Managing change and building resilience: A multi-stressor analysis of urban and peri-urban agriculture in Africa and Asia

• Resilience of UPA systems is being undermined by urban growth pressures.
• Haphazard urban growth is amplifying impacts of extreme events on UPA systems.
• Current policy responses to promote UPA need stronger inter-institutional coordination.
• Sustaining UPA systems requires better quantification of its urban ecosystem services.

Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) is increasingly being promoted as a multi-focal strategy for enhancing urban food security and advancing climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in cities. The extent to which this potential can be realized is circumscribed by access to adequate land and water resources, the degree of recognition of UPA within the urban policy domain, and the ability of producers to effectively navigate the myriad risks associated with food production in urban and peri-urban environments. This paper argues that UPA faces significant interlocking stresses stemming from marginalization of land and water resources, increasing exposure to climate risks, and ineffective policies and poor governance that undermine its long-term potential to address urban food security and climate change adaptation concerns. This paper examines key environmental and governance dimensions of UPA in the context of rapidly growing cities in Africa and Asia, and advances understanding of how increasing urban pressures on land and water resources, and intensifying climate risks, are undermining the resilience of UPA in the face of rapid change. The paper’s findings are drawn from a series of assessments on UPA that were recently conducted in nine cities spanning West and East Africa, and South Asia.