Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change
World Scientists Define United Approach to Tackling Food Insecurity
Report offers roadmap for action by global leaders to create a sustainable food system
LONDON (28 March 2012) — Nearly one billion people in the world are undernourished, while millions suffer from chronic disease due to excess food consumption. Global demand is growing for agricultural products and food prices are rising, yet roughly one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. Climate change threatens more frequent drought, flooding and pest outbreaks, and the world loses 12 million hectares of agricultural land each year to land degradation. Land clearing and inefficient practices make agriculture the largest source of greenhouse gas pollution on the planet. Read more »
Researchers Outline Food Security-Climate Change Road Map in Science
Modest advances for agriculture in Durban signal need for scientific input
WASHINGTON (19 JANUARY) — While last month’s climate negotiations in Durban made incremental progress toward helping farmers adapt to climate change and reduce agriculture’s climate footprint, a group of international agriculture experts, writing in the January 20 issue of Science magazine, urges scientists to lay the groundwork for more decisive action on global food security in environmental negotiations in 2012.
“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.” Read more »
Global Commission Charts Pathway For Achieving Food Security in Face of Climate Change
Scientific experts outline concrete steps toward a sustainable global food system
COPENHAGEN (16 November 2011) — In the lead up to UN global climate talks in Durban, South Africa later this month, an independent global commission of eminent scientists today released a set of concrete recommendations to policy makers on how to achieve food security in the face of climate change. Based on a thorough review of existing research, the commissioners urged immediate, coordinated action toward transforming the food system to meet current and future threats to food security and environmental sustainability.
The Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change’s “Summary for Policy Makers” outlines crucial policy responses to the global challenge of feeding a world confronted by climate change, population growth, poverty, food price spikes and degraded ecosystems. The seven high-level recommendations include significantly raising the level of global investment in sustainable agriculture and food systems in the next decade; sustainably intensifying agricultural production on the existing land base while reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and reducing losses and waste in the food system. Read more »
New Commission Confronts Threats to Food Security from Climate Change
Experts from Six Continents are Set to Produce Policy Recommendations For Boosting Food Production in Face of Harsher Climates, Increasing Populations, Scarce Resources
COPENHAGEN (11 March 2011) — Recent droughts and floods have contributed to increases in food prices. These are pushing millions more people into poverty and hunger, and are contributing to political instability and civil unrest. Climate change is predicted to increase these threats to food security and stability. Responding to this, the world’s largest agriculture research consortium today announced the creation of a new Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change. Read more »
New scientific commission on climate change and agriculture to inform next steps for policy, farmers
Amid last week’s Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, where ministers, scientists and NGOs produced a roadmap for action, plans were also revealed for a new International Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change.
The Commission, which is set up by the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security programme (CCAFS), with additional funding from the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development, will identify what policy changes and actions are needed to help the world achieve sustainable agriculture in the face of climate change. Specifically, the Commission will focus on bringing together existing evidence on sustainable agriculture that contributes to food security and poverty reduction, and helps respond to climate change adaptation and mitigation goals. The Commission was introduced at a side event on 5 November, chaired by UK Chief Scientist Sir John Beddington, who welcomed the initiative for taking on a set of complicated questions with no ready answers. “If you think scientific research is expensive, try ignorance," he said, paraphrasing the former president of Harvard University Derek Bok. The costs of inaction in this case are incredibly high, as the impacts of climate change are already unfolding for farmers worldwide.
CCAFS Coordinating Unit - University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Science, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Rolighedsvej 21, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark, phone +45 35331046; Email ccafs [at] cgiar [dot] org, EAN 5790000279012
Lead Center - International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)