Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

The concept of paying farmers and rural dwellers for the environmental services they provide has gained prominence as a tool for achieving ecosystem conservation and, at the same time, improving the livelihoods of farmers as environmental service providers. There are however many open questions with regard to the scope of PES, their cost-effectiveness in addressing the growing global challenges of climate change and food security, and its underlying economic assumptions. In this online discussion we hope to find answers on how best to address the challenges and opportunities based on prior practical experience and research.

Economic growth can be a powerful driver for increased food security when translated into agricultural growth. However, to reduce poverty and hunger, growth needs to reach the poor and the increased income needs to generate demand for the assets controlled by them. As not all countries are being equally successful in generating this inclusive growth, how can good governance and social protection help to translate economic growth into improved food security and nutrition for all?

The FSN Forum in West Africa, a regional platform that help establish an effective dialogue between development stakeholders in the region, launches its first online discussion! The first discussion tackles opportunities and challenges of social protection for improved food security and nutrition in West Africa. We invite you to share experience, knowledge and way forward of social protection programmes in the region.

On behalf of the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) we aim at collecting feedback on the HLPE’s study on Social Protection in the context of Food and Nutrition Security and on how to decrease vulnerability through social and productive safety nets, assessing possible solutions and reviewing existing practices.

Social protection has risen rapidly up the development policy agenda in the last decade. Although increasingly dominated by conditional and unconditional cash transfer programmes, the wide range of instruments that aim to alleviate poverty and manage livelihood risks often have direct, intended implications for food security.