Environment & Development Series no. 8 THE FOOD CRISIS, CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE By Martin Khor Publisher: TWN (ISBN: 978-983-2729-90-7) Year: 2009   No. of pages: 24

ABOUT THE BOOK

The recent crisis of high food prices and the serious problem of climate change point to the grave challenges confronting global agriculture. This paper looks at the difficulties the farming sector faces on these two fronts and how it can respond to them.

The food price crisis has highlighted the importance of strengthening food security. Over the years, domestic food production in developing countries has been undermined often as a result of wrong-headed policy prescriptions from international financial institutions and the inequitable provisions of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. This paper calls for reform in national and international agricultural policies in order to better safeguard food security and farming livelihoods in the developing world.

Climate change poses another serious threat to the agriculture sector, which both affects and is affected by global warming. While climate change can adversely affect agricultural output, current farming methods themselves are a major contributor to climate change. However, as this paper points out, agriculture does have great potential for mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change – potential that can be realized with a shift from conventional industrial farming to ecologically sound sustainable agriculture practices.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MARTIN KHOR, formerly Director of the Third World Network, is Executive Director of the South Centre, an intergovernmental body with 50 member states from the developing world. He was educated as an economist in the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) and Universiti Sains Malaysia. He is the author of several books and papers on issues relating to trade and development, environment and sustainable development.

Contents

1    THE FOOD SECURITY CRISIS

      The Ghanaian experience

      International agricultural trade

      Conclusions and proposals

2    AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE CHANGE 

      Effects of climate change

      Direct contribution to emissions  

      Indirect contribution to emissions  

      Mitigation potential

      Conclusions and proposals

REFERENCES          

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