This policy brief — produced under the CGIAR Initiative on Asian Mega-Deltas (AMD) — emphasizes the urgent need for promoting inclusive governance in Bangladesh's agri-food systems to enhance resilience in the face of escalating climate risks. Although Bangladesh is transitioning toward climate-resilient agri-food systems, this shift faces challenges. There is notable variation among policies and interventions pertaining to food, water and environmental systems in their acknowledgment of socio-ecological interdependencies and representation of marginalized communities.

On 6 February 2022, the African Union’s (AU's) Climate Change and Resilient Development
Strategy and Action Plan (2022-2032) was endorsed at the 35th Ordinary Session of the

Agri-food systems face multiple challenges. They must deal with prevailing structural weaknesses, partly deepened by the disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, civil conflicts, and climate change. Addressing structural weaknesses – such as inequitable access to healthy and nutritious food for all, loss of livelihoods and incomes, and increasing environmental shocks – requires not only technological, but also institutional innovations, as well as economic and policy responses.

In the recent campaign leading up to the presidential election of July 9, 2023 in Uzbekistan, the incumbent president pledged to ensure the implementation of water-saving technologies across all irrigated lands by 2030. This ambitious initiative aims to revolutionize the country’s agricultural sector by replacing old water-intensive irrigation practices with a mix of modern innovative technologies, such as drip irrigation or laser land leveling.

This chapter explores the impact of tariff increases on female unemployment and the agricultural sector in Malawi. Combining a standard general equilibrium model with a top-down behavioural microsimulation, the author finds that a move towards trade restrictions would destroy over 1 million jobs in the country, affecting primarily women across the labour market but more markedly in agriculture.

Small water infrastructure in Nigeria needs to be utilized more efficiently. There are over 900 small reservoirs across the country. Many of these have yet to be put to productive use within the Ogun watershed in the Ogun Osun River Basin. This study investigates the challenges and opportunities for improving the use of small reservoirs for farmer-led irrigation in a sustainable way.

The paper proposes a probabilistic approach to the assessment of the impacts of multipurpose dams. It is framed around the notion of Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP) in the setting of the Water-Energy-Food nexus. The socio-ecological context of the Tana River Basin in Kenya and the construction of two multipurpose dams are used to highlight co-produced positive and negative NCP under alternative river regimes. These regimes produce both damaging floods that ought to be controlled and beneficial floods that ought to be allowed.

In Colombia, NATURE+ works in the southwest departments of Caquetá, Cauca, Nariño, Putumayo and Valle del Cauca with a focus on two landscapes: lowlands and highlands. These areas have high deforestation rates, at-risk Indigenous populations and latent security risks. However, communities, governments and researchers have recognized the departments’ importance for water and agrobiodiversity conservation,
and are beginning to embrace nature-positive activities to improve the natural environment and the lives of the people who depend on

Conflict has a deep and interrelated impact on health, food, and water security. With agriculture heavily dependent on freshwater withdrawals, disruptions to water supplies can heavily affect food production, which in turn affects health. In fragile and conflict-affected settings, poor governance and climate change exacerbate these challenges, leading to heightened competition for resources and the weaponization of vital assets like water.

Climate shocks to agriculture are threatening food security, especially in developing countries. Poverty and malnutrition are rising rapidly. Therefore, we must urgently transform our agricultural systems to be productive, sustainable, and equitable, and to contribute fully to lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This will require a global “Agricultural Breakthrough”, defined in the Breakthrough Agenda as: “Climate-resilient, sustainable agriculture is the most attractive and widely adopted option for farmers everywhere by 2030.” How can we achieve this?

A rapid assessment of the Green Leave Vegetables (GLV) value chain in the Kiambu Living Landscape shows that huge potential exists for agroecological transition in this region. At the farm level, farmers are already applying selected agroecological principles, such as a decrease in the use of external inputs, crop and economic diversification, biodiversification, and soil management techniques, among others.

Potato sector has a substantial role in Kenya's agriculture, contributing to food security, nutrition, and the national economy. While underscoring the sector's vast potential, this Technical Brief identifies the existing gap between current yields and achievable targets, highlighting the necessity for strategic improvements in farming practices. It accentuates the transformative impact of digital tools in the agricultural landscape, notably accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and facilitated by the widespread use of mobile technology and internet access in the country.