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Add to Calendar 29/01/2015 09:00 30/01/2015 16:00 Africa/Casablanca International Conference on "Tropical agriculture as last frontier? Food Import Needs of the Middle East and North Africa, Ecological Risks and New Dimensions of South-South Cooperation with Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia”   Barcelona, Spain Jointly organized by The King’s College London (KCL), OCP Policy Center, the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) and Wageningen University. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is among the most water-stressed regions in the world. Affordable food imports are crucial for its future food security and countries with tropical agriculture like B... Not specified OCP Policy Center contact@ocppc.ma false DD/MM/YYYY
Thursday, January 29, 2015 - 09:00 to Friday, January 30, 2015 - 16:00

International Conference on "Tropical agriculture as last frontier? Food Import Needs of the Middle East and North Africa, Ecological Risks and New Dimensions of South-South Cooperation with Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia”

 

Barcelona, Spain

Jointly organized by The King’s College London (KCL), OCP Policy Center, the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) and Wageningen University.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is among the most water-stressed regions in the world. Affordable food imports are crucial for its future food security and countries with tropical agriculture like Brazil have played an increasing role in MENA food supplies. Apart from policy options to sustainably intensify regional agricultural production, trade will play a crucial role for MENA economies to achieve food security.

‪Given the environmental value and sensitivity of tropical ecosystems sustainable intensification in countries like Brazil, Sub-Sahara Africa and South East Asia is crucial. For this reason, King’s College London (KCL), the OCP Policy Center, the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB), the Getulyo Vargas Foundation and Wageningen University organize an international conference on.

 

Tropical Agriculture as “Last Frontier”?

Food Import Needs of the Middle East and North Africa, Ecological Risks and New Dimensions of South-South Cooperation with Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia

The conference will take place on 28-30 January 2015 at the Barcelona Center for International Affairs (CIDOB). It provides an interdisciplinary perspective on how to open up opportunities for a new geopolitical-environmental cooperation between regions faced by either physical or economic water stress. Over a dozen academic papers will be presented, some of them will be later published in a special section of the academic journal Food Security. Topics range from trade maps and complementarities in food and input provision to environmental and biophysical risks, to opportunities for greater MENA collaboration with tropical economies and the role of agricultural technology transfer.

Particular attention is paid to the impact of climate variability and change on MENA food security and transboundary food-dependence. Possible transformation trajectories of farming systems in tropical zones are another issue of concern. Social and environmental needs in both regions need to be protected and ‘land grabbing’ avoided. Otherwise an increase in domestic and international food security would prove to be elusive.

Overall a picture emerges in which the potential for increased south-south cooperation is considerable. This calls for increased capacity building to facilitate such cooperation and know-how transfer.

Download the Conference Summury

Download the Call for Papers

Conference program

Wednesday, January 28 th ,  2015

20:00  

 

 

 

 

Welcome Remarks

Carles A. Gasoliba, President, Bercelona Center for International Affairs (CIDOB)

Dinner speech

HE Said El Masri, Former Minister of Agriculture and Chairman of Sun Valley company for Agricultural investments, Jordan

Thursday, January 29th , 2015

08:30 – 09:00

 

 

Opening remarks

Jordi Bacaria, Director, CIDOB

Karim El Aynaoui, Managing Director, OCP Policy Center

09:15 – 10:00

 

Keynote address

John Waterbury, Professor emeritus Princeton University and former President of the American University of Beirut (AUB)

10:00 – 11:15

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Session 1 – Framing the Topic: The MENA and Tropical Agriculture Imports

Setting the Scene: The global political economy, economic change and south-south cooperation

Jeroen Warner, Wageningen University

MENA and Tropical Agriculture Countries: Food trade relations and beyond

Eckart Woertz, CIDOB

Exporting the “Brazilian Model” to Africa? Challenges and pitfalls of tropical agriculture in the 21st Century

Gabriela Marcondes, Research Institute for Work and Society, Leuven

Transformation of Global Food Trade: Strategic Policy Options for the MENA

Martin Keulertz, Purdue University

Discussion moderated by Guy Jobbins, Overseas Development Institute

(ODI)

11:15 – 11:45

Break

11:45 – 13:00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Session 2 – Environment and Tropical Agriculture

Moderator:

The Land Grab Threat and Tropical Agriculture Countries

Henk Hobbelink, GRAIN, Barcelona

Scenarios for tropical agriculturalisation including the potential impacts of climate change, locally and along supply chains

Mark Mulligan, King’s College, London

The Brazilian Agricultural Model: Analysis and Prospects

Marina Drummond, Getulio Vargas Foundation, Brazil

Tropical Soils and Agriculture: can tropical soils and crops yield enough?

