Strategic Planning & Futures Thinking

• The World Meteorological Organization released a new forecast.
• Extreme weather from the climate crisis will render towns and cities uninhabitable within 3 years.
• Using its Climate Crisis Simulator, the forecast has a 68% success rate over the past decade in predicting inhabitability "tipping points".

The Future Today Institute's Time Cone for Strategic Planning

• The Time Cone represents years and certainty with actions and work streams.
• Years are malleable based on project parameters and scope.
• Tactical planning refers to 12-24 months.
• Strategic planning refers to 2-5 years.
• Vision planning refers to 5-10 years.
• Systems-level disruption and evolution refers to more than 10 years.

Futures Thinking

• Futures Thinking is synonymous with Anticipatory Thinking but is not predicting the future.
• Consists of a frame of thinking and philosophy based on broader academic discipline of Futures Studies.
• Involves evaluating emerging global trends and informing strategic plans to handle future uncertainty.

The Futures: from Futures Studies

• Depicts the range of possible futures from "preposterous" to "preferable."
• Preposterous futures are impossible and won't ever happen.
• Possible futures refer to future knowledge.
• Plausible futures refer to current knowledge and "could happen".
• The 'projected' future is the 'default' extrapolated 'baseline' / 'business as usual'.
• Probable futures refer to current trends and are "likely to happen".
• Preferable futures involve value judgements (want to happen/should happen).

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

• The UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are designed as a blueprint to achieve global peace and prosperity for people and the planet (United Nations, 2015).
• Aims to achieve objectives by 2030.
• Structured in 17 SDGs and 169 targets.
• The SDGs are not legally binding.
• They influence the strategies and actions of governments, businesses and organisations, as well as development finance flows.
• Strong interest has influenced new initiatives, partnerships and networks that are already influential.
• There is adoption and action on SDGs within sectors including Education.

Progress on the 2030 Agenda

• Halfway to the deadline, more than half of the world is being left behind per The SDG Progress Report; Special Edition.
• Over 50% of SDG targets are weak and insufficient.
• 30% have stalled or gone into reverse which included key targets on poverty, hunger and climate.
• The COVID-19 pandemic and the triple crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution are devastating.
• An increased cost of living crisis has been amplified by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
• Climate finance is far below commitments.
• Developed countries have not delivered the $100 billion annual promise from 2020.
• The SDGs aim to bridge divides, restore trust and rebuild solidarity.
• Failing on progress increases inequalities.

What Is A Food System

• Food systems encompass the range of actors and their interlinked value-adding activities involved in the production, aggregation, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal of food products.
• The products originate from agriculture, forestry or fisheries, and parts of the broader economic, societal and natural environments.
• The food system is composed of sub-systems and interacts with other key systems which could trigger major changes.

Plans For Ireland

• There is a strategic objective to embed the SDG framework into the work of Government Departments to achieve greater Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development.
• Another strategic objective is to integrate the SDGs into Local Authority work to better support localisation of the SDGs.
• Other objectives include greater partnerships for the Goals and incorporating the principle of Leave No One Behind into Ireland's Agenda 2030 implementation.

Ireland's national approach to the SDGs

• Includes various plans, frameworks, policies, and strategies aiming for economic recovery, national planning, climate action, and social inclusion.
• Includes national strategies on education for sustainability, research, and skills to support community and sustainable development.
• Food Vision 2030 aims for Ireland to become a world leader in sustainable food systems.

Significance of Agri-food in Ireland

• The agri-food sector in Ireland is the oldest and largest indigenous exporting sector which trades worldwide.
• The agri-food sector includes primary production, processing, and manufacture of food, beverages and wood products.
• In 2022 the sector exported goods valued at €18.98 billion.
• Agri-food employs 165,000 people across farms, fishing vessels, aquaculture sites and food production enterprises.

Food Vision 2030

• The Strategy is divided into 22 goals and 4 Missions.
• The 4 missions are: A Climate Smart, Environmentally Sustainable Agri-Food Sector; Viable and Resilient Primary Producers with Enhanced Well-Being; Food that is Safe, Nutritious and Appealing, Trusted and Valued at Home and Abroad; An Innovative, Competitive and Resilient Agri-Food Sector, Driven by Technology and Talent.
• Food system interconnectivity requires that all systems are considered

Climate Action Act 2021

• Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 was signed into law in Ireland in July 2021.
• Aims to transition to a climate-resilient, biodiversity-rich, climate-neutral economy by 2050.
• Includes promoting climate justice, amending the Climate Change Advisory Council, and setting carbon budgets.
• Local authority climate action plans and amending the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 are key components.
• On 1 June 2022, the EPA called for the urgent implementation of climate plans and policies plus further new measures to meet the 51% emissions reduction target for 2030.

Citizens Assembly on Biodiversity Loss 2022

• Assembly recommended 159 measures for the State to maintain an integrated species and land usage map.
• 83% recommend amending the Constitution with a view to protecting biodiversity.
• 83% recommend a senior Ministerial position and associated department for biodiversity.

Nature's Right

• The study aims to set a framework for the legal recognition of the Rights of Nature in the EU legal order.
• Ecuador was the first country to recognize the rights of Nature in its national Constitution.
• Bolivia adopted its Law Under the Mother Earth and Integral Development for Living Well in 2012.
• The national government of New Zealand reached an agreement to recognise a legal persona for the Whanganui River in 2012.
• In France over 20 amendments addressing addressing the rights of living, animal welfare, the global commons, the crime of ecocide, and the principle of non-environmental regression in 2018.
• In 2021, Donegal County Council became the first council area in Ireland to recognise Nature's Rights.
• The Citizens' Assembly also recommended including the Rights of Nature in the Constitution (83%).