The African Heads of State and Government gathered for the inaugural Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, from 4th to 6th September 2023. The Summit sought to launch a new climate ambition for Africa and to invite supportive partnerships to pursue the continent’s climate-resilient, low emissions development pathways. The Summit focused on climate change and development in Africa, and the need for improved global investment in climate action. African countries were able to detail their plans and investment needs, and push for reform of international financial architecture.

The objective of this proposed scientific session aims to introduce the Equity Principles for Transformative Innovation (Equity Principles), which have been recently submitted to a Special Collection Supplement in Agricultural Systems. This session aims to help researchers understand the importance of inclusive Agricultural Innovation System (AIS) frameworks, and Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) tools, and how to incorporate them into their work on socially effective and responsible innovation and scaling.

Persistent gender and social inequities undermine agri-food systems’ potential to contribute to inclusive and sustainable development. Systems thinking recognizes the interconnectedness and complexity of agri-food systems, emphasizing the need to consider various interrelated components and their dynamic interactions and highlights the need for integrated and transformative strategies that target multiple levels of the agri-food systems, from local to global.

This research examines the relationship between soil inequalities, gender disparities, and health outcomes in Guatemala. The historical context of land concentration, limited access to land, internal conflict, and socioeconomic factors contribute to soil inequalities, which in turn affect household gender dynamics and health outcomes. Using a case study approach in San Martin Jilotepeque, Guatemala, this research examines the challenges faced by male and female farmers in managing their soil.

Sub-Saharan Africa is facing an expected doubling of human population and tripling of food demand over the next quarter century, posing a range of severe environmental, political, and socio-economic challenges. In some cases, key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are in direct conflict, raising difficult policy and funding decisions, particularly in relation to trade-offs between food production, social inequality, and ecosystem health.

Transforming global food systems to promote food and nutritional security can help alleviate both poverty and ill-health, and support sustainable development. Such transformations need to be tailored and sensitive to the vulnerabilities and needs of marginalized communities yet are hindered by knowledge gaps. In particular, the food and nutrition security needs of the most vulnerable are often poorly understood, as are the policy frameworks and resource requirements associated with meeting their needs.

Universal access to affordable clean energy continues to be a challenge across the globe. Women’s and marginalised groups’ access to clean energy services and green technologies remains constrained by intersectional social factors and gender-blind policies. The recurrent failure of policies to consider differentiated gender and social inclusion needs is a significant obstacle to sustainable development.

Food waste (FW) is a key challenge on the sustainable development agenda of countries worldwide. The lack of FW data and insights from its analysis about quantities, causes, and characteristics is a significant obstacle in implementing adequate reduction and prevention interventions for different sectors. The primary purpose of the case studies was to review FW prevention, reduction, and management initiatives. Lessons and best practices that enable and facilitate solutions were identified.

G20 policymakers should strengthen the enabling environment for innovation in agriculture and food systems to unlock public funds to support researchers in developing their innovations. One way to implement this is through increased public funding for innovative agricultural research and development (R&D) efforts such as the Centre of Excellence in Science, Technology, and Innovation (CoE-STI) of the African Union Development Agency – New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) and CGIAR Accelerate for Impact Platform (A4IP).

The diverse aquaculture sector makes important contributions toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)/Agenda 2030, and can increasingly do so in the future. Its important role for food security, nutrition, livelihoods, economies, and cultures is not clearly visible in the Agenda 21 declaration. This may partly reflect the state of development of policies for aquaculture compared with its terrestrial counterpart, agriculture, and possibly also because aquaculture production has historically originated from a few key hotspot regions/countries.