Amsterdam Centre for World Food Studies News

The Vrije Universiteit's Digital Sustainability Center (DiSC) is pleased to announce that an upcoming installment of the Distinguished Lectures Series will feature a talk by Prof. em. Dr. Lorenz Hilty of the University of Zurich. Dr. Hilty's presentation will pertain to "The Creeping Disempowerment of Users in the Digital Transformation and its Connection to (Un)Sustainable Development" - a highly topical subject with major ethical implications for the contemporary world. 

Please follow the link below in order to register for the event. 

Date: June 5

Time: 15:30 - 16:30

Location: Theatre 8 NU-4C47, NU Building

Registration: https://digitalsustainabilitycenter.nl/2025-04-17-event-distinguished-lecture-lorenz-hilty/

Are you passionate about addressing real-world challenges in food and nutrition security and sustainable food systems? Are you a staff member at a Kenyan university, governmental or non-governmental institution, or a private company, seeking research opportunities to enhance your research skills and contribute to building research capacity within your organization? If so, we are happy to announce that applications for a grant for PhD research in Advancing Sustainable Food Systems in Africa are now open. For more information, please refer to the following document. 

ACWFS is pleased to announce an upcoming seminar "From Fields to Waters: How Does Gender Shape Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Kenya?", during which PhD candidate Sally Odunga will present her proposed research on the titular subject. The event is open to all and will be followed by discussion and drinks. All those unable to join us on campus are welcome to participate via Zoom.

Date: 10 April 2025

Time: 15:30 – 17:30

Location: VU Main building, HG 1G-10

Zoom Link: https://vu-live.zoom.us/j/91374552900?pwd=iqw2SQX2MOfsaOSgObJHSLnWsYikrm.1

Date: 13 March 2025

Time: 15:30 – 17:30

Location: VU Main building, HG 1A-36 (the Global Room)

ACWFS is pleased to invite all interested colleagues and partners to an upcoming seminar on the 13th of March, during which Dr. Lia van Wesenbeeck and Dr. Ben Sonneveld will present an evaluation of the Sustainable Water Fund, a global programme by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The purpose of the initiative is to enhance water security, improve sanitation, and proliferate good practices of water management. The presentation will be followed by discussion and drinks. 

Date: 11 February 2025

Time: 12:30 – 13:30

Location: VU Main building, Forum 4 (HG 01D12)

Link for online access: https://vu-live.zoom.us/j/96532944683?pwd=CxuJqTVuxm0jUMc2UPPDbqXOciZWeG.1

Meeting ID: 965 3294 4683, Passcode: 635275

The Amsterdam Centre for World Food Studies is pleased to announce an upcoming lunch meeting dedicated to the presentation and discussion of Dr. Federico Andreotti's research on "Tools for food systems transformation: exploring the potential of system thinking and serious games."

Dr. Andreotti is Lecturer/Researcher at the Wageningen University Farming Systems Ecology group. He is also the coordinator of the WUR Games Hub that connects multiple researchers that use games to bridge science and society. Federico’s PhD project was on the co-design and application of serious games for the sustainability transition of farming and food systems; his current research and education focus is on games design and play and participatory research methods to explore futures farming and food systems. 

Ms Valentina Martínez Ramón (MSc) is Junior Researcher at the Wageningen University Farming Systems Ecology group. She currently works under the CGIAR Multifunctional Landscapes Program. Her MSc Thesis studied agroecological transformations in the context of traditional chestnut farming in Southern Spain. She is generally interested in transdisciplinary social-ecological approaches to advancing just and sustainable food systems.

WUR Games Hub aims to share best practices and create new knowledge to advance the domain of serious gaming at Wageningen University & Research and with other serious game organizations in the Netherlands and abroad. The Hub strives to provide an overview of serious games and develop a common understanding on how to design, apply and assess this approach.

