In this book, the authors of the essays and short stories are illustrating, in a narrative form and their own words, the “behind the scene” stories about these and other landmark reports that have emanated from the IAASTD. It is hoped that with this book we attract the further attention of decision makers to the challenges, the solutions, and the actions necessary to address them. Food is a human right, and it is the responsibility of governments to ensure that all have access to the right quantity and quality of healthy food at an affordable price, which has been produced for the long-term from resilient systems, many of which must be rebuilt on the ruins of degraded soils, lost biodiversity and impoverished farmers. It’s high time that our food systems pay attention to the word regenerative, as sustainable and resilient systems can only function as such in fully restored ecosystems. Time is ripe to move from exploitation to management of our life supporting ecosystems.

With a major gathering planned under the auspices of the UN Secretary General, Food System Summit in 2021, managed by private foundations and private sector representatives, this book could not be timelier, bringing a strong warning that “business as usual is not an option”, and that if this is not heeded, it’s not people but the irrevocable damage to nature that will destroy our civilization. One could ask where were the initiators and leaders of the 2021 Food System Summit over the past 11 years? It is clear that food systems and the value of a “systems approach” has been suddenly (re)invented and re-interpreted. We must defend the narrative we have developed in 2009 and refined since, which is now very much in jeopardy again and keenly aware of the impacts of the cooptation of language while continuing on the same path. History has a tendency of repeating itself.

This book is a treasure trove for decision makers with any kind of responsibility across the food chain. It is also relevant to the general public as it explains clearly what the consequences of their choices are. Our hope is that decision makers, NGO officials and the wider public read this book and do their absolute best to implement its lessons – our current and all future generations will be eternally grateful if they do.

This book defines innovation as “significant, positive change” that innovators work for and hope to achieve. Examples include increases in crop yields due to better management and improved seeds. Productivity growth underpins food and nutrition security, poverty reduction, and the conservation of natural resources. It arises when farmers adopt improved technologies and practices developed by R&D efforts, often paid for by governments or private investors. Adoption is the “prize.” There is no market for innovations without user adoption nor any scope for impact or investor reward. Understanding adoption is therefore key.

Social networks influence technology diffusion but targeting formal leaders (institutional central nodes) may lead to distributional consequences. This paper analyzes the role of informal social networks in technology diffusion in a socially hierarchical caste-based society. Often, information flow and technology diffusion are constrained by social and economic boundaries where informal nodes such as caste play a very decisive role in everyday life. Proper targeting and dissemination of technology to the marginalized sections of society are very important for their development. We observed that only one-fourth of farmers cultivate newer varieties which include hybrids and recently released high yielding varieties. The results showed that individuals belonging to marginal groups are influential and act as informal leaders when they are the dominant caste in the village. Progressive farmers are found to fail in disseminating new varieties, and targeting influential informal leaders who belong to the dominant caste of the village appears to be a better strategy. Among non-dominant caste members, influential leaders belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) or Scheduled Tribes (STs) are more desirable targets than other caste groups. The more concentrated a network is in terms of its caste composition, the faster will be the spread of any technology.

The Sustainable Lifestyles and Education (SLE) Programme was launched in 2014 as one of the six programmes under the UN 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (10YFP, which is now known as the One-Planet Network). The SLE Programme has supported 25 projects (of which 17 were completed by 2019) that are fostering the shift to more sustainable ways of living, based on the unique contexts of local societies.

Social sciences when reinforced with biological sciences will provide human face of science, because science is for society and hence science without human face is body without soul. Social sciences study the nature, measurement and analysis of needs and aspirations of people so that science can continuously remain relevant and contribute to the welfare of mankind. Specifically, social sciences help organize research and education around societal problems in scientific disciplines by improving focus, design, implementation, evaluation and demonstration of evidences of impact. It is to be noted that despite having so many scientists, scientific establishments and universities in India, our science index is low, human development index is low and our hunger index is alarmingly high. It is time that social sciences of agricultural economics, agricultural extension, agricultural statistics, food and nutrition and home sciences get due attention to play their role as ears and eyes of the National Agricultural Research and Education System (NARES). It has been largely felt that while social sciences could play a larger role currently within NARES, their role is not adequately recognized and more needs to be done to duly recognize them and strengthen the capacities of social scientists.