KAUST Declaration on Sustainable Food Security for KSA

We, the attendees of the KAUST Workshop for Sustainable Food Security, are committed to achieving food security for Saudi Arabia in a way that is as sustainable as reasonably achievable.

Sustainable food security will require that we produce our own food where, when, and how it makes sense, given the country’s resource and environmental constraints, and supplement any shortfalls in domestic supply with a diverse portfolio of sustainably sourced imports.

To achieve these high-level outcomes, we recommend to:

1. Use all available tools - Encourage efforts that ensure safe and adequate nutrition for all, and to use science, innovation, education, advanced business practices and responsible behavior to complement traditional knowledge and local food culture and best practices in order to achieve SDG targets.

2. Deliver food security sustainably - Deliver food security within the framework of sustainable management of natural resources, and limit unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, including the minimization of food waste.

3. Produce accurate and transparent data - Ensure that data collection on inputs, production, trade, consumption, and other aspects of the food and agricultural sector are conducted with transparency and integrity. Accurate statistics are essential for decision-making and the formulation of good policies.

4. Manage water resources sustainably - Encourage policies to increase water use efficiency, and to maximize value from the groundwater being used, such as by phasing in systems for charging for the real cost of water, thus supporting market-based methods for self-regulation of water use. A regional (e.g. GCC, or even MENA) approach for this would be ideal. This must be done whilst also respecting the cultural importance of existing traditions, in particular the date palm, and the need to ensure the long-term cultivation of date palms. Infrastructure and processes also need to be developed for increasing use of wastewater and renewable water.

5. Rehabilitate ecosystems - Encourage urgent action to combat pests, climate change and natural resource degradation including desertification, overfishing and erosion of biological diversity. We emphasize the urgency of taking action now to fulfill our responsibility to achieve sustainable food security for present and future generations. Plans should also be started now for the longer-term future, when groundwater reserves are depleted or no longer accessible.

6. Invest in food security - Support an increase in catalytic investments for food security, nutrition, sustainable food systems and infrastructure in a manner consistent with WTO and FAO obligations.

6.1. Public investment - Public institutions can invest in and develop mission-oriented public procurement policies and standards that help unlock private investment to: improve food security and nutrition and efficiency in food value chains; increase productivity, capacity, accessibility to markets, incomes and resilience; support young entrepreneurs and decent work opportunities and conditions; promote innovation in technologies and practices to promote sustainable food systems. Establishment of Food Innovation Hubs would provide information and resource sharing platforms to facilitate an ecosystem for government and private food entities.

6.2. Private investment - We recognize the critical role of the private sector to support public efforts to improve agri-food systems and emphasize the importance of accelerating digital transformation, biotechnologies and other innovations, with appropriate protection of intellectual property rights and data privacy consistent with national and international legal frameworks.

6.3. Skilled workforce - A skilled technical workforce is essential for improvements in the food sector and must accompany technological innovations. Investment in human resource development for achieving food security.

6.4. Scientific research - Underpinning all innovations in the food sector is scientific research, and this needs to be supported at all levels, from universities to governmental bodies and the private sector. Strategic and sustained partnerships between universities, government, and industry will expedite the process of taking technologies to the market.

7. Develop regulatory frameworks to facilitate adoption of technologies - Develop regulatory frameworks and processes to facilitate competitive and safe food processing and production and waste valorization, including the development of plant-based meats, algal products, precision, and biomass fermentation as well

as other “alternative proteins” which can make significant contributions to sustainable food security.

8. Promote free trade - Encourage food trade and overall trade policies that will incentivize producers and consumers to utilize available resources in an economically sound and sustainable manner. We highlight the importance of an open, transparent, predictable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system, consistent with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, to enhance market predictability, and allow agri-food trade to flow so as to contribute to sustainable food security and nutrition.

9. Establish traceability protocols - Encourage efforts to develop systems for traceability and measures of environmental footprints of food. Labeling systems to enable consumers to make informed decisions are also encouraged. Such systems can also help reduce food waste.

10. Shift attitudes and behaviors around food - Apply evidence-based methodologies to shift attitudes and change behaviors of food producers, retailers, and consumers in key sustainability issues in the food sector, including the reduction of water use, meat production and consumption, and food waste.

We agree that the needs to increase sustainability of the food sector are imperative, but there are also many opportunities to take action and make significant impacts – with policy, people and technology. We are equally committing to be mindful of the consequences of our interventions, as we are humbly reminded of the ability of humans to easily ruin ecosystems and the difficulty of the task to repair them. We aim to not repeat mistakes. We encourage all stakeholders in the KSA food sector to act on these recommendations with urgency.

KAUST, 16 March 2022