ACWFS is pleased to invite all interested colleagues for an upcoming online presentation by Dr. Wilma van Staden from Rhodes University, South Africa. Dr. van Staden will discuss the topic "Strengthening Food Systems with Rainwater Harvesting and Sustainable Agricultural Practices: Amanzi for Food". 

Time:                    Monday, 3 February 2025 at 11.30h (Dutch time).

Duration:              30 to 40 minutes.

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 358 139 226 749
Passcode: wGz3oY 

Download Teams | Join on the web

Contributing to the public discourse on the transition toward a sustainable economy constitutes one of the core aspects of ACWFS's educational mission. As such, the Center is pleased to announce that Dr. Lia van Wesenbeeck has recently made an appearance on the Vrije Universiteit's own "Climate Breakdown" podcast, offering her insights on the significance of urban agriculture in the fight for a green and equitable future. Do not miss the latest episode!

Due to the upcoming protests against cuts in higher education, the lunch seminar announced for Thursday the 14th will be rescheduled in consultation with the speaker. ACWFS apologizes for any inconvenience that the change might have caused and trusts in the understanding of all interested. 

With urban populations growing rapidly all over the world, the need for developing sustainable food production systems in and around cities is greater than ever. The challenges and opportunities associated with urban agriculture will constitute the central focus of the upcoming Urban Gardening Symposium organized by the Amsterdam Sustainability Institute. The event will feature presentations by a number of distinguished speakers, such as:

• “Urban Agriculture: Beyond the Pioneering Stage” by Ben Sonneveld, VU, Amsterdam
• “Inclusive Urban Agriculture: The Case of Cyprus” by Vassilis Litskas, Sustainability Metric, Cyprus & Viviana Capurso, University of Udine, Italy
• “What Constraints the Expansion of Urban Agriculture in Benin?” by Mirte van der Louw, VU, Amsterdam
• “Assessing the Impacts of Urban Agriculture in Europe to Guide Its Development Through Appropriate Policies and Governance Models – the FOODCITYBOOST Project (2024-2027)” by Pierre Chopin, VU, Amsterdam
• "Community, solidarity, inclusivity and sustainable livelihoods: An Amsterdam urban farming collective seeks to find the balance" by Ann Doherty, Cityplot Amsterdam

From the smallest allotments to the largest farms, from economics to social inclusion—the discussed themes are of considerable relevance for a wide range of academic specializations. We will conclude with brainstorming on priorities for research in urban agriculture and close the event off with a borrel and drinks. 

The Symposium is open to all and will feature the possibility of joining online; make sure to register in advance!

The Amsterdam Centre for World Food Studies is pleased to announce an upcoming lunch meeting dedicated to the presentation and discussion of Dr. Federico Andreotti's research on "Serious games for the sustainability transition of farming and food systems." 

Dr. Andreotti is Lecturer and Researcher at the Wageningen University Farming Systems Ecology group. He is also the coordinator of the WUR Games HUB that connects multiple researchers that use games to bridge science and society. Federico’s PhD project was on the co-design and application of serious games for the sustainability transition of farming and food systems; his current research and education focus is on games design and play and participatory research methods to explore futures farming and food systems.

The meeting will take place on the 14th of November, between 12:30 and 13:30, at Vrije Universiteit's Zuidas Campus, room NU-02A55. All interested persons who cannot attend the event in person are invited to join on Zoom, using the following link: https://vu-live.zoom.us/j/96484869626?pwd=lespSl1mX54wbxo5PRn1Kjb2WMVNz2.1

Back in the autumn of 2023, the head of ACWFS, Dr Lia van Wesenbeeck, along with two other researchers from the Wageningen University & Research, Judith Jacobs MSc & Dr ir Walter de Boef, were commissioned to write a policy document for the committee on Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation.

