Agriculture needs to become ‘climate-smart’, says Ban Ki-moon

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has called for collaborative measures to tackle the issue of food and nutrition security, saying that a global commitment to sustainable agriculture was “urgently needed”.

Speaking at the Third Global Conference on Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security and Climate Change, Ban outlined the need to bring major changes to the industry.

“The connections between climate, land, food, economies and livelihoods are complex. Agriculture is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions”, he said.

“At the same time, famers worldwide are increasingly feeling the effects of a warming climate. The answer to these interconnected problems lies in climate-smart agriculture.”

Ban added, “Generations of smallholders have found ways to deal with unpredictable weather. But the speed and intensity of climate change is beginning to outpace their ability to adapt: the situation will worsen rapidly unless more efforts are made to prevent negative impacts on food security and nutrition.”

He also called on governments, finance, business and civil society to come together to address major threats to global food security.

It is predicted that in order to meet the demands of a growing global population, crop production needs to double by 2050.

In a recent article for Blue & Green Tomorrow, futurist Kimberly Grimms wrote that feeding the world was the biggest challenge faced by future generations over the next century, calling for investment in better solutions.

Further reading:

World Food Day focuses on creating a sustainable food system

Consuming nothing to consume everything

Feeding the world sustainably means investing in better solutions

World wasting up to half of global food

Global food system crisis