The Montpellier Process - Pooling Collective Intelligence for Action

March 24

October 24

Montpellier Process COP 16 - Pooling Collective Intelligence for Action across the Feed-Care-Protect Nexus

March 25

Montpellier Process at Nutrition for Growth 

  • Initiated in early 2021, the Montpellier Process has established a collaborative and safe working space across leading International Panels that facilitates collective intelligence, strengthening the science-policy and science-society interfaces key to unlocking sustainable, equitable and just development, where food systems are a catalytic transformation lever. 

    The Montpellier Process is reconvening the involved scientific community in March 2024, inviting a larger and broader coalition of partners.

  • In March 2024, the Montpellier Process reconvened for a two-day event to address global challenges through pooling collective intelligence. Hosted by the University of Montpellier and CGIAR, the event gathered international scientific communities to prepare joint messaging and activate cooperation across International Panels and Science-Policy Interfaces. The agenda included supporting learning communities of practice to optimize expertise at all levels, defining better collaboration for contributing to the UN International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024-2033), and increasing the representation of marginalized knowledge systems.

    Day 1: Focused on transitioning from knowledge to collective intelligence through plenaries, interactive discussions, and working sessions on local and national food system transformation pathways.

    Day 2: Concentrated on actionable interfaces, designing effective decision-making connections, and refining joint messages to support sustainable development goals.

  • Areas of impact: Science-to-Policy Interfaces, Environmental Sustainability, Food Systems and Agriculture

    Outcomes:

    Click here to read more about the Montpellier Process: MP March 2024 Outcome Document

  • The Montpellier Process is a collective, community-owned process convened and curated by an alliance of partners whose aim is to demonstrate more effective, more iterative, and better coordinated Science-to-Policy Interfaces (SPIs) across scales (global, national and local), across sectors (environment, health, people, agriculture, food) and across knowledge systems. It adopts Food Systems as an entry point to engage across the feed-care-protect nexus. Through its presence at Biodiversity COP16, the MP had the opportunity to amplify its message: the Feed-Care-Protect nexus challenges will only be addressed when agri-food systems solutions are applied. Food systems transformation best contributes to sustainable development when aligned to the Global Biodiversity Framework and targets just as the targets will only be met if they are incorporated into Food Systems strategies and pathways. This takes effective and inclusive science-policy-society interfacing spaces, starting from where the implementers are, so that knowledge communities can play an authentic role. 

  • Process: At COP16, the MP interacted with around 1200 participants spanning multiple gatherings over more than 10 connected events across the Blue and Green Zones. It mobilised Use Case Communities that provided concrete examples of food system transformation from implementation actors and highlighted strategies that maximise feed-care-protect synergies. Use Cases included Cities-Territories (São Paulo, Montpellier, Cali/Valle de Cauca), Countries (Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Vietnam and Belgium), International Trade Policy (steered by the OECD and IDDRI), and Diverse Knowledge Systems (curated by the Universidad Nacional of Colombia with the involvement of the local indigenous communities of Missak and Ampiuile). 

  • The Montpellier Process (MP) made its mark at the Nutrition for Growth event in Paris, building on the outcomes of the CBD COP16 dialogue series and paving the way toward UNFCCC COP30. At this pivotal moment, the MP brought together a dynamic knowledge-to-action community, focused on unlocking local-to-global-to-local “Lo-glo-Lo” action to create nutrition-driven impact. The aim at Nutrition for Growth was to explore how Nutrition Goals and Targets could be translated into actionable steps for greater ownership by those responsible for their implementation. The MP also sought to understand the crucial role of knowledge communities, particularly in the nutrition field, and to examine the synergies and tensions between nutrition targets, biodiversity and climate goals. 

  • At Nutrition for Growth, the MP amplified its presence through several gatherings and events across Paris, starting with the MP side event at CIRAD Headquarters in coordination with Agrinatura - SASi-SPi and the AgroEcology Coalition in the context of a Science-Policy Interfaces Day hosted by CIRAD. N4G was also an opportunity to reconvene the International AgriFood Trade Policy Community originated at COP16 and hosted by the OECD Headquarters. Throughout the week, the MP brought its voice ind SPI message in several other spaces, from the Science Conference at the Agence Francaise du Developpement to the ‘Everyone’s Business’ Private Sector event hosted by WBCSD, to the Village of Solutions.