GCRF: Social and Environmental Trade-offs in African Agriculture

该提案涉及在撒哈拉以南非洲实现可持续发展目标（SDG）2（零饥饿）、SDG 10（减少不平等）和SDG 15（生态系统保护）的挑战。由于持续的人口增长和经济发展，这些目标之间的冲突和权衡正在迅速加剧，而政府和私营部门的决策者继续根据对不同农业发展道路可能产生的社会经济和环境影响的认识不足采取行动。拟议的方案旨在提高联合王国和非洲组织的能力，通过一个参与性进程，将最先进的研究与研究用户的有效参与相结合，调查这些影响和权衡。其愿景是，主要政府和私营部门行为体调整其政策、战略和投资，更多地考虑到不同农业发展道路的社会经济和环境层面内部和之间的影响、风险和权衡，以及民间社会组织在塑造国家农业发展话语方面发挥更大作用。研究过程将涉及对每个组织的背景分析。对整个国家进行分析，然后进行分析，以确定：㈠当前农业景观的驱动因素，㈡不同农业发展途径对社会经济因素、生物多样性和生态系统长期为人民提供服务的能力的影响，㈢机构和政策在塑造农业系统方面的作用;以及（iv）在政策和规划上的政治和经济障碍。这将为与主要利益攸关方一起制定农业和土地使用变化情景提供信息，同时考虑到气候变化、人口增长和城市化的预测率，并最终导致更好地理解不同农业发展情景的影响、风险和权衡。该方案将支持利益攸关方“理解”并使用经完善的设想方案，为国家以下和国家一级的政策、投资和宣传提供信息。我们的跨学科研究过程将伴随着活动，以评估和发展参与研究人员和利益相关者（决策者，投资者，民间社会行为者/非政府组织）的技术和“面向过程”的能力，目的是加强他们共同开发相关研究的能力，并评估和使用决策和宣传的结果。非洲和英国的研究人员之间、不同学科之间以及三国不同利益相关者群体之间将通过国家学习联盟建立新的伙伴关系，这一进程的最终受益者将是农村和城市贫困家庭，他们将受益于支持农业系统和当地生态系统长期可持续性和复原力的更连贯的政策。这些人在撒哈拉以南非洲人口中占很大比例，其中包括：（a）农村地区的穷人，他们的粮食安全是以自给农业为基础，用农业劳动和经济作物的收入购买粮食来弥补缺口;（B）农村和城市的穷人，他们自己生产很少或根本不生产粮食，但这些人高度依赖粮食购买，因此面临粮食供求不平衡造成的粮食价格风险。

This proposal addresses the challenge of achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 (zero hunger), SDG 10 (reduced inequalities), and SDG 15 (ecosystem conservation) in Sub-Saharan Africa. Conflicts and trade-offs between these goals are rapidly intensifying because of ongoing population growth and economic development, while decision makers in government and the private sector continue to base their actions on an insufficient understanding of possible socio-economic and environmental impacts of different agricultural development pathways. The proposed programme aims to enhance the capacity of UK and African organisations to investigate these impacts and trade-offs through a participatory process that combines state-of-the-art research with effective engagement with research users. Its vision is for key government and private sector actors to adjust their policies, strategies and investments to take more account of the impacts, risks and trade-offs within and between socio-economic and environmental dimensions of different agricultural development pathways, and for civil society organisations to have a greater role in shaping the national discourse on agricultural development.The research process will involve a context analysis of each country as a whole, followed by analyses to determine: (i) drivers of current agricultural landscapes, (ii) impacts of different agricultural development pathways on socio-economic factors, biodiversity and the capacity of ecosystems to provide services to people over the long term, (iii) the role of institutions and policies in shaping agricultural systems; and (iv) the political and economic barriers to more joined-up policy and planning. This will inform the building, with key stakeholders, of scenarios for agriculture and land use change, taking into account climate change, predicted rates of human population growth and urbanization, and ultimately leading to an improved understanding of the impacts, risks and trade-offs of different agricultural developmental scenarios. The programme will support stakeholders in 'making sense' of, and using, the refined scenarios to inform policies, investments and advocacy at sub-national and national level. Our interdisciplinary research process will be accompanied by activities to assess and develop both the technical and 'process oriented' capacities of participating researchers and stakeholders (policy-makers, investors, civil society actors / NGOs), with the aim of strengthening their ability to co-develop relevant research and to assess and use the outcomes for decision making and advocacy. New partnerships will be developed between researchers in Africa and the UK, between different disciplines, and between different stakeholder groups in the three countries via National Learning Alliances.The ultimate beneficiaries of this process will be poor rural and urban households who would benefit from more coherent policies supporting the long-term sustainability and resilience of farming systems and local ecosystems. These make up a large proportion of the human population in sub-Saharan Africa and include (a) the poor in rural areas whose food security is based on subsistence agriculture and using income from agricultural labour and cash crops to purchase food to cover gaps, and (b) poor rural and urban populations who produce little or no food themselves, but who are highly dependent on food purchase and thus exposed to food price risk resulting from failure to balance food supply and demand.