URBANE – One Health approaches to support agroecological transformation of peri-urban farming

Project aim: URBANE through sustainable agroecological practices in the peri-urban environment, aims to make cities more sustainable and inclusive, while boosting the productivity of small-scale food producers located in the peri-urban environment.
About the project: Today more than half of the planet’s population live in cities, with projections for that number to increase. In West Africa, migration of people from rural areas to cities is particularly prominent, leading to increased practicing of peri-urban agriculture. Even though intensified peri-urban farming has significant advantages, it also introduces concerns about zoonotic diseases, sanitary issues, local environmental degradation, antimicrobial resistance, and more. Especially in low-mid-income countries (LMIC), the intensification of food systems, as they transition from subsistence to market-oriented production, is typically associated with human health risks.
URBANE addresses this challenge of sustainable agriculture for food nutrition security, applying a One Health approach for tackling issues related to the application and intensification of peri-urban agriculture. It also provides the necessary framework for its sustainable and safe application in different contexts. To achieve this, the project will be built around the principles of agroecology. URBANE builds on its partners’ extensive experience in agroecology whilst exploiting friendly tools and methods for measuring the progress and impact of the agroecological transition of farming.
The URBANE approach will be demonstrated through 6 case studies in Africa, specifically, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, Benin and Burkina Faso. Transferability of the URBANE approach in other regions will also be studied and facilitated through specific tools.
URBANE is a collaborative effort developed by a multi-disciplinary team and gathers 26 partners, under the EU framework of the Horizon Europe Programme. URBANE was launched on July 1st 2022 and will run for four years, to allow enough time for undertaking the study and performing the scientific assessments.