To achieve a transformation in food systems under climate change, engagement of young people is crucial. They are the next generation and are both vulnerable to current and future impacts of climate change, but also offer ways forward as important agents of change in their households, schools, business ventures, communities, countries and regions.
Climate change impacts will affect the ability of young women and men to secure livelihoods, incomes and food availability. Engaging youth in long-term adaptation is therefore a key focus of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) through social learning approaches and platforms and engaging or collaborating with youth organizations. Linking young people to cutting edge science on climate change, agriculture and food security, we aim to empower youth to take center stage in development. In this context, this interactive online workshop is developed for youth from all around the globe to participate and engage in the challenges and movements around food security under a changing climate.
During this online event, CCAFS will discuss collaborations, actions for youth, and challenges around food security globally. There will be a presentation around youth involvement and three vlogs from youth movement leaders from Latin America, Africa and Asia which will raise topics for discussion with the audience. These youth movement speakers will introduce their initiatives with CCAFS recorded from their region. Each vlog will end with a statement about a food security challenge or action from this region that participants can vote for. Afterwards, all three speakers combined will end with one collaborated challenge for participants as a takeaway message. This challenge will aim to empower and inspire the participants to engage in actions around food security throughout the globe.
Dr Bruce Campbell has a PhD in Ecology from Utrecht, but has increasingly moved into inter- disciplinary work, championing new approaches to applied research on natural resource management. He is Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), and a staff member of the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). He operates out of the CCAFS office at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He was previously based in Zimbabwe, Indonesia and Australia, where he has worked in agricultural and forestry research for development. He has published over 120 peer-reviewed articles and more than a dozen books.
In 2009, Bruce became the Director of the newly-established CGIAR Challenge Program on climate change, based at the University of Copenhagen, and in 2011 the Director of its successor, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).
As Program Director, Bruce Campbell is responsible for intellectual leadership and representation, sign off on deliverables, and has decision-making authority with respect to day-to-day operations of CCAFS. The Program Director gives regular updates to the Lead Center management team, and to the Chair of the Independent Science Panel. On behalf of the Program Management Committee, the Program Director prepares the annual report that goes to the ISP and Lead Center (for onward submission to the Consortium Board).
For two decades prior to joining CCAFS, he focused on social-ecological systems in southern Africa, covering a spectrum of production systems (forestry, livestock, dryland and irrigated cropping), from small-scale (e.g. soil fertility management) to large-scale (e.g. deforestation analyses), and from biophysical and social science angles. In this time he served as the inaugural Director of the Institute of Environmental Studies, University of Zimbabwe.
For ten years, Bruce was the Director of the Forests and Livelihoods Program at the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Indonesia. This involved a team of 50 scientists based in eleven locations in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The team included anthropologists, political scientists, sociologists, economists, ecologists, botanists, foresters and geographers. This work centered on the link between poverty alleviation and forest goods and services, with topics such as ‘payments for environmental services (PES)’, ‘reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD)’, and ‘integrated conservation and development (ICDP)’ featuring prominently.
He also had a spell in Northern Australia, where much of the work involved Aboriginal natural resource management. He was the inaugural Director of the School for Environmental Studies at Charles Darwin University in Darwin.
Bruce serves on several editorial boards, and is a scientific committee member of PECS, the ICSU Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society.
Viktoria leads the food transformation at WBA. She is responsible for the development and engagement of the Food & Agriculture Benchmark, making sure that the benchmark methodology reflects stakeholder expectations and that it is widely used. In addition, she works closely with the spotlight indices: Access to Seeds Index and Seafood Stewardship Index. Viktoria believes that business is at the center of the food systems transformation. The benchmark and the spotlight indices are crucial tools to measure progress and identify opportunities to realize more healthy, sustainable and equitable food systems.
Viktoria is a happy foodie and amateur gardener. She holds a Masters in International Business Transactions & Law from the Nyenrode Business University and the University of Amsterdam. She has worked as a corporate lawyer for Allen & Overy and legal advisor for Rabobank. Before joining WBA, Viktoria was an independent advisor convening multi-stakeholder partnerships to improve livelihoods, nutrition and environment within food systems.
Sebastian is a Colombian youth leader who has relevant experience in rural youth issues. He is a graduate with an Associate Degree in ICT from SENA and currently finishing an Associate Degree in Music Production from Latin American professional audio foundation Center. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political science and public management from the International University of La Rioja and has carried out several studies in the development of projects and public policies.
Sebastian currently works in Apoyar Foundation and the Jovenes Emprendedores Association (Asoje) in Colombia, where he is an advisor in the management and formulation of projects. Since its creation and for the last six years, he is a board member and member of the communications team of the National Rural Youth Network of Colombia.
For more than seven years, he has participated in the formulation and implementation of different projects that contribute to social and rural development in different parts of Colombia and in some countries in Latin America.