Day 3 - MENA Regenerative Agriculture - GT (Gulf Time, GMT+04:00)
Agriculture sits at the intersection of climate's two defi ning challenges: it is both a signifi cant driver of greenhouse gas emissions and one of the systems most acutely threatened by climate breakdown. Drawing on ecological economics and systems science, this keynote makes the case that reforming global food systems is the single highest-leverage intervention available for climate, and explores what the transition from extractive to regenerative food production means in practice for climate resilience, ecosystem restoration, and the design of economies that operate within planetary boundaries. With MENA facing accelerating desertifi cation, rising temperatures, and compressing windows for action, the session examines the strategic role the region can play in shaping future-proof food systems turning its constraint-driven necessity into a globally relevant model.
The language of water "crisis" is no longer adequate. According to the 2026 UNU-INWEH Global Water Bankruptcy report, many of the world's rivers, aquifers, and wetlands have crossed tipping points from which they cannot recover, entering a persistent state of hydrological overshoot that demands structural redesign, not incremental management. With agriculture accounting for roughly 70% of global freshwater withdrawals and MENA holding less than 1% of global freshwater reserves, the region sits at the sharpest edge of this imbalance. This keynote examines what aligning food production with ecological and hydrological limits means in practice and why the most underestimated lever in the water equation lies not above ground, but beneath it.
Beneath every fi eld, every meal, and every human body lies the same foundational system: living soil. Yet across the world, intensive agricultural practices - tillage, synthetic inputs, and monoculture - are dismantling the biological complexity that took millennia to build. In MENA, this degradation is compounded by aridity, salinisation, and water scarcity, making soil restoration both more urgent and more technically demanding than in temperate regions. This keynote examines soil as the earth's most biodiverse and most overlooked ecosystem: the hidden infrastructure regulating water cycles, stabilising the climate, sustaining biodiversity, and ultimately determining the quality of the food, air, and water that human health depends upon. Drawing on the science of soil biology and the evidence for regenerative restoration, it makes the case that preserving and regenerating soil is not a niche agricultural concern but a civilisational priority and that the transition, while demanding collective mobilisation and a shared vision of the future, is both feasible and urgent.
The transition to regenerative agriculture will not be driven by farmers alone, it requires a demand signal strong enough to make the shift economically viable across the supply chain. This keynote presents global and regional evidence on how consumer values, purchasing behaviour, and trust in food systems are evolving, and what this means for retailers, and brands seeking to build markets for regeneratively produced food. It frames consumer engagement not as a communications challenge but as a structural market-building opportunity.
This panel deliberately convenes both advocates and critical voices on regenerative agriculture creating space for rigorous, evidence-based debate on whether and how regenerative practices deliver meaningful outcomes in water-scarce, arid contexts. Rather than presenting a consensus that does not yet fully exist, it confronts the hard questions: what does the evidence actually show, where have transitions succeeded and why, and where have they failed or been oversold. The goal is not to resolve the debate but to advance it - producing a clearer, more honest framework for what regenerative agriculture can and cannot deliver in MENA's specifi c conditions, identifying the data gaps that must be fi lled to build a credible regional proof of concept, and surfacing the indigenous and traditional knowledge systems that hold untapped answers the scientifi c record has yet to fully capture.
Panel topics:
● The case for and against: advocates and sceptics examine the evidence base for regenerative agriculture in arid and semi-arid conditions: what the science supports and where claims outrun data
● What works in water-scarce contexts: concrete fi eld examples of regenerative practices demonstrating measurable gains in productivity, water retention, and ecosystem function under MENA conditions
● What does not work and why: honest assessment of transitions that have underperformed, the conditions under which regenerative practices fail, and the assumptions that do not hold in arid landscapes
● Mistakes to avoid: practitioner and researcher perspectives on the most common implementation errors: from inappropriate technique transfer to unrealistic yield expectations during transition
● Key outputs and measurable benchmarks: what success looks like in practice, defi ning the indicators that matter for farmers, investors, and policymakers in a regional context
● Mapping the evidence gaps: identifying priority defi cits in regional data - soil carbon sequestration rates, water retention metrics, yield trajectories under arid conditions - and the research agenda needed to build a robust MENA-specifi c proof of concept
● Indigenous and traditional knowledge as evidence: how centuries of arid-climate agricultural practice - from falaj irrigation systems to traditional dryland farming techniques - hold validated solutions that science is only beginning to document, and how integrating this knowledge alongside research evidence strengthens the regional framework
● From debate to agenda: translating contested evidence and knowledge gaps into shared research and monitoring priorities for MENA-specifi c standards and certifi cation frameworks
Examining how MENA's unique constraints drive innovation where cutting-edge technology enhances rather than replaces natural processes - from precision agriculture and soil microbiome research to accessible biological inputs. The panel asks not only what technology can do, but who it can realistically reach, with particular attention to ensuring that arid-climate innovation is designed for adoption at every scale, specifi cally for smallholder farmers.
