Session Summary

This session addressed key themes in the provision of food to urban areas. Participants heard that, while investments in data and data analysis, and cellular, digital and ICT-driven innovations are coming to the fore, they need to be balanced by support for human and institutional capacity. In addition, partnerships and alliances, and local knowledge and experience were deemed critical in supplying affordable, safe and nutritious food. The session also re-visited a common workshop theme – that the financing of resilience, in this case urban food supply, required policies and incentives to attract private investment capital.

Discussions on urban water scarcity indicated a need for shifts in mindset towards resilience-informed and non-linear thinking, and the embrace of more comprehensive and integrated methods. The World Bank’s Water Scarce Cities Initiative has pioneered such approaches across the MENA region and merits further attention, as do examples of water resilience management from southern California, Malta and Namibia, which were discussed.