In Latin America and the Caribbean as elsewhere, low-income and marginalized communities have seen their vulnerability exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. They are experiencing greater food insecurity and are suffering more from the cascading impacts of natural hazards and climate change. Yet every day, they produce informal, bottom-up solutions to these problems, transforming public space, housing and urban conditions at the margins of authorities’ influence and plans. These bottom-up solutions are still not fully understood by academics and practitioners. Besides, little is still known about how conditions of urban informality—where infrastructure and services are scarce, land tenure is disputed, governance structures are fragile, and housing conditions are poor—influence the emergence of alternative (that is, local, healthy, equitable, inclusive and culturally-relevant) food systems (AFS).

This project seeks to explore:

(a) how bottom-up informal solutions interact with food systems and contribute to make them more resilient to shocks such as climate change impacts and pandemics;

(b) how urban systems in contexts of informality influence the resilience and vulnerability of AFS and, by doing so, how they influence people’ capacity to deal with climate change impacts; and

(c) what are the conditions for scaling impact, transferring results, and overcoming implementation barriers towards resilient AFS in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The aim is to use such knowledge to (a) support on-the-ground, locally-specific efforts to strengthen AFS; and (b) generate and practice lessons related to the food system to reduce vulnerabilities and build resilience. It will do so by means of research, training, and implementation activities in four countries (Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Cuba) and by means of networking and sharing activities among them and other countries in Central America. It will produce new knowledge and yield policy changes through innovative explorations that combine empirical research, action research and design. These activities will help enhance local capacity and interaction among community leaders, public officials, and academic partners and better equip communities and institutions to address challenges of food insecurity and natural hazards in the coming years.

Le projet est basé sur la mise en œuvre d’une vingtaine de microprojets communautaires et urbains visant une meilleure adaptation aux changements climatiques en réponse, notamment, aux opportunités et aux défis soulevés par l’eau dans les contextes de pauvreté et d’informalité.
Le projet se dédie principalement à :
1) Au transfert de connaissances et d’expertises entre les partenaires du Sud.
2) La réalisation d’études détaillées en Colombie, au Chili, en Haïti, et à Cuba, notamment dans des villes affectées par les changements climatiques et étant confrontées à des opportunités et des menaces liées à l’eau.
Par la combinaison de la recherche empirique et la mise en œuvre des microprojets d’intervention urbaine, ce projet jouera un rôle de premier plan dans la formulation des stratégies d’adaptation et dans développement des connaissances originales sur l’informalité dans les pays du Sud.