Dr Wayne Foord (QUB) – Nexus project: a case study of scenario planning methodology applied to food system planning.
This presentation provides an introduction to scenario planning, its increasing application to food system planning, and reports on the QUB Nexus project. There is growing evidence that future food security, globally and regionally, is at risk due to climate change, environmental degradation and resource scarcity, including fossil energy scarcity. Scenario planning methodologies have proven potential to bring together policy makers, researchers, and other stakeholders within the food and agriculture sectors, to face these challenges. The Nexus project, funded by the ESRC through the Nexus Network, addresses the following research questions: How might global climate change and future fossil energy depletion impact on food and agriculture systems in Northern Ireland? What are the different ways that food system sustainability is framed by different stakeholders? And what opportunities are there for developing new, shared understandings and options for action? The project brings together stakeholders from public, private, academic and NGO sectors, with differing perspectives and interests within the food system, and offers a process for developing a broader, more integrated perspective of the food system. The scenario planning methodology also presents opportunities to test and adapt existing policies, and to develop preferred transition pathways, in light of plausible future climate and energy scenarios.