The event Urban Agriculture for Resilient Cities: Lessons learnt in policy, research and practice gathered 65 participants from the wide RUAF partnership, including representatives from farmers’ organisation, local and national authorities, UN Agencies, research centres, and NGOs from over 20 Countries in Almere, at the multifunctional city farm estate The Kemphaan on 19-20 May.
Below is an overview of the working sessions with links to the speakers’ presentations
DAY 1
Opening session
• Dr. Ir. Bram Huijsman (Director International Programmes, Social Sciences Group, Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands and Chair of the Board of the RUAF Foundation) Opening of the conference
• Dr Luc Mougeot (Senior programme specialist International Development Research Centre, Canada): Nature and relevance of urban agriculture: old and new debates
• Ir. Henk de Zeeuw (Director RUAF Foundation): RUAF 10 years: results to date and new challenges ahead
Parallel sessions I
Session A: Multi-stakeholder Policy development and action planning on urban/peri-urban agriculture
Moderator: Dr Olofunke Cofie (Volta Project)
• Ir. René van Veenhuizen (Advisor ETCAgriculture and knowledge management specialist of the “Cities Farming for the Future” programme): Multi-stakeholder Policy development and action planning on urban & peri-urban agriculture; the RUAF approach and experiences
• Case 1: Mr Job Jika Ndebele (Dep. Director of Engineering Services & Town Planning Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) Cultivating A Sustainable City: Multi-stakeholder Policy Making and Action Planning for Urban Agriculture – Bulawayo’s Experience
• Case 2: Mr. Flávio M. L. Duffles (Municipal Secretary for Food Security of Belo Horizonte), Brazil Multi-stakeholder formulation of a urban agriculture policy for Belo Horizonte
• Case 3: Honourable Mr Uddya Gammanpila (Minister of Agriculture of Western Province, Sri Lanka) Promotion of urban agriculture in Western Province; institutional set up.
• Exchange on main challenges and the way forward regarding this theme
Session B: Participatory Innovation in small scale urban farming, processing and marketing
Moderator: Dr Gordon Prain (CIP)
• Ir. Marielle Dubbeling (Senior advisor ETC-AgriCulture and coordinator of the RUAF “From Seed to Table” programme). The RUAF approach to participatory innovation in small scale urban/peri-urban production, processing and marketing
• Case 1: Ms Bridget Impey (Manager of Harvest of Hope, Abalimi Bezekhaya): Harvest of Hope: mixed vegetables production and marketing, Cape Town, South Africa
• Case 2: Ms Xiaoding Zan (Manager of the Huairou Vegetables Cooperative): Farmer led development of organic mushrooms production and marketing, Beijing, China (by video)
• Case 3: Ms Anaam M.F.Sakarneha (Chair of the Iraq al Amir women cooperative society): Value chain development for green onions in Amman, Jordan
• Exchange on main challenges and the way forward regarding this theme
Parallel sessions II
Session A: Safe productive reuse of urban wastes and waste water in urban agriculture
Moderator: Ir. R.van Veenhuizen (ETC-AgriCulture)
• Dr Pay Drechsel (Theme leader Water quality, Health and Environment of the International Water Management Institute, Sri Lanka) Safe productive reuse of urban wastes and wastewater: an introduction
• Case 1: Dr Julio Moscoso (Senior consultant wastewater and sanitation IPES) Evidence based policy development regarding multi-functional reuse of urban wastewater in Lima, Peru (by video)
• Case 2: Dr Olofunke Cofie (Volta Basin Leader for the Challenge Program on Water and Food of the CGIAR, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso) Advances in the recovery of municipal waste resources for improved productivity in urban agriculture in Accra, Ghana
• Exchange on main challenges and the way forward regarding this theme
Session B: Recent research on the socio-economic impacts and financing of urban & peri-urban agriculture
Moderator: Dr Remi Kahane (Global Hort)
• Mr Mark Redwood MSc (Programme leader Climate Change and Water International Development Research Centre) Urban agriculture research: taking stock and new challenges
• Study 1: Ir. Henk de Zeeuw (Director RUAF Foundation; coordinator of the study by RUAF for IDRC and UN Habitat on) The effects of the 2007/8 financial crisis on food security and livelihood of the urban poor
• Study 2: Dr Gordon Prain (Senior researcher CIP; coordinator of the RUAF study for World bank on:) The socio-economic impacts of urban agriculture
• Study 3: Dr Yves Cabannes (Chair Development Planning Unit of the University College London; coordinator of the study for RUAF-FStT on: ) Financing of small scale urban/peri-urban agriculture
• Exchange on main challenges and the way forward regarding this theme
Short visits to the different parts of the City Estate de Kemphaan and Almere
Moderator: Mr Marco Serena MSc (ETC AgriCulture)
See further information attached.
1. General overview of concept and development (organization, business and landscape) of Urban estate De Kemphaan – walking tour
2. Ins- and outs of urban Farm “Stadsboerderij Almere” – walking tour
3. Intro to concept and business model of Nieuwland, a glass house care farm – walking tour
4. Almere Vineyard at the slopes of a former waste dump - bus + walking tour
18.00 -19.00 Cocktail (at Restaurant de Kemphaan)
DAY 2
Urban agriculture for resilient cities (Part I)
Moderator: Dr Pay Drechsel (IWMI)
• Dr. Gaston Remmers (Chair Eco-effective entrepreneurship in urban environments, CAH Almere): Vital cities: values, urban farming and sustainability. An evolutionary approach
• Ir. Henk de Zeeuw (Director RUAF Foundation) The potentials and limitations of urban agriculture in enhancing the resilience of cities and developing sustainable regional food systems
• Ir. Marielle Dubbeling (Senior advisor ETC-Urban Agriculture). Integrating agriculture in the urban landscape and slum upgrading programmes
Urban agriculture for resilient cities (Part II)
Moderator: Dr Gaston Remmers (CAH)
• Case 1: Ms Laura Bracalenti (Professor Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Design of the National University of Rosario and member of the Technical Support Tem of the Urban Agriculture Programme of Rosario, Argentina) Participatory development of productive green spaces in Rosario: a strategy for slum and livelihood improvement
• Case 2: Ir Jan-Eelco Jansma (Senior researcher Applied Plant Research of the Wageningen University and Research Centre) Agromere: integrating agriculture in city design; design principles and processes
• Case 3: Mr Gunther Merzthal (coordinator urban agriculture programme, IPES, Peru): Participatory design and implementation of multi-functional urban agriculture in Bogota, Colombia and Lima, Peru
• Case 4: Dr Ming LIU (Director Agricultural Committee Minhang District, Shanghai, China) Recreational agriculture: multi stakeholder involvement in the development of multi-functional peri-urban agriculture in Minghan District, Shanghai
• Exchange on main challenges and the way forward regarding this theme
World Café
Moderator: Mr Marco Serena (ETC AgriCulture) and Gaston Remmers (CAH)
A carousel of short exchanges between the participants on the following two questions:
1. What are the key priorities for future work on cities, agriculture and resilience?
2. What opportunities for cooperation with RUAF Foundation or other participants did you identify?
Closing session
Moderator: Prof. Yves Cabannes (DPU-CLU)
• Short statements by representatives of international organisations on their activities regarding urban agriculture and city resilience. Dr Rafael Tuts (Chief Urban Environment and Planning Branch UN-Habitat); Dr Florence Egal (Co-secretary of “Food for Cities” UN-FAO); Mr Mark Redwood (Programme officer Climate change and Water programme IDRC); Dr Remi Kahane (Global Hort);
• Closing of the event by Dr Yves Cabannes (Professor DPU-CLU and RUAF Board member)
