IAASTD is an intergovernmental process with a multi-stakeholder bureau comprised of representatives from the government and civil society. It is cosponsored by multiple international organisations: FAO, GEF, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, World Bank, and WHO.
The framework of IAASTD, which is composed of one global assessment and five sub-global assessments looks at the impacts of agricultural knowledge, science and technology (AKST) on hunger, poverty, nutrition, human health, and environmental and social sustainability in relation to both the past and the future. The assessments are peer-reviewed by governments and experts, and approved by the Panel of participating governments.
The IAASTD is working towards creating ‘plausible scenarios’, based on knowledge from past events and existing trends such as rural/urban food and poverty dynamics, loss of agricultural land, water availability and climate change effects.