Ready for Change? Global Goals at home and abroad

Woord en Daad, the Foundation Max van der Stoel (FMS) and Partos started the collaboration Ready for Change to stimulate companies, knowledge institutions and the government to join together in enforcing an ambitious and coherent implementation agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Ready for Change puts the implementation of the SDGs high on the agenda in both Brussels and The Hague. By doing this, the collaboration engages in the EU-presidency held by the Netherlands in the first half of 2016. Different parties are brought together as to facilitate knowledge exchange and collaboration by means of publications, workshops, conferences and the media. The Coherence Monitor Let’s Walk the Walk Together was the first materialisation of this collaboration. Food security is one of the main themes the collaboration is focusing on.

“Ready for Change?” report

The second publication “Ready for Change? Global Goals at home and abroad” was presented during the  international conference “Ready for Change?”, which was held on May 19, 2016 in the Science Center NEMO in Amsterdam.

The report aspires to contribute to an ambitious and concrete implementation of the SDGs. With the participation of over forty Dutch development organizations, research institutions and environmental organizations, the report analyses existing Dutch and EU policies from an SDG perspective. It brings forward specific policy recommendations about how the Netherlands, the EU and its member states can contribute to accomplishing the SDGs. The themes in the report were selected in light of the policy priorities of the Dutch EU Presidency during the first semester of 2016. One of the main themes addresssed in the report is sustainable and inclusive food security, as described in Chapter 4 “Breaking silos for sustainable and inclusive food security”.

The way forward to 2030

“Breaking silos for sustainable and inclusive food security” outlines the following recommendations:

The Dutch Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economic Affairs and the  European Commission’s DG Trade and DG DEVCO should make global value chains truly sustainable by jointly:

• Identifying, discussing and monitoring any tensions between global value chain policies and food security objectives, to ensure sustainable and inclusive local food security and food systems are protected and promoted;
• Developing sound criteria for upholding sustainability in global value chain initiatives in line with the right to food, water and land, such as those laid out in OECD guidelines and the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure Land Tenure; as well as indicators to monitor and report on this for any policies and initiatives related to global value chains;
• Formulating and implementing a holistic and cross-sectorial food and natural resource policy to promote sustainable and healthy food consumption choices in the Netherlands and the EU, and consequently promote a smaller global footprint.

The Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, the Ministries of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure and Environment and the European Commission’s DG AGRI and DG DEVCO should:

• Prioritise investments and research in local agro-ecological practices which contribute to more sustainable and robust food production systems and also mitigate the effects of climate change (for instance in efforts for Climate Smart Agriculture);
• Put the right to food at the centre of climate financing and investment policies in order to ensure support for small-scale farmers and implement the guidelines of FAO and the Committee on World Food Security on the right to food and governance of tenure

The Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation and the  European Commission’s DG AGRI and DG DEVCO should:

• Scale up efforts for the creation of facilities to support regional trade in fostering regional integration as part of the Aid for Trade programme;
• Ensure proper technical and financial support is provided for monitoring the effects of the Economic Partnership Agreements on local food security once ratified as part of Aid for Trade programmes;
• Foster permanent dialogue between political, economic and civil actors in ACP countries around the implementation of the EPAs and the spending of Aid for Trade funds.

Implementation

During the conference at NEMO, the report “Ready for Change? Global Goals at home and abroad” has been presented to the Dutch Director General for International Cooperation, Mr C. Rebergen, who replaced Minister Ploumen. He received twelve copies which Minister Ploumen will distribute amongst her Dutch fellow cabinet Ministers to underline that sustainable development is a task of all.