Insight to Impact:
A Decision-Maker’s Guide to Navigating Food System Science

Forewords

As the world faces unprecedented and interconnected challenges—climate change, environmental degradation, persistent poverty, and food insecurity—the need for evidence-based decision-making has never been greater. These complex issues transcend national boundaries, demanding cohesive, science-driven solutions.

Decision-makers at global, national, and local levels recognize the urgency of taking decisive action. They understand that safeguarding the resilience, health, and livelihoods of vulnerable communities, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, requires sound, science-backed policies. Yet, many have told us of their struggles to access the right information in the right format. This is a challenge that slows the translation of research into action.

Addressing climate change, sustainable agriculture, rural development, and food security requires a cross-sector, collaborative approach. Government ministries and agencies must coordinate amid geopolitical tensions, climate shocks and resource constraints. decision-makers often face difficult trade-offs, balancing immediate crises against long-term sustainability goals.

CGIAR developed our first flagship report, Insight to Impact, to meet these challenges head-on. While agricultural research, including CGIAR’s, cannot solve every problem, food system transformation must be part of the solution. This report provides science-based insights and practical recommendations to help decision-makers navigate the pressing challenges of agriculture, food security, and sustainable development while preparing for future risks.

Beyond presenting solutions, this report examines the barriers and enablers of translating science into action. By learning from past successes and failures, decision-makers can make more informed, evidence-driven choices.

This report is shaped by extensive consultations with policymakers and stakeholders navigating food, land, and water systems. They shared the pressures they face—budget constraints, competing policy priorities, and the complexity of balancing diverse stakeholder interests. Whether working with large agribusinesses or smallholder farmers, policymakers must address distinct challenges, from price volatility to pests and extreme weather events. They also described the difficulty of coordinating across ministries and sectors to access the right expertise and data for systemic, informed decisions. We listened.

In response, CGIAR is making its decision-making resources more visible, accessible, and actionable. This report unpacks complexity and delivers practical, research-backed solutions. It is structured around critical decision-making questions drawn from deep consultation, paired with scientific evidence, proven tools, and policy recommendations from CGIAR’s extensive research portfolio.

The voices of decision-makers are woven throughout this report, reflecting their challenges, insights, and priorities. This dialogue helps shape a future where science and innovation are seamlessly translated into action—ensuring that food, land, and water systems become more resilient, sustainable, and equitable for all.

As a practitioner, I rely on data and research to guide decisions that address critical challenges such as climate change, food and nutrition security, and sustainable development. However, the vast amount of available scientific knowledge often remains inaccessible to decision-makers due to its complexity and technical nature. This creates a gap between science and policymaking.

The CGIAR Flagship Report, Insight to Impact: A Decision-Maker’s Guide to Navigating Food System Science, represents a groundbreaking initiative to bridge this gap. By synthesizing research into actionable insights, it ensures that data and science are presented in formats that are clear and practical for policymakers. This approach is particularly crucial as we navigate interconnected challenges like food demand pressures, climate impacts, and resource degradation.

Successful translation of science for policy requires a dual approach: distilling complex research into summaries that highlight actionable outcomes, much like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports and their summaries for policymakers, and fostering continuous engagement between scientists, governments, and decision-makers. Making evidence-based knowledge accessible and relevant empowers policymakers to craft impactful policies addressing global food and nutrition security.

The role of research organizations as a science-policy interface is indispensable, bridging the gap between scientific findings and actionable policies. They must not only generate knowledge but also take responsibility for interpreting complex data, translating it into practical policy recommendations, and ensuring its effective dissemination to decision-makers. If research findings are shared in a way that resonates with the priorities of decision-makers, they can drive transformative change, ensuring that scientific advancements directly contribute to sustainable development and global well-being.

Mazhar Hayat
Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Climate Change & Environmental Coordination, Government of Pakistan