Wilson Center and Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture Launch Partnership on Sustainable Food Production

SAN JOSÉ–The Wilson Center and Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) launched a partnership on June 5, 2024, to promote sustainable food production in Latin America, to increase the region’s role in global food security and minimize environmental impacts, including the unprecedented climate crisis and the effects of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

With 34 members in the Americas, IICA promotes agricultural development and rural well-being through technical cooperation.

This agreement, signed in San José on June 5, will also promote cooperation between the Wilson Center and IICA to address the impacts of climate change on the region’s farmers, including but not limited to the development and deployment of agricultural technologies. Through joint research and public dialogues, the Wilson Center and IICA will help address regional and global hunger while safeguarding biodiversity and minimizing the sector’s emissions.

“Latin America and the Caribbean region is blessed with immense potential to feed the world, but its farmers face daunting challenges,” Dr. Benjamin N. Gedan, Director of the Wilson Center’s Latin America Program, said. “We hope this partnership promotes public policies that incentivize sustainable agriculture, including the provision of stimulus for the development and application of new technologies.”

Gedan was joined at the signing ceremony by IICA’s Director General, Dr. Manuel Otero. “The countries of the Americas must find new and sustainable ways to make our agricultural sector more resilient and productive, as well as create a more progressive development pathway for millions of rural people. Our region suffers a paradox of two major challenges: rising food insecurity, where over 43 million people do not have enough to eat, and poor diets that result in obesity–a trend that has tripled in the last 50 years,” Dr. Otero said.

In recent years, the Wilson Center and IICA have had a rich collaborative exchange that includes the joint organization of dialogues between high agri-food authorities of the Americas and the launch of specialized publications. The signing of this Agreement heralds the strengthening of our strategic partnership towards the implementation of concrete actions that will support our vision towards achieving Agenda 2030.