Extracts from this report:
Emphasis on increasing yields and productivity has in some cases had negative consequences on environmental sustainability.
These consequences were often not foreseen as they occurred over time and, some occurred outside of traditional farm boundaries. For instance, 1.9 billion ha (and 2.6 billion people) today are affected by significant levels of land degradation. Fifty years ago water withdrawal from rivers was one-third of what it is today: currently 70% of freshwater withdrawal globally (2700 km3 – 2.45% of rainfall) is attributable to irrigated agriculture, which in some cases has caused salinization. Approximately 1.6 billion people live in water-scarce basins. Agriculture contributes about 60% of anthropogenic emissions of CH4 and about 50% of N20 emissions. Inappropriate fertilization has led to eutrophication and large dead zones in a number of coastal areas, e.g. Gulf of Mexico, and some lakes, and inappropriate use of pesticides has lead to groundwater pollution, and other effects, for example loss of biodiversity.
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The Challenge: The overall challenge is to double agricultural production during the next 25-50 years to meet the increased demand based on projected demographic and economic changes, as well as reducing post-harvest loss. The food needs to be nutritious, affordable and safe and produced in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner. The challenge is to meet this increased demand at a time of:
• increased competition for water from other sectors and a changing climate;
• increased competition for land from biofuels and infrastructure;
• land policy conflicts;
• less labor due to endemic diseases, e.g., malaria, HIV-AIDS, and rural to urban migration;
• less biodiversity at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels;
• local and regional air pollution, e.g., tropospheric ozone and acid deposition; and
• climate change – changes in temperature, precipitation, sea level, extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and heat waves represent a major challenge, especially in the tropics and sub-tropics, where hunger is prevalent today. Crops, forests, livestock and fisheries are all projected to be impacted, most negatively. Hence, advances in Agricultural Knowledge Science and Technology (AKST) are needed to develop temperature, drought, pest and salinity tolerant crops and trees, and address the issue of emerging animal diseases.
Conclusion: Business-as-usual will not work. We need to build upon the successes of the past and avoid the mistakes – to summarize the key messages:
• agriculture must be viewed as multi-functional;
• there is a need for increased emphasis on agro-ecological approaches and use of appropriate technologies;
• support the small-scale farmer, through policies and investments;
• empower women;
• integrate local and traditional knowledge with formal knowledge;
• equitable trade reform with national flexibility; and
• increased investments in R&D and extension services.
Poverty and livelihoods
Important options for enhancing rural livelihoods include increasing access by small-scale farmers to land and economic resources and to remunerative local urban and export markets; and increasing local value added and value captured by small-scale farmers and rural laborers. A powerful tool for meeting development and sustainability goals resides in empowering farmers to innovatively manage soils, water, biological resources, pests, disease vectors, genetic diversity, and conserve natural resources in a culturally appropriate manner. Combining farmers’ and external knowledge would require new partnerships among farmers, scientists and other stakeholders.
Policy options for improving livelihoods include access to microcredit and other financial services; legal frameworks that ensure access and tenure to resources and land; recourse to fair conflict resolution; and progressive evolution and proactive engagement in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regimes and related instruments. Developments are needed that build trust and that value farmer knowledge, agricultural and natural biodiversity; farmer-managed medicinal plants, local seed systems and common pool resource management regimes. Each of these options, when implemented locally, depends on regional and nationally based mechanisms to ensure accountability. The suite of options to increase domestic farm gate prices for small-scale farmers includes fiscal and competition policies; improved access to AKST; novel business approaches; and enhanced political power.
Climate change
Climate change, which is taking place at a time of increasing demand for food, feed, fiber and fuel, has the potential to irreversibly damage the natural resource base on which agriculture depends. The relationship between climate change and agriculture is a two-way street; agriculture contributes to climate change in several major ways and climate change in general adversely affects agriculture.
In mid- to high latitude regions moderate local increases in temperature can have small beneficial impacts on crop yields; in low-latitude regions, such moderate temperature increases are likely to have negative yield effects. Some negative impacts are already visible in many parts of the world; additional warming will have increasingly negative impacts in all regions. Water scarcity and the timing of water availability will increasingly constrain production. Climate change will require a new look at water storage to cope with the impacts of more and extreme precipitation, higher intra- and inter-seasonal variations, and increased rates of evapotranspiration in all types of ecosystems. Extreme climate events (floods and droughts) are increasing and expected to amplify in frequency and severity and there are likely to be significant consequences in all regions for food and forestry production and food insecurity. There is a serious potential for future conflicts over habitable land and natural resources such as freshwater. Climate change is affecting the distribution of plants, invasive species, pests and disease vectors and the geographic range and incidence of many human, animal and plant diseases is likely to increase.
A comprehensive approach with an equitable regulatory framework, differentiated responsibilities and intermediate targets are required to reduce GHG emissions. The earlier and stronger the cuts in emissions, the quicker concentrations will approach stabilization. Emission reduction measures clearly are essential because they can have an impact due to inertia in the climate system. However, since further changes in the climate are inevitable adaptation is also imperative. Actions directed at addressing climate change and promoting sustainable development share some important goals such as equitable access to resources and appropriate technologies.
Some “win-win” mitigation opportunities have already been identified. These include land use approaches such as lower rates of agricultural expansion into natural habitats; afforestation, reforestation, increased efforts to avoid deforestation, agroforestry, agroecological systems, and restoration of underutilized or degraded lands and rangelands and land use options such as carbon sequestration in agricultural soils, reduction and more efficient use of nitrogenous inputs; effective manure management and use of feed that increases livestock digestive efficiency. Policy options related to regulations and investment opportunities include financial incentives to maintain and increase forest area through reduced deforestation and degradation and improved management and the development and utilization of renewable energy sources. The post-2012 regime has to be more inclusive of all agricultural activities such as reduced emission from deforestation and soil degradation to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by agriculture and forestry sectors.
https://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/docs/statement08/robert_watson.pdf