Panel Topics:
● Soil health technology ecosystem and precision agriculture for arid climates: from analytics, sensors, and microbial inoculants optimising natural soil processes, to AI-driven irrigation and remote sensing tools optimising water use effi ciency
● Soil microbiome research: understanding how benefi cial organisms drive carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, and plant resilience
● Right-sized solutions for smallholders: which regenerative technologies and practices are genuinely accessible and economically viable for smallholder farmers in MENA — examining affordability, ease of adoption, training requirements, and how technology developers and extension services can co-design solutions with smallholders rather than for them
● Digital infrastructure: open-source soil databases and data-sharing platforms connecting farmers, researchers, and policymakers for collaborative, evidence-based decision making
Examining the full spectrum of non-fi nancial conditions required for regenerative agriculture to accelerate across MENA: from coherent regulatory frameworks and policy incentives to targeted extension services, capacity-building programmes, and knowledge transfer pathways that meet farmers where they are. Regulatory frameworks and capacity building are treated here as mutually dependent: policy only generates uptake when matched by the knowledge and skills to act on it.
Panel Topics:
● Regulatory landscape mapping: carbon credits, ecosystem service payments, and regenerative agriculture incentives across MENA: identifying gaps and harmonisation opportunities
● Policy instruments that reward regenerative practices: subsidy reform, market access provisions, and trade policy as levers for systems change
● Extension services reimagined: how farmer support infrastructure must evolve to accompany regenerative transitions across diverse MENA farming contexts
● Capacity building that reaches smallholders: targeted programmes addressing knowledge gaps at the fi eld level, from soil health literacy to practice implementation
● Knowledge transfer between research and practice: mechanisms that translate scientifi c fi ndings into farmer decision-making and government programme design
● MENA-specifi c certifi cation and standards: building frameworks appropriate for arid-climate conditions rather than importing temperate-climate models
● Farmer voices: smallholder perspectives on what enabling conditions are actually missing on the ground
Convening fi nancial institutions, impact investors, and agricultural stakeholders to design the full spectrum of capital mechanisms needed to move regenerative agriculture from promising practice to investable proposition. The panel moves beyond the question of whether fi nance should support regenerative transitions to the harder question of how: which instruments, at which scale, for which actors, and under what conditions. Smallholder access and ecosystem service compensation sit at the heart of the discussion.
Panel Topics:
● Systemic investing approaches: embedding regeneration into portfolio logic rather than treating it as a niche asset class -how institutional investors can align capital allocation with regenerative outcomes at scale
● Carbon and biodiversity credits: translating ecosystem stewardship into viable revenue streams for MENA farmers - verifi cation methodologies, registry access, and the practical revenue pathways that actually work in regional contexts
● Insurance products and transition risk: how tailored fi nancial instruments can absorb the yield dip and income uncertainty that keep smallholders locked into conventional systems
● Asset-backed models that revalue land: innovative fi nancing structures that recognise land as productive natural capital ensuring farmers are compensated for the ecosystem services they generate beyond food production
● Patient capital for nature-based solution innovators: how development fi nance institutions and impact investors can structure long-term capital that matches the time horizons of ecological restoration
● Blended fi nance in practice: combining public, philanthropic, and private capital to de-risk regenerative transitions and mobilise investment at the scale the region requires
Examining how transparent, resilient supply chains can ensure that regeneratively produced food reaches markets effi ciently and that the value of regenerative practices is recognised and rewarded at every stage, from farm gate to consumer. The panel focuses on stimulating and sustaining market demand, amplifying the voices of distributors, retailers, and consumers as active agents of food systems transformation.
Panel Topics:
● The distributor and retailer role: embedding regenerative sourcing criteria into procurement standards and corporate sustainability commitments
● Stimulating consumer demand: how labelling, storytelling, and civic engagement can make regenerative food legible and desirable in regional markets
● The trade policy dimension: how import price dynamics undercut locally produced regenerative food, and what regulatory tools can level the market
● Public procurement as a demand anchor: schools, hospitals, and government institutions as lead buyers shifting purchasing patterns at scale
● Consumer education on quality and provenance: building understanding of the nutritional, environmental, and economic value of locally produced food
● Transparent supply chains: traceability systems and certifi cation building trust and accountability between producers and consumers
● Multi-stakeholder dialogue: farmers, distributors, retailers, and policymakers co-designing pathways to scale regenerative supply chains
Engaging the next generation as innovators, future farmers, and conscious consumers — defi ning pathways for youth leadership in agricultural technology and harnessing youth-driven demand for transparency, sustainability, and local provenance to accelerate market transformation.
Panel Topics:
● Youth as agricultural innovators: startups, research breakthroughs, and technology solutions developed by young entrepreneurs working on MENA’s food system challenges
● Making farming attractive: technology integration, profi tability models, and purpose-driven career pathways drawing young people into regenerative agriculture
● Youth consumer power: how young people’s demand for sustainable, transparent, and locally produced food is reshaping markets and purchasing behaviour
● Soil stewardship education: youth programmes building environmental literacy and scientifi c engagement in schools and universities
● Career pathway development: training programmes, mentorship networks, and access to land and capital for aspiring regenerative farmers and agripreneurs
● Youth voices: direct testimonials from young farmers, entrepreneurs, and activists leading regenerative transitions across the region