8. Public policy, regulatory frameworks, and international agreements informed by scientific evidence and public participation have enabled decisive and effective global transitions towards more sustainable practice. New national, regional and international agreements will be needed to support further shifts towards ethical, equitable and sustainable food and agriculture systems in response to the urgent challenges posed by declining availability of clean water, climate change, and insupportable labor conditions.

9. Awareness of the importance of ensuring full and meaningful participation of multiple stakeholders in international and public sector AKST policy formation has increased. For example, in some countries, pesticide policies today are developed by diverse group of actors including civil society and private sector actors, informed by science and empirical evidence and inclusive of public interest concerns. These policies have focused on the multifunctionality of agriculture.

10. The number and diversity of actors engaged in the management of agricultural resources such as germplasm has declined over time. This trend reduces options for responding to uncertainties of the future. It increases asymmetries in access to germplasm and increases the vulnerabilities of the poor. Participatory plant breeding provides strong evidence that diverse actors can be engaged in an effective practice for achieving and sustaining broader goals of sustainability and development by bringing together the skills and techniques of advanced and conventional breeding and farmers' preferences and germplasm management capacities and skills, including seed production for sale. Further development and expansion would require adjustment of varietal release protocols and appropriate policy recognition under the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).

11. The debates surrounding the use of synthetic pesticides have led to new arrangements that have increased awareness, availability and effectiveness of the range of options for pest management. Institutional responses have included the strengthening of regulatory controls over synthetic chemical pesticides at global and national levels, growing consumer and retail markets for pesticide-free and organic products, removal of highly toxic products from sale, development of less acutely toxic products and more precise means of delivery and education of users in safe and sustainable practices. What constitutes safe and sustainable practice has been defined in widely varying ways by different actors reflecting different conditions of use as well as different assessments of acceptable tradeoffs. The availability of and capacity to assess, compare and choose from a wide range of options in pest management is critical to strengthening farmers' ability to incorporate effective strategies that are safe, sustainable and effective in actual conditions of use.

12. Integrated Pest Management exemplifies a flexible and wide-reaching arrangement of actors, institutions and practices that better address the needs of

diverse farmers. Although definitions, interpretations and outcomes of IPM programs vary widely among actors, IPM typically incorporates KST from a broad range of sciences, including social sciences, and the experience and knowledge of a diverse set of actors. IPM has become more common in high value production systems and has been adopted by an increasing number of important commercial actors in food processing and retailing. Successful approaches to introducing IPM to small-scale producers in the tropics include farmer field schools, push-pull approaches, advisory services provided under contractual arrangements for supply to central processing facilities and creative use of communication tools such as farmer-to-farmer videos and focused-message information campaigns. A combination of such approaches, backed by strong policy reform to restrict the sale of outdated and highly toxic synthetic controls, will be needed to meet future development goals. Further experimentation with and operational fine-tuning of the institutional arrangements for IPM in the field in different settings is also needed to ensure optimal efficacy. These can be evaluated by comparative assessment using a combination of social, environmental and economic measures that include positive and negative externalities.

13. Local food systems, known to sustain livelihoods at micro level, are currently challenged by globalized food systems. This trend brings opportunities but also threatens livelihoods and sovereignties of marginalized communities and indigenous peoples. In some countries, social, ethical and cultural values have been successfully integrated in commercial mechanisms. Fair trade and ethnic labeling are examples of institutional options that can be considered by those who wish to promote effective measures to protect the interests of the marginalized and revitalize rural livelihoods and food cultures. The addition of a geographic indication can promote local knowledge and open opportunities for other agroenterprises such as tourism and specialty product development, as well as collaboration with utilities such as water companies. Production systems dominated by export markets are weakened by erratic changes in international markets and have sparked growing concerns about the sustainability of long-distance food shipping and the ecological footprint and social impacts of international trade practices. Local consumption and domestic outlets for farmers' products can alleviate the risks inherent in international trade.

2.1. Science, Knowledge, Technology and Innovation in Agriculture

The Asian AgriHistory Foundation translates historical writings that remind us that formal processes for generating technology-led innovation were in place in some countries more than 3000 years ago. This subchapter focuses on AKST processes and institutional arrangements, how these have been brought to bear on agricultural problems and combined to bring about innovation in agricultural systems when mobilized for different policy purposes. Subchapter 2.2 assesses the roles that various knowledge actors have played in different contexts, noting changes over time from different perspectives so as to minimize the risk that past