Capacity to Measure Progress Toward Sustainability in Global Food Systems

This webinar is part of the Capacity Building for Sustainable Development (C4SD) seminar series.

Measurement is foundational to the transformation of global food systems toward sustainability, yet building the capacity to measure what matters — across geographies, commodities, and stakeholder interests — remains deeply challenging. This virtual seminar brings together practitioners working at the frontier of this challenge, from soil health to supply chains to diet quality.

The seminar will feature: Rachel Gilbert (Policy Researcher, Tufts University), who will speak about building government capacity to monitor the cost and affordability of healthy diets, and the challenges of embedding food system metrics into national policy systems. Allison Thomson (Scientific Program Director, Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research), who will speak about the challenges of building measurement systems for sustainable agriculture, drawing on her experience spanning global climate modeling and supply chain sustainability metrics. Leigh Winowiecki (Global Research Lead, Soil and Land Health, CIFOR-ICRAF), who will speak about building the scientific and field-based infrastructure needed to measure soil and land health at scale, drawing on her work co-developing and implementing a systematic monitoring framework across more than 40 countries. The seminar will be moderated by Alicia Harley (Senior Research Fellow, Sustainability Science Program, Harvard Kennedy School). This seminar is the second in a virtual series examining how to build capacity for sustainable development within global agriculture and food systems.

The series is part of the Capacity Building for Sustainable Development Initiative and will explore the capacities needed to promote equity, measure progress, adapt to shocks, transform development pathways, govern cooperatively, and link knowledge with action — drawing on insights from practitioners working to build and maintain these capacities in the global food system. Additional information on the series is available here.

The series is organized by M-RCBG, Sustainability Science Program, Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, Center for International Development, and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

M-RCBG welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs. To request accommodations or ask questions about access provided, please email mrcbg@hks.harvard.edu.