Title Beyond Humanitarian Aid: Reclamation and Reconstruction of Contaminated Soil, Degraded Water Resources and Farmer Livelihoods from Wars and Conflicts
Author(s) Lois Wright Morton
Affiliation Iowa State University; Solutions from the Land; self-employed farmer
Country United States of America
Contribution type conceptual paper
Thematic area War and Health
Conference framework connection • Analytical Track AT-01 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-02 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-03 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-04 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-05 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-06 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-07 — provisional title to be defined
Abstract Wars and conflicts leave behind degraded ecosystems, contaminated soils, polluted waters, farmers without livelihoods, food and nutrition insecurity, and poverty. The post-war band-aid of humanitarian aid is short-term and inadequate. Food and nutrition secure communities and nations require investments in an abundant and nutritious food supply and robust farmer livelihoods that produce society’s food. Central challenges are lack of scientific recognition of farmers’ roles, fragmentation of scientific information and weak systems applications to the reclamation and reconstruction of agricultural lands, rural livelihoods and food systems destroyed by conflict and war. Farmers are key partners in helping scientists develop research frameworks and on-the-ground experimentation with recovery approaches and new technologies. Farmers need to be reconnected to the land,help in assessing what they need to be successful, and access to knowledge and tools to restore/regenerate their soil and rebuild household and national food and nutritional security. There is a need for multi-level systems approaches: expansion of farmers’ “solution toolbox” for regenerating and reclaiming contaminated local soil and water resources and Guiding Principles for Reconstruction of War-ravaged Agricultural Lands and Waters to guide policy, planning and implementation to enable the co-production of food and nutrition security, livelihoods and natural resource reclamation.
Key points ● Contamination of agricultural lands and watersheds from war and conflict disrupts the production of food, harms ecological systems and threatens farmers’ livelihoods.● Reclamation and reconstruction of agricultural productivity and food and nutrition security depend on multi-level system approaches to restored soil–water–biological relationships, repaired infrastructure, and robust profitable farmer livelihoods.● Farmers as key partners in reconstruction of agricultural landscapes and creation of resilient food systems must be integrated into science, policy, and implementation.
Keywords Degraded soil and water, farmer livelihoods, food and nutrition insecurity, fragmented knowledge, scientific recognition, war-ravaged agricultural lands  
Main discussion question What are the reclamation and scaling-up policies and resources needed to reduce information and resource fragmentation and provide farms of all sizes (smallholders, mid-sized, and large) access and capacities to customize and bundle complementary innovations, technologies, practices, interventions, services, education and training to concurrently achieve reclamation and regeneration of soil and water resources, profitable production systems, and food and nutrition security?
OJS publication link https://pollution-diseases-ojs.org/index.php/pd/article/view/34
Note. Analytical TracksIn addition to the main thematic areas, the conference programme will include several cross-cutting analytical tracks. These tracks will be defined during the preparation of the programme, based on the submitted abstracts and the emerging links between presentations.At the preliminary stage, abstracts may be assigned to provisional analytical tracks marked as AT-01 to AT-07. Final track titles will be announced after the Scientific Committee has reviewed the submitted materials.