and others did so at the McGill-RUAF booth at the Exhibition or after viewing the RUAF video on urban agriculture at the WUF-cinema (some 50 viewers).

The recent RUAF publication "Cities farming for the Future"' was distributed (hard copy and CD-rom).