“Regenerative Practices, Waste-to-Resource Technologies, and Sustainable Agri-Food System Transformation” – Pakistan’s Pavilion, Blue Zone, 12th November 2025
On 12 November, CCCS, in collaboration with the Government of Pakistan, ICESCO, ICARDA, WHH-Pakistan, and FACE–FFC, convened a high-level panel discussion at the Pakistan Pavilion on “Regenerative Practices, Waste-to-Resource Technologies, and Sustainable Agri-Food System Transformation.” Moderated by Mr. Hamid Majid Abbasi, Senior Executive FACE–FFC, the discussion brought together leading scientists and development practitioners, including Dr. Augusto Becerra of ICARDA, Ms. Aisha Jamshed of WHH-Pakistan, Mr. Dan Morrell of Balance, Dr. Sohail Malik of CRCC Pakistan, and Dr. El. Khalil Cherif of the University of Lisboa. The session reviewed the scientific, technological, and institutional prerequisites for mainstreaming regenerative agriculture and circular waste-to-resource innovations, such as biochar deployment, vermicompost systems, microbial soil restoration, anaerobic digestion, and food-loss mitigation technologies, within the agri-food architectures of developing economies. Participants underscored that these interventions can significantly curb methane emissions, rehabilitate degraded soils, enhance hydrological efficiency in arid ecosystems, and close nutrient loops at scale.
In his opening address, Ambassador Dr. Mohammad Nafees Zakaria, Executive Director COMSATS, highlighted the accelerating degradation of global terrestrial ecosystems, noting that approximately 12 million hectares of fertile land are lost annually and that up to 90 percent of soils could be degraded by 2050 without decisive action. He emphasized the structural mismatch between the severity of land degradation and the allocation of climate finance, observing that agri-food systems currently mobilize only about three percent of global climate-related investment. This financial imbalance, he noted, restricts the capacity of developing countries to transition toward regenerative and climate-resilient production systems.
Discussions emphasized the imperative of strengthening national research systems, embedding farmer-centric innovation pathways, and scaling community-driven resource recovery mechanisms, such as composting cooperatives, vermiculture enterprises, and smallholder biogas systems, that simultaneously generate income, improve soil health, and mitigate environmental externalities. The panel also explored enabling conditions for scaling, including policy coherence, donor coordination, blended finance mechanisms, gender-responsive enterprise models, and the integration of GIS, remote sensing, and machine-learning-based MRV systems to support evidence-driven agricultural and landscape restoration planning, particularly in data-scarce regions.
