It’s official: the Consortium of international agricultural research is now an International Organization
The world’s largest agricultural research partnership, The CGIAR Consortium has as of 2 March 2012 been granted status of official International Organization. The status will allow the Consortium to operate as an independent organization and speak with one voice at an international level.
The official signing ceremony, and with that the ratification of the agreement, took place in Paris, at the Danish Embassy with Ambassador Dorte Riggelsen signing the agreement on behalf of the Danish Government. Denmark has been working in partnership with CGIAR for 40 years and has donated more than US$204 million in essential contributions to the organization.
It’s not the only Danish connection. The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) coordinating unit is hosted by the University of Copenhagen. CCAFS works with all 15 CGIAR research centers, and cuts across many other Consortium supported research programmes, to develop new options for adapting to and mitigating emerging impacts of climate change for smallholder farmers in East Africa, West Africa and the Indo-Gangetic Plains.
“Achieving International Organization status and recognition is a major step towards enabling the reformed CGIAR to deliver research resulting in real impact; improved food security, health and nutrition alongside sustainable management of natural resources,” said Mr. Carlos Perez del Castillo, CGIAR Consortium Board Chair, who was present at the event. CGIAR plays a key role in global agricultural research. It has often been cited that one dollar invested in CGIAR research results in about 9 dollars in increased productivity in developing countries.
The status of international organization will also allow the consortium to establish better partnerships and raise awareness of its work at a time when agricultural research is key to the survival of a billion people. Over the past four decades, CGIAR has proven that investing in agricultural research has a cost-effective impact on the fight against hunger and malnutrition.
With investments in the agricultural sectors in Africa still being below its targets, strengthening the Consortium could prove to be a crucial step in improving food security in the region and also making sure that we are able to feed the additional 2.4 billion more people anticipated by 2050, half of whom will be living in Africa. Read an insightful commentary on the importance of this development, as published on the Nourishing the Planet Blog.
Below: A picture from the signing ceremony at the Danish Embassy in Paris, France
Photo: CGIAR
Written by Cecilia Schubert, Communications Assistant at CCAFS.