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Climate change poses significant threats to agriculture and trade, and consequently increases the risks of malnutrition and extreme hunger. What is required is a significant shift away from industrial production towards small-scale, sustainable farming methods, says a policy brief by UNCTAD.

Link to PDF of policy brief: Agriculture at the Crossroads - Guaranteeing Food Security in a Changing Global Climate

13th December 2010 - Published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

For a large number of developing countries, agriculture remains the single most important sector. Climate change has the potential to damage irreversibly the natural resource base on which agriculture depends, with grave consequences for food security in developing countries. However, agriculture is the sector that has the potential to transcend from being a problem to becoming an essential part of the solution to climate change provided there is a more holistic vision of food security, climate-change adaptation and mitigation as well as agriculture’s pro-poor development contribution.

What is required is a rapid and significant shift from conventional, industrial, monoculture-based and high-external-input dependent production towards mosaics of sustainable production systems that also considerably improve the productivity of small-scale farmers. The required transformation is however much more fundamental than simply tweaking the existing industrial agricultural systems.

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