Fair Transitions is a new platform of Institutions for Open Societies (IOS) at Utrecht University, starting September 2022, involving more than 50 scholars. The aim of the platform is to radically rethink sustainable development and envision institutions for the future that safeguard not just ecological boundaries, but also boundaries of fair and just development – on equal and symmetrical terms. By facilitating an interdisciplinary dialogue among various faculties within Utrecht University, and with actors in society, the platform explores the question: How do institutions need to change in order to guarantee safe, inclusive and climate-resilient landscapes and social-ecological environments across the globe?

The basic assumption that underlies the platform is that environmental problems such as climate change are human or institutional problems, characterized by, or rather constitutive of, deeply unfair and unjust governance arrangements. In other words, we believe that existing governmental and market institutions must change and collaborate with informal, bottom-up institutions in new ways in order to achieve fairness and social justice, facing complex global challenges, such as climate change-related transformations that lead to shifts in people’s mobility, relationship between human and non-human species, and access, use and control of natural resources.

• dr. Julia Tschersich
• dr. Julie Fraser
• dr. Rick Dolphijn
• dr. Mucahid Bayrak
• Nicholas Polson

Inclusive agri-business models are increasingly framed as key drivers of developmental change in Africa. Building on the concept of inclusive growth, the models envision economic develpment and social development objectives as complementary, capable in theory, of lifting marginalized people out of poverty. Key to the success of the models are Kenyan women and men entrepreneurs who are conceived as "champions of development"; they are the ones that can potentially create market growth and lead job creation and innovation, and the creation of cheaper food products. In this PhD research project, we examine these assumptions, in collaboration with NGOs who work in the sector. 

• prof. dr. Annelies Zoomers

• Lotte-Marie Brouwer
• Griet Steel

Diamonds in the Delta (DiD) is an international research-action network of scholars, water professionals and civil society advocates who are concerned about how climate change compounds problems of flooding and subsidence in delta cities. We – the people in the network – are united in our conviction that the needs, experiences and aspirations of communities that are actually or potentially most affected by these problems should be the focus when designing and implementing solutions. We collaborate with these communities to jointly identify ways to reduce risks, optimize adaptation strategies and create the conditions for sustainable livelihoods now and in the future. 

• prof. dr. Annelies Zoomers

• Prof. Margreet Zwarteveen
• Dr. Andres Verzijl
• Prof. Richard Sliuzas
• Dr. Annelies Heijmans

Diamonds on the soles of our Feet (DSF) is a Citizen Science (CS) project implemented in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. We collect data with children and promote water literacy inside and outside the classroom. As we cannot disentangle human morality from environmental morality, this is about justice for people and planet, addressing the persistence of ecological damage and negative impacts of climate that have arisen because of the disconnect between people and planet. Seven schools have been selected because of their proximity to a river. Our engagement with citizen science acknowledges the transformative power of affect as a social and political project and the relevance of emotions to education, recognizing that it is neurobiologically impossible to take in science if you don’t care about it. Young learners connect to ‘their’ river and water literacy is brought into the classroom through poems, posters, dance, song. Also outside the classroom learners connect with water bodies. The key goal is to maximise the opportunity, through CS tools, to communicate science enhance socio-ecological learning within the schools. The science/art field is a powerful transdisciplinary tool for bringing science out of libraries and laboratories and making it accessible to all.

• prof. Jaqui Goldin

Securing access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food for sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) growing population requires re-thinking and de-centering the concept of ‘food systems’ and ‘food security innovations’, beyond traditional questions of productivity and closing the yield gap, towards questions of sovereignty, inclusiveness and fairness. International and donor-supported food policies and interventions in SSA try to reach smallholder farmers with expert-led innovations (e.g., new seeds, technology, ICT services) to increase production and include them in value chain development to capitalize on market opportunities. However, there is little evidence that this has contributed significantly to food security or income in rural areas or cities in SSA, and there are increasing doubts among donors such as the Dutch government whether food security policies reach low-income farmers. Meanwhile, citizen-led innovations in Africa such as farmer-led development of irrigation, horticulture cultivation and marketing receive scant attention in food security research-policy debates, or worse, they are negatively presented in these debates and media reports.       

We observe that the current thinking on food security innovations seems to produce a ‘development trap’ for African farmers and consumers. We suspect that this ‘trap’ is produced by contradictory stereotypes and frames of communication that underlie ‘Western-centred’ neo-liberal food security policies. On the one hand, African farmers appear to be framed as potential entrepreneurs, creating the prospect of building a sustainable future of African food security on their shoulders, but on the other hand, food security policies appear to undermine this prospect by structurally framing their innovations as falling short of potential in comparison to ‘modern’ expert-led innovations. 

