Blog Advancing policy solutions that work for people and nature

by Boaz S. Waswa, Liz Ogutu, Lisa Elena Fuchs, Owen Kimani

onSeptember 17, 2025

The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT hosted The Nature Conservancy team in Nairobi to explore joint policy solutions that balance food security, poverty reduction, and conservation for resilient food systems in Africa.

The Alliance's Nairobi office recently hosted a delegation from the Nature Conservancy (TNC) including Ginya Truitt Nakata (Director, Global Agriculture and Food Systems Policy) Michael Misiko (Agriculture Director, Africa), Horacio Rodriguez Vazquez (Food Systems Policy Manager, Mexico) and Wangui Gitau (Agriculture Program Manager, Africa). The team was welcomed by Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg (the Alliance's Managing Director for Africa) and a team of Alliance researchers.

The Alliance and TNC share a strong partnership built on a global MoU. In 2015 the Alliance supported TNC in generating evidence that enabled the development of the Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund, a first of its kind in Africa. Further, the Alliance is currently collaborating with TNC and other partners to implement the Central Highlands Ecoregion Foodscape (CHEF) in 11 counties of the central highlands of Kenya. CHEF seeks to transform the region into a regenerative foodscape where food production practices can help improve the health of soil and water supplies and leave room and resources for wildlife.

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During the visit, TNC presented its work on translating global data into policy action at national and sub-national levels. The focus: ensuring agricultural support mechanisms also deliver conservation, food security, and poverty reduction. Discussions emphasized the importance of repurposing subsidies, redirecting public investment toward approaches that sustain both people and nature. This is in observation that many countries in Africa are investing substantial resources in agriculture support mechanisms that do not balance conservation, food security and poverty reduction. TNC is particularly keen to engage with policymakers, researchers and the private sector at regional, national and sub-national level to design smart subsidies that maintain healthy landscapes.

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The discussion also identified various research and development entry points, datasets, policy and decision support tools developed by the Alliance that can be leveraged to inform TNC’s policy intervensions. Some of the areas of interest included investment cases for forage seed systems to drive livestock value chain and land restoration, targeting fertilizer recommendations for better efficiency using tools like NextGEN and AgWISE and supporting policies of countries transitioning to agroecology and regenerative agriculture. Opportunities for using tools like PEPA (Political Economy and Policy Analysis) that leverages artificial intelligence to empower stakeholders in providing a structured, user-friendly approach to analyse policy issues and support evidence-based decision-making was also explored.

This dialogue reaffirmed a shared commitment: to put science into the hands of policymakers and practitioners so agricultural investments deliver multiple wins for food, livelihoods, and the environment. By aligning expertise, the Alliance and TNC are working to ensure Africa’s food systems are not only productive but also sustainable and resilient.