Arthur Getz Escudero
Arthur Getz Escudero has been engaged for three decades in participatory action research, policy advocacy, and programme design in multiple cultural contexts involving food systems, agroecology, biodiversity and sustainable development. His learning trajectory has included an apprenticeship in a traditional horticultural farming household in urban Japan immersed in pioneering farmer-consumer co-partnership networks (Tokyo); research roles at the East-West Center (Honolulu) and with international environmental NGOs: The Nature Conservancy (Honolulu) and World Resources Institute (Washington); consulting for the Humane Society, Ford Foundation, IFAD, and FAO on UN system engagement with civil society on sustainable agriculture and rural development initiatives; and serving as policy director for Heifer International (Washington, D.C.).
More recently, he has helped coordinate a community of practice on urban food strategies, under a FOODLINKS project involving policy makers, scientists and practitioners in knowledge brokerage about sustainable production and consumption in food systems. He continues his work with FAO under the pan-European project (“LInking farmland Biodiversity to Ecosystem seRvices for effective eco-functional intensification”= LIBERATION). He is also an advisor to the City Region Food System Alliance, and for the past year has supported the Milan-led international Urban Food Policy Pact process as a member of a technical team. His current action/research interests are on understanding urban-rural linkages, adaptive governance and food systems resilience – with a focus on the Nairobi urban region and other rapidly urbanizing landscapes in the global South.
