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Our Common Future Under Climate Change
International Scientific Conference 7-10 JULY 2015 Paris, France
Take Back Your Health Conference 2015 Los Angeles
Farm in a box: Providing nutritious food to Chinese students
201507-09
By Susan Evans, Founder and CEO GoodtoChina
Susan presented at the CFCC15 session �Perceptions of Climate Change� at UPMC, Paris France on Day 2.
Food production is in crisis and the people who are already feeling the effects are those that will most likely be hit most by the continued effects of climate change.�
Addressing their needs is often complicated and it�s not necessarily about taking solutions that we already have and applying them in different places and to different social groups.�
The community�s culture, location, current situation and openness to new ways of doing things, all play into their ability to respond and implement successful solutions.�
We have found that a participatory approach � where we understand and work with the local leaders to shape the solution is beneficial. Yet there are many challenges along the way.�
At Our Common Future, we used the case study of �Farm in a box� to take a look at what�s working and how to better plan project development within rural/urban communities.�
Based just outside the metropolis of Shanghai, Farm in a box aims to provide a food source for small communities who are in need of nutritious food resources. We work with a small residential school for disabled and orphaned boys, where their food supply is dependent on charity.
Some 40% of rural children in China do not have access to sufficient nutritious food. These children have been found to be stunted as a result of maternal and childhood malnutrition.�
A recent study in China looking at nutrition at residential schools found that, over the past 10 years, these children have lacked sufficient food for healthy development. These same groups are often the ones most heavily impacted by and vulnerable to climate change.
Malnutrition is devastating. It blunts the intellect, saps the productivity of everyone it touches and perpetuates poverty. Taking action on malnutrition is the single most important, cost-effective means of advancing human well-being.�
The project team, in collaboration with the community leaders, designed and implemented a food system that starts to address some of the challenges faced by local communities given the effects of climate change.�
The project is local, provides a variety of nutritious food, optimizes growth using organic and local resources, and empowers the community to lead the project. The vision for the project is that it can be scaled and applied to many in need communities that have food shortages, such as children in residence, migrants due to man made or natural disasters.�
The project uses a participatory methodology. Navigating between participatory methods and tyranny is an issue that has received much attention within participatory research and community engagement literature.
However, future planning may help to avoid some of the �perceived tyrannical� effects and outcomes and better prepare ��project� teams for successful outcomes. Key areas to consider include, culture, time and timing, empowerment and envisioning the vision. Some tips:
-- Truly understand the culture
-- Transformation is slow, plan for longer term engagement to reach empowerment
-- Keep an eye on the vision and be ready to exercise flexibility, adaptation
-- Continue to work with �beneficiaries� until they are empowered, proud and advocates of the new system�
-- Use media and/or other resources to help reinforce new system success for community leaders.
This is part of a blog series profiling climate scientists, economists, social scientists and civil society members who are presenting and discussing innovative climate science at Our Common Future. For more follow @ClimatParis2015 and #CFCC15 on Twitter.