Reforming Agricultural Domestic Support: Options for MC12 and beyond

This event, organized jointly by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), examined the recent trends in the levels of domestic support that governments provide their agricultural sectors. It presented these in the context of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) negotiations on agricultural trade.

The event was held as a virtual meeting on Friday, March 20. It featured a presentation of an upcoming paper analyzing such trends, focusing on a cross-section of the WTO’s membership. The presentations were followed by an open discussion among the participants.

The speakers considered these domestic support trends in the context of other important challenges, such as climate change and food insecurity. The event also looked at these trends relative to the wider systemic context in the lead-up of the organization’s Twelfth Ministerial Conference, and given the ambitions set out by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Discussants included Jonathan Hepburn and Sophia Murphy of IISD, Joe Glauber of IFPRI, and Aileen Kwa of the South Centre. The video of the presentations can be viewed below. The accompanying PowerPoint presentation is also available for download. To find out more about the event, please contact Jonathan Hepburn at jhepburn@iisd.org.