About 200 students, representatives of policymaking, academia, business and civil society participated in the event “Solutions for Scaling up Agroecology”, which was co-organized by the World Future Council and Heliopolis University on 12th September 2019 in Cairo, Egypt.

This stimulating event showcasing impactful solutions that scale up agroecology, was opened by the representatives of the two hosting organizations: the Board of Trustees of the Heliopolis University and Schweisfurth Foundation. Among the distinguished speakers were prominent members of the World Future Council, Biovision Foundation, Bright Green Energy Foundation, UNEP and UN-Habitat and Sinal do Vale among others. Jean Marc Faurès, Regional Programme Leader, FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa, shared a keynote address on the importance of agroecology as a key pathway to transition to sustainable food and agriculture systems and its critical role in tackling malnutrition, social injustice, land degradation, water scarcity, climate change and the loss of biodiversity.

Among the presented solutions were, on the one hand, selected winning policies of the Future Policy Award 2018, such as our Gold Award winner from India:the first “100% organic state” Sikkim, which certified all of its farmland as organic and which proved to be truly transformational; our Silver Award winner from Ecuador:Quito’s Participatory Urban Agriculture Programme, which empowers vulnerable groups to produce annually 960,000 kg of healthy food for themselves and others; as well as our Honourable Mention from Senegal: Ndiob’s Agriculture Development Programme, which became the first town in the country to embark on an agroecological transition.

On the other hand the event highlighted recipients of the Outstanding Practices in Agroecology 2019 recognition and Right Livelihood Awardees. Among them the low-cost and simple Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) technique, which was developed by Tony Rinaudo, an Australian agronomist, and which spread in Niger to 5,000,000 hectares, reviving more than 200 million trees. Another Outstanding Practice in Agroecology 2019 presented was the SEKEM Initiative in Egypt, which has by now reclaimed close to 700 hectares of desert land using biodynamic agriculture methods and whose products respect highest possible ethical, ecological and social standards. Moreover, Dr. Auma Obama, Founder of the Sauti Kuu Foundation, and the Nepalese community activist Shrikrishna Upadhyay, who founded SAPPROS and who received the Right Livelihood Award for his work, shared insights on their work on agroecology in Kenya and Nepal. Last but not least, Prof. Dr. Hassan Abou Bakr, Professor of Biological Control, Faculty of Organic Agriculture at Heliopolis University, explained how Egypt could achieve 100% Organic Agriculture.

The event made clear that, if executed at scale, agroecology is creating immediate and real impacts on both our life and the life of future generations. It urged those present to go 100% for agroecology and organic agriculture, in order to secure drinking water and food for all, ensuring a sustainable future. By showcasing practical, effective and low cost solutions, it inspired decision-makers and other participants to step up their action to create enabling environments for agroecology and organic agriculture.

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