Science Forum 2018 (SF18) was held in Stellenbosch, South Africa, and was organized by the CGIAR's Independent Science and Partnership Council (ISPC) and co-hosted by the South African Agricultural Research Council. Organized around the theme "Win more, lose less: Capturing synergies between SDGs through agricultural research," the meeting aimed to identify interactions between SDGs and analyze the role of the CGIAR in augmenting synergies and managing trade-offs within the process.
WLE organized a session with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) titled Nexus, Systems, Landscapes: Does Your Sector Still Matter? Rethinking the Agricultural Research Agenda to Help us Tackle Tradeoffs. The session aimed profile existing agricultural research that looked at the interactions between sectors at a larger system and landscape level and try to analyze any successes and potential gaps to help make more sustainable food systems. The three research outputs that were shared were an energy checklist for irrigation, a nexus observatory, and solar irrigation.
WLE Program Director, Izabella Koziell, was also a panelist for one of the plenary session discussions organized by the ISPC, titled "Grappling with complex systems: the water-energy-food nexus experience."