This project aims to critically unpack the stereotypes and frames of representation that underlie contemporary research-policy debates on food systems and food security innovations in SSA. It is these stereotypes and frames that define our perception of the problems and solutions, of those with decision-making power: policymakers, donors, investors and businesses. We will look at concepts and language used in policy documents, promotion material and media representations of food systems and food innovations. Taking inspiration from emerging research on farmer-led innovations in irrigation development in SSA, we hypothesize that persistent ‘colonial’ stereotypes of ‘African farmers’ and ‘African food systems’ hinder the design and development of (more) inclusive and fair food systems in SSA.

Together with stakeholders from government, private sector and NGOs, we aim to de-colonize the dominant stereotypes and communication frames and develop alternative communication strategies – a new and inclusive ‘language’ – to de-centre and broaden the discussion on food security in Africa. Our research questions are: 1) What stereotypes and frames can be identified in expert-led food security innovations in  Africa; and 2) What alternative communication strategies can be developed to legitimise food security interventions in a sustainable and de-colonial manner?  

• prof. dr. Kei Otsuki
• prof. dr. Eggo Müller
• dr. Guus van Westen

This project is a research-training programme in Mozambique to address regional water planning challenges from the angle of the end users. The food sector in the Beira Agricultural Growth Corridor (BAGC) is growing at a fast pace, leading to increasing demands for water. The timing of the water availability is an essential aspect in this.

With only few staff and limited resources, the government (through its water agency 'ARA-Centro') is struggling to fulfil its mandate of monitoring and regulating water availability and organising the operation and maintenance of surface water supplies. According to principles of Integrated Water Resource Management (e.g. water accounting, registration and licencing of water users, representation of users in river basin management units), ARA-Centro is meant to govern a ‘water budget’ that is represented by the river basins under its administration. In practice, however, the ‘total’ water budget of the river basins (and the actual use of the water budget) remains largely unknown; it is known to ARA-Centro in the sense of crude estimates based on flow data from the main rivers, the designed storage capacities of dams, a relatively small list of registered water users in the BAGC (such as sugarcane companies), and Remote Sensing (RS) estimates. In the context of these constraints, ARA-Centro has little choice than to fulfil its mandate for a much smaller water budget – one that consists of the water resources stored by dams, and used (and paid for) by registered water users. It is for this water budget – the known one – that ARACentro can fulfil its mandate in terms of operation, maintenance and regional planning.

The goal is to develop new planning strategies to do justice to Mozambique's diverse and informal water use sector, and make sure that water uses for bottom-up irrigation development are acknowledged and recognized in policy and planning circles. 

• ARA-Centro
• OCODEMA
• Kabutsirana
• ADDP
• Resiliênçia
• Wageningen University

Recent research shows that African households in peri-urban areas are driving the establishment, improvement and/or expansion of irrigated food production in an unprecedented manner, a process referred to as African farmer-led irrigation development.

Farmer-led irrigation development has the characteristics of what is today discussed as food sovereignty, i.e. the control of local food production by citizens/farmers; prioritizing local and national economies (over globally promoted models of corporate trade and food regimes); empowering peasant and family-driven agriculture; revitalizing interdependencies between urban consumers and producers; and enabling urban consumers to control their food and nutrition. By implication, farmer-led irrigation development embodies new social relations ‘in the making’, in a relatively bottom-up way, and it appears, in circumstances that are more or less free of oppression and inequality between men and women, social classes and generations. 

In approaching farmer-led irrigation as food sovereignty ‘in the making’, the research focus shifts in part to highlighting problems of the current institutions of the state and expert knowledge making in development, particularly in relation to the professional domains of food and water and urban planning. Focusing on food sovereignty sheds a new light on the question of how food experts and urban planners should respond to ‘negotiated’ local development contexts in peri-urban areas in Africa.

In exploring responses of foodl experts and urban planners, and of science and professionals in general, ‘food communication’ in the broadest sense of the word, deserves particular attention. To build institutions for a resilient and open society around/in relation to food production, there is a need for a new language (and intermediaries) of science and society towards dialogue and engagement.

Want to know more about the topic?

Teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5GFkHh07_M

Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agNxd7l0tyQ

Infographic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcwe75x9QDM&feature=youtu.be