Ana Peña del Valle

Biography

I am a development professional with 17 years of expertise in action research on the sustainability and adaptation of rural livelihoods – largely based on small-scale agriculture, agroforestry, and other food production systems – with respect to climate change threats. Professionally, I have worked with many different international organisations, including UNEP, GIZ (German Agency for International Cooperation), IPCC, Inter-american Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

Recently I have implemented two projects for the Marr Area Partnership aimed at supporting local food systems and Third Sector Organisation resilience in the Marr area of Aberdeenshire. This work involved a mixed methods approach including interviews, survey work, participatory systems modelling, geo-referenced data collection and analysis. In the CAFE project, for example, I was exploring with market gardeners and households, the barriers to and drivers of a potential transition to a more accessible local food system available to all. This provided me with insights into Scottish governance and land ownership issues, as well as a chance to understand the complexity of local food supply and demand in Scotland.

Stakeholder engagement

My professional experience in sustainable agriculture and food systems includes assignments that have required collaborative engagement with stakeholders ranging from community members to government officials, i.e.:

• mainstreaming and dissemination of innovative agroecological mechanisms for resource sustainability and carbon sequestration among coffee producers working in agroforestry and polyculture systems. These included the intercropping of shade coffee with nuts and citrus, and the maintenance of Milpa (“three sisters”) systems.
• for the GIZ (German Agency for International Cooperation), I applied systems approaches to participatorily identify key practices and building blocks of successful ecosystem-based adaptation in agricultural and fishing communities. Policy recommendations from my work were presented at the CBD 13th by the Mexican Government.
• For the Inter-american Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), I implemented a short capacity development requirements process, combining survey and workshop activities, with local authorities from Central American countries to support agricultural adaptation to climate change.
• as the scientific coordinator of an international, interdisciplinary GIZ action research project to identify socio-ecological adaptation measures, I was ultimately responsible for research inputs that led to the Sierra Madre Oriental Biosphere Reserve Adaptation Plan which is still in use to this day.