"Agriculture worldwide is being impacted by climate change and in less than 15 years global population will rise by one billion people," said Sir John Beddington, lead author of the article 'What Next for Agriculture After Durban?' "Policy makers and scientists need to work together, quickly, to chart a course toward a sustainable global food system."
"Many agricultural practices show promise for lowering risks to food production and greenhouse gas emissions while protecting forests and other natural resources at the same time," said Prof Tekalign Mamo of Ethiopia's Ministry of Agriculture, who spoke at several official events at the Durban gathering. "But existing policies do not sufficiently encourage these sustainable approaches or prepare the global agriculture sector for climate change."
Beddington and his co-authors noted that the run-up to the December 2011 meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) featured a strong political push to launch a new work program on agricultural climate change adaptation and mitigation under the UNFCCC's Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA). For example, a group of African Agriculture Ministers presented a call for action on climate-smart agriculture in September, as did scientists from 38 countries through their Wageningen Statement in October.
In Durban, many public figures called for action on agriculture including former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, South African President Jacob Zuma, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, and Prime Minister of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi. Over 500 people joined in the third Agriculture and Rural Development Day (ARDD) meeting where Beddington presented key actions for avoiding a future in which weather extremes produce a succession of food crises.
However, integration of agriculture in the climate change negotiating process has moved at a slow pace while climate change and the other forces affecting food security, chiefly rapid population growth, are occurring much faster. "Back in 2009 in Copenhagen, we already had draft negotiating text for agriculture," explained Dr Mohammed Asaduzzaman, Research Director at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, who serves on his country's delegation to the UNFCCC. "It's time for us to take up a SBSTA work program so negotiating parties can weigh the risks and benefits of different policy and financing choices." Read the full report here.
Source: Eurek Alert!
