http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=163048
Research shows that the worldwide adoption of new, "sustainable" ways of farming could arrest the negative effects of climate change and population growth on food security, and protect farmers' income
THE worldwide adoption of new, "sustainable" ways of farming could arrest the negative effects of climate change and population growth on food security, and protect farmers' income, according to a paper in the journal Science on Friday.
Scientists worldwide have less than a year for input that could influence approaches to agriculture's adaptation to and mitigation of climate change when the next United Nations (UN) climate change talks begin in Qatar on November 26.
"Global agriculture must produce more food to feed a growing population. Yet scientific assessments point to climate change as a growing threat to agricultural yields and food security.... Alternative practices, tailored to different regions, show promise for reducing net emissions and maintaining or improving yields despite extreme weather," said a team that included Council for Scientific and Industrial Research systems ecologist Bob Scholes.
The Durban climate change talks last month agreed to consider adopting an action framework that includes agriculture, Dr Scholes said.
It was hoped the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change's subsidiary body for scientific and technological advice would set up an agriculture work programme at the Qatar talks, but the key players had to be convinced this was "a good thing to do", he said.
The government in 2010 made food security one of its top priorities, with an eye on SA achieving the UN millennium development goal that aims to halve the proportion of people who go hungry by 2015 and to halve poverty and unemployment by 2014, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said.
By expanding the understanding of agricultural practices that delivered multiple benefits - such as reducing emissions while increasing output - and of the links between agriculture and forestry, scientists could make "critical" contributions, the scientists said.