Violette Geissen, University of Wageningen (via Skype)

Discussion moderated by Rabi Mohtar, Texas A&M University

13:00 – 14:30

Lunch Break

14:30 – 15:45

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Session 3 – Farming

Land Tenure and Business Models: who will make all the money and at whose expense? The case of Brazilian soybean farmers

Vanessa Empinotti, ABC Federal University – UFABC, Brazil

The Water Transfer-Agribusiness Model in Peru: Socio-cultural and gender aspects

Juana Vera Delgado, University of Wageningen, Gender and Water Alliance, Netherlands

Agricultural Development Projects of IFAD in Burundi

Rachid Doukkali, Institute Hassan II and Senior Fellow OCP Policy Center, Rabat, Morocco

Discussion moderated by Anna Ayuso, CIDOB

15:45 – 16:15

Break

16:15 – 17:00

 

 

 

 

 

Policy Panel I: What Role for Companies and the Private Sector?

HE Said Al Masri, former Minister of Agriculture and Chairman of Sun

Valley, Jordan

Tony Allan, King’s College

Guy Jobbins, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London

Discussion moderated by Martin Keulertz, Purdue University

17:00 – 18:30

 

 

 

 

 

 

Policy Panel II: Financing Tropical Ag and International Cooperation

Karim El Aynaoui, Managing Director, OCP Policy Center,

Khalida Bouzar, Director of the Near East, North Africa and Central Asia

Division (NEN) at International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Riad Al Khouri, Development Equity Associates, Jordan

Jeannie Sowers, University of New Hampshire

Discussion moderated by Eckart Woertz, CIDOB

20:00 

 

 

Dinner Key-note speech

Environmental Conflicts and What to do About Them

Joan Martinez Alier, Universidad Autònoma Barcelona,

Friday, January 30 th , 2015

19:00 – 10:15

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Session 4 – Case Studies from the MENA: Import Needs, Domestic Production and Social Contract

Drivers of Food Trade: Water resource decoupling in the MENA as a mechanism for circumventing national water scarcity

Michael Gilmont, King’s College

The Political Economy of Food Price Policy in Egypt

Ahmed Ghoneim, Cairo University

Gulf countries and Iraq: Oil for Food?

Eckart Woertz, CIDOB

Discussion moderated by Jeannie Sowers, University of New Hampshire

10:15 – 11:30

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Session 5 – Case studies from Tropical Ag Countries and the MENA

Les nouveaux modèles de coopération Sud Sud et la sécurité alimentaire: Cas des produits céréaliers dans les pays du Maghreb

Said Zarouali, Division des Programmes Agricoles et du Développement

Rural Direction de la Planification Haut Commissariat au Plan The Political Economy of Agro Lobbies in Maghreb Countries

Francis Ghilès, CIDOB

GCC Growth and East Africa’s Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Challenge: What role for the IsDB and Qatar in North Mozambique?

Laurent A. Lambert, Europaeum (Oxford University)

Reconciling Food and Water Security Objectives of MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa: Options and imperatives

Tim Williams, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Accra

Discussion moderated by Jeroen Warner, University of Wageningen

11:30–12:00

Break

12:00 – 13:15

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Session 6 – Case Studies from Tropical Agriculture Countries

The Hidden Potential of Agroforestal Systems in the Coca Production Area of Chapare, Bolivia

Eduardo Lopez Rosse, Department of Natural Resources-UMSS

Cochabamba-Bolivia Grape Production in India for Global Markets and Gender Inequality

Deepa Joshi, University of Wageningen

Nigeria: The politics of rural development in a resource curse country

Olantuji Akomolafe, President Village Pioneer Project, Akure, Nigeria

Discussion moderated by Mark Mulligan, King’s College

Discussion of the planned special section in the journal Food Security

13:30 – 14:45

 

 

 

 

 

 

Concluding Panel: "Tropical agriculture and the MENA - a review of political, technical and economic challenges"

Tony Allan, King’s College

John Waterbury, Princeton University and AUB

Rabi Mohtar, Texas A&M University

Robert Springborg, Naval Postgraduate School and SciencesPo

Discussion moderated by Martin Keulertz, Purdue University

 

About CIDOB :

CIDOB, the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, is Spain’s oldest international relations think tank. Since 1973 CIDOB has been an important reference in information and policy-oriented research in international issues, and it has gained growing recognition for its research and publications beyond Spanish borders. CIDOB is an independent, non partisan centre funded by a variety of local, national and international public and private actors which, according to the “Global Go To Think Tank” report issued yearly by the University of Pennsylvania, holds the 64th ranking position in the category of “Top Think Tanks Worldwide” and the 16th of Western Europe.

Its areas of geographical expertise include Europe, Latin America, the former Soviet space, Asia, the Mediterranean and the Middle East with a particular focus on issues such as regionalism, international migration, intercultural dialogue, development and human security. CIDOB participates in a number of research consortiums funded by the European Commission and the European Parliament. It is currently coordinating three major projects on the future of the Atlantic Space, Arab Youth and Integration policies of migrant population in the EU.
More about CIDOB on: www.cidob.org

 

 

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