Global Commission on Sustainable Agriculture Forwards Recommendations

An independent global Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change composed of senior scientists in agriculture, climate, food and nutrition, economics, and natural resources has released a report on food security policy recommendations. The commission is supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development.

"This report provides an urgent call to action," says U.S. commissioner Molly Jahn of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Global demand is growing for food, fodder and bioenergy crops, food prices are rising to historic levels, and extreme weather events around the world further erode food security. The good news is that there are concrete steps, supported by the best available scientific research, that we can take now."

Seven recommendations for policy makers are:

• Integrate food security and sustainable agriculture into global and national policies; ·
• Significantly raise the level of global investment in sustainable agriculture and food systems in the next decade; ·
• Sustainably intensify agricultural production while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other negative environmental impacts of agriculture; ·
• Target populations and sectors that are most vulnerable to climate change and food insecurity; ·
• Reshape food access and consumption patterns to ensure basic nutritional needs are met and to foster healthy and sustainable eating habits worldwide; ·
• Reduce loss and waste in food systems, particularly from infrastructure, farming practices, processing, distribution and household habits; and ·
• Create comprehensive, shared, integrated information systems that encompass human and ecological dimensions.

The summary presents actions that the Commission suggests be implemented simultaneously by governments, international institutions, investors, agricultural producers, consumers, food companies and researchers.

See the full media article at  http://www.news.wisc.edu/20040