Debating Unified Approaches to Ecological and Transformative Food Systems: WEF-H nexus workshop update

Participants, mainly experts in water, energy, health and food security, also agreed to establish a WEF-H working group. Through this working group they will share knowledge on the WEF-H nexus across silos and look into possibilities of collaborative projects, an aspiration which echoes what the One Food movement is doing. The group also seeks to strengthen cooperation between scholars based in South Africa and our global counterparts. Outreach to government departments, researchers, and practitioners will be prioritised for future joint projects.

Water-energy-food-health (WEF-H) nexus workshop: conversations on ecological food systems transformation

Stellenbosch University invited HSRC researchers working on questions related to food systems to a forthcoming workshop on the water-energy-food and health (WEF-H) nexus. At this event, the Climate Land and Agrofood System (CLAS) team from the HSRC’s Equitable Education and Economies (EEE) Division will partake in conversations around a study that applied the WEF-H nexus approach to South African realities.

The workshop’s thematic focus on ecological food systems transformation aligns with ongoing One Food research that the CLAS team leads on behalf of the HSRC. The WEF-H framework has been presented as a stopgap for sustainable human, societal and environmental wellbeing through environmental management. Drawing parallels from the WEF-H nexus, the One Food concept, which is guided by the One Food Wheel, strives for transformed food systems to ensure safer, healthier and sustainable food systems that are climate resilient. To meet these demands, a risk tool was developed to quantify the impact of hazards on food systems.

Figure A below illustrates the strong synergies between One Food and the WEF-nexus as both frameworks strive to find lasting solutions to contemporary food system crises. Therefore, participating in this workshop while finalising the preparation for the One Food validation workshop is an opportunity for further engagements on what a healthy food system looks like.

This WEF-H workshop, scheduled for 6^th March 2025, is a prestigious event that is set to facilitate stronger international collaboration, knowledge exchange and engaged research between science councils and local-global academics.

HSRC Researcher Participates in Global Seminar on Food Policy Coherence

Dr Peter Jacobs in the Equitable Education and Economies (EEE) division was an invited speaker at an international seminar on food policy coherence that the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) co-hosted with the University College London (UCL). The main goal of this online seminar, organised from the FAO headquarters in Rome on 4 July, was to showcase the findings of a new UCL study on the importance of policy coherence and transitioning agrofood systems across countries.

UCL researchers and the FAO chose South Africa as a case study site, with almost a dozen HSRC researchers participating in a focus group discussion when the UCL team was collecting information for the study earlier, in June. As an exploratory study, researchers gathered responses to questions such as: What does a coherent food policy look like and why is this so important? How coherent are existing food systems’ policies, especially in the global south? What can be done to foster greater coherence across food policies in a country?

At the seminar, Jacobs revisited some of these questions. He explained how science councils like the HSRC are positioned in South Africa’s policy milieu and characterised the organisation’s responsiveness to government requests beyond sharing research outputs, as follows. Advisers embedded in the policy space usually filter evidence to align with their respective ‘political manifestoes’ outside the influence of researchers. Influencing policy is about being able to intervene at strategic moments in policy cycles. Getting the timing right is pivotal. Furthermore, food systems policy coherence is not just impeded by fragmented and competing mandates, but also competing paradigms (the so-called ‘elephant in the policy design arena’). As a concrete example of key talking points, Jacobs reflected on prospects for infusing the One Food approach, an ongoing HSRC study funded by CEFAS in the UK, into the construction of a coherent and transformative food policy.

In addition to completing an online survey, the HSRC team also shared relevant policy briefs (also here) and reports with UCL researchers.

One Food Risk Tool: a tool to assess the impact of hazards related to food systems

A team of EEE researchers has been instrumental in positioning the HSRC as one of the main partners developing the One Food idea. The One Food idea emphasises identification and control of food systems hazards to ensure food and nutrition security is achieved without compromising economic, social, and environmental sustainability.

The team is leading contributions on how the human and social sciences can be incorporated into One Food approaches and methodologies to ensure its effectiveness in informing policy actions. The One Food project partners are institutions from South Africa and the UK, including the HSRC. Currently, the various One Food project partners are contributing to the development of a One Food Risk Tool. The tool will be used to quantify the impact of hazards associated with food systems.

As part of the development of the tool, Vandudzai Mbanda, Peter Jacobs and Sisonke Mtyapi from the Climate, Land and Agro-Food Systems (CLAS) team in the HSRC’s EEE division will be part of the One Food Risk Tool Workshop taking place from 27–29 February 2024, at the CSIR International Conference Centre, in Pretoria.

The purpose of the workshop is threefold:

(i) to demonstrate the prototype Risk Tool,

(ii) to generate cross-discipline debates on how to assess hazards associated with food systems, and

(iii) to test the tool and scoring system. Hazards related to food systems that will be tested during the workshop include biological, chemical, physical, human and socio-economic hazards.

Specifically, the tool testing involves identifying:

(i) the hazard which causes the risk,

(ii) the impact(s) associated with that hazard,

(iii) the population at risk, and

(iv) the level of exposure to members of the ‘at-risk population’.

The workshop aims to end with ideas on how the One Food Risk Tool can be used in practice and what it can achieve for South Africa.

View and download the HSRC’s One food: social sciences advisory report from the repository here or here.

Watch the video on the HSRC’s One Food work below: