Known scenarios of climate change set the need for adaptive management and adaptation of the farming systems of the future. The ongoing changes require particular attention to resources, not just the efficient use of natural resources as water and soil, but also the care for human and social resources and their capacity to adapt to the global world maintaining linkages to the local sphere. These are particularly sensitive and urgent topics in the Mediterranean Basin, where this 2020 Conference will be held – but nonetheless, these topics are also at the top of the agenda in all regions of the world. These are challenges we would like to see discussed and reflected upon in this IFSA Conference, exploring the potentialities of the farming systems approach. We would like the IFSA community to be active in contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

Teresa Pinto Correia
14th IFSA Conference Chair