This paper was an addition to the global food security roadmap of the ministers of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation and of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. The document aims to provide insight into the Netherlands' potential contributions to global food security with the use of public resources and possibilities for the Dutch private sector. With this being an extensive matter, the main focuses of the paper were on (a) which Dutch expertise and knowledge would be most meaningful in use for food security on an international scale, and (b) what is the best course of action from both public and private sectors in the Netherlands to deploy this Dutch knowledge and expertise.

If you would like to read the full Food Security Factsheet, click on the link here.

While the EU is concerned with the impact of the Ukraine war on energy prices, we should not forget what is happening outside our borders. In December 2022, RPCA published important findings from its 38th annual meeting on the theme of “Pastoral and security crises and food and nutrition resilience”. Currently, West Africa is encountering complex and interconnected crises. To illustrate, nearly 28.9 million people in the region are currently in need of emergency food assistance. If suitable policy measures are not adopted, this figure could rise to 41.9 million people during the lean season in June-August 2023, of which, 25,500 people are projected to be in a disastrous situation. 

More information about RPCA's findings and meeting discussions can be found here.

The war in Ukraine is leading to major concerns about scarcity of fuel and food, and to a global call to expand production in the short term. As plausible as it may sound, such a policy is a wrong response to the shock caused by the war. What is needed is support for the poor, especially in the cities; freeing up land that is now used for biofuel and animal feed, but especially no (populist) actions that slow down the necessary diet and energy transition.

There are legitimate concerns for those who suffer from the war, and for millions of people elsewhere in the world for whom hunger threatens. Because of the skyrocketing prices for food and fuel, large groups of poor people, especially in the cities, cannot survive without income support. Here, there is a role for the International Monetary Fund, which can help countries with specially designed arrangements.

Meanwhile, a famine of unprecedented proportions is looming in the Horn of Africa. The United Nations World Food Program must be able to continue to buy and distribute food aid. This does not only require financial support. The UN must condemn Russia's blockades (and even robbery!) of food supplies in Ukraine and enforce the free passage of WFP convoys from Odessa through the Black Sea. Now the war is not only causing incredible suffering in Ukraine, but starving children elsewhere are also being victimized.

In response to price increases, measures are being taken in many countries to mitigate the effects of increased prices. In the Netherlands, this is mainly the (temporary) reduction of the excise duty on fuels; in the US allowing the sale of gasoline where 15% ethanol is blended. In addition, in many countries the need to increase food production is emphasized. In the EU, several countries, including EU President France, are calling for European plans for greening agriculture to be put on hold because they would lead to a decrease in food production in the EU.

As thoughtful and appropriate as these responses sound, they are not. There is no global food production problem, let alone a production issue for fuel. The global reserves of wheat are large and whether or not to sell these strategic stocks is a political decision. The same applies to decisions about increasing oil production and releasing strategic stocks of oil. It is important not to put the brakes on the much-needed transitions: high prices for fuel and animal feed steer consumption in the right direction and make innovation possible. Lighten the burden for the poor, but not for all.

There is also no reason to nibble on natural areas, or to back down on nitrogen standards: there is plenty of land if the US and EU in particular finally stop producing biofuel from food crops. It is important for the EU to stick to the green course, especially now. This year we are discussing the review of the Common Agricultural Policy, and then it will be fixed for years. The Netherlands is certainly not a pioneer in greening: the European Commission's first reaction to the Dutch commitment can be summarised as "a lot of talk but little substance".

Especially now, commit fully to greening, by responding to the war with well-thought-out policy. The energy transition is needed to leave a livable planet for our children. Greening is also the condition for a truly strong response to misconduct by countries such as Russia: an oil boycott now, without a drop in demand in the EU, will only lead to even higher world market prices that further harm the poor and help Putin.  

In short, everywhere we now hear about European values. Take them seriously and do not let the poor and greening suffer in the end.

Lia van Wesenbeeck, Director Amsterdam Centre for World Food Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Met dank aan Michiel Keyzer, Ben Sonneveld en Bart van den Boom.