14 June 2011 | Ethan Nechin
Biodiversity, Energy, Food and agriculture, Africa, Asia, South America

 

This week, at the Bonn Climate summit, many voices called for and against the inclusion of agriculture industries into the UNFCCC process.

The study aims to find sustainable solutions to mitigate agriculture and climate change before COP17 which will be held in Durban in December.

The authors say that there are many affordable, cost-effective actions that farmers and governments can take right now: “Managing the interface between forests and fields, making best use of multi-lateral trade regimes, getting robust monitoring systems in place, and designing finance systems that incentivise transformation of agriculture – both locally and globally.”

Deforestation occurs when slash-and-burn techniques are applied to clear land, which cause land slides, drought and irreversible destruction of the natural vegetation.

Also, some experts say that using rainforest often fails because the nutrient-deficient, acidic soils of these forests make it impossible for commercially cultivated crops to grow.

In these cases strong fertilisers are used until they cease to be effective and the land is abandoned without any restoration process.

The REDD+ project set up the UN combats deforestation, especially in developing countries where agriculture is a key industry. It does not only finance landowners who do not cut down forests, but gives extra funding for those who monitor forests and help in forest restoration.

The CGIAR report examined the REDD+ readiness of 20 countries from Africa, Asia and South America. It found that 16 of the 20 countries stated that agriculture was the main cause for deforestation.

Environmental expert Brendon Fisher criticised the project as many landowners receive the funds but still cut down forests which are not monitored. He also said that the project does not take into account the growing need for food, especially in Africa and Asia.

The study comes after an Oxfam report saying that food prices could double from today’s levels by 2030, and that climate change could be a major factor in this increase. The Oxfam report states that if climate change will continues at this rate, it will create a worldwide expansion of deserts, which will cause droughts and consequently worldwide famine.    

Bruce Campbell, leader of the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) at CGIAR said the key for preventing deforestation is creating sustainable food security:

“There is simply no way governments can have credible REDD+ strategies unless their top priority is to address agriculture and food security – these are the main drivers of forest destruction”, he said.

Image: CIAT International | Flickr

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