Opinion: Solidarity is in the danger zone. Can food innovation help?

As world leaders meet this week at the United Nations to deliberate the future of the planet, they have chosen “Reigniting Global Solidarity” as the theme. This choice of words is timely. As climate catastrophe continues its transition from prediction to reality, this is arguably the most challenging time that humanity has ever faced. Only by acting in solidarity can we turn the tide, with joint investments in innovative solutions key to saving millions of lives — and perhaps none as important as food system transformation. Solidarity is often discussed but little defined. Now, a brand new report has set out to measure this complex concept for the first time. The Global Solidarity Report, to which we are both contributors, analyzes solidarity according to three drivers: identities (do people everywhere feel solidarity with each other?), institutions (have we built effective mechanisms to cooperate?), and impacts (is our cooperation resulting in progress, or backsliding?). The results are sobering. The world is in the “danger zone,” with a score of 39 out of 100. We are far from being on track. But there are reasons for hope as well as fear. The world’s public shows far more solidarity than you might expect. Twice as many people agree that hydrocarbons should be left in the ground, than those who disagree. Fully two-thirds say that for issues such as the environment, international bodies should have enforcement powers. The bad news is that countries’ institutional response has not yet met the moment, resulting in the impacts of failed cooperation at breaking point: carbon emissions are still increasing, conflict deaths nearly doubled in the last year, and we have lost a decade of progress in vaccination coverage thanks to the pandemic. “We need to transform our agrifood systems in order to produce more nutritious food with fewer inputs.” --— Turning this around and lifting humanity out of the danger zone requires a massive institutional response, channeling the innate solidarity that people everywhere feel into meaningful action. Without that, people will gradually lose faith in the international community. That loss of faith will translate into even weaker institutions, and a vicious cycle will ensue. The Global Solidarity Report sets out a number of urgent calls to action to provide the institutional response we need to exit the danger zone. Among the most important, but least discussed, is the need for increased investment in agricultural science. Although climate change grabs many headlines, there is far too little discussion and funding to help vulnerable communities adapt to a climate that has already changed. And of all the many systems that need to adapt, agrifood systems are the most critical. They are the source of energy and nutrition for everyone alive, and they are the source of income for nearly 4 billion people. A changing climate means that vast tracts of farmland are becoming unusable every day. Over the past 60 years, global crop productivity has declined by over 20%. We cannot wait in expectation of lower carbon emissions cooling the planet at some unknown point in the future. As the world’s population continues to grow, the choice right now is between driving innovation, so that farming can be made viable despite heat, drought, and other extreme conditions, or risking starvation for millions. We need to transform our agrifood systems in order to produce more nutritious food with fewer inputs. In this context, it is hard to comprehend why public expenditure on agricultural research and development has fallen by 10% over the past decade. Just as the crisis is growing more urgent, the world is investing less and less. Luckily, there are agricultural research centers around the world that stand ready to make up this lost ground, globally, such as CGIAR and the Association of International Research and Development Centers for Agriculture, or AIRCA; regionally, such as the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, or FARA, and FONTAGRO; and nationally. The world’s preeminent global agricultural research organization is CGIAR. Set up by the international community 50 years ago, CGIAR is an unparalleled global network of 14 research centers in regions that are highly vulnerable to climate change. This gives CGIAR unrivaled insights, reach, and understanding to develop and deliver innovations that are globally relevant. CGIAR is the scientific engine of the international agriculture system. That is why it is so important that CGIAR’s funding is doubled to $2 billion per year so that it can rapidly expand its work to build climate-resilient food systems on every continent. That should come in addition to meeting the increased funding needs of other national and international food systems research institutes, many of which have seen funding levels drop in recent years. When the cost of this, and other needs, are added up, the bill that the world faces may seem daunting. But it is nowhere near as daunting as the crises we face; crises that will continue to deepen if we do not show solidarity by pooling our resources to address them. In funding CGIAR and other multilateral institutions, we need not rely only on the tired old concept of foreign aid that’s based on the idea that a small number of the highest-income countries will help a small number of the lowest-income ones in an act described by some as charity and by others as post-colonial influence. True global solidarity would be funded by a system we call “Global Public Investment,” where every country contributes, every country decides, and every country benefits. Without this bold thinking, “reigniting global solidarity” risks being little more than a catchy theme for a week of meetings in New York.