Ok, let’s recap. Food Policy put out a sort of special issue, or rather special section of its latest issue, entitled On Research Strategy for the new ‘One CGIAR’. It consists of an editorial plus 5 “viewpoint” papers. They’re all behind paywalls. I first just saw the one by Dr David Lobell, and wrote a bit about it here. Then I saw the ones by Drs Rebecca Nelson and Lawrence Haddad, and wrote about them.
It was then that I finally twigged to the scale of the thing, and saw the two remaining pieces. Actually it was thanks to a Twitter exchange, but maybe that’s another story. One of the viewpoints I missed is by Dr Pedro Sanchez, who basically says that CGIAR should focus more on nutrient-rich foods, both plant- and animal-based, which is congruent with the others in highlighting the importance of agricultural biodiversity without actually mentioning it, let alone genebanks. The second is by a group of 6 Cornell researchers, and they summarize their recommendations as follows, and I quote:
- One CGIAR must cooperate and collaborate with multiple international partners.
- One CGIAR must build regional capacity and training in cooperation with NARIs.
- Working environments at the One CGIAR must address researchers’ work-life issues.
- One CGIAR requires research strategies that are policy-relevant and proven to work.
- One CGIAR must lead in advocating for and communicating about science.
Which I can’t really distinguish from what’s happening at the moment, except maybe in terms of quantity, but anyway.
Still waiting for reactions, in particular from NARIs. Go for it below…