London School of Hygiene & Topical Medicine and LANSA
Reino Unido
On behalf of the LANSA research consortium, may I thank you all enormously for contributing to a hugely interesting debate on the critical issue of sustainable farming systems for food and nutrition security. Contributions have been wide-ranging in both content and geographic focus and have demonstrated the impressive commitments and resolve of practitioners and researchers in this field.
As the COP23 meetings enter their second week in Bonn, it is clear that agriculture is becoming a critical focus area for policy makers. At this time more than ever, high quality research evidence is needed to support policy makers to make decisions about how to sustain national and global agricultural systems in an uncertain future.
The quality of the debate on this forum has encouraged me greatly that there is much excellent work underway. But the challenge is big and there is much still to do.
London School of Hygiene & Topical Medicine and LANSA
Reino Unido
Today marks the opening of the 23rd Conference of the Parties in Bonn, Germany (so called COP23) which is the United Nations’ annual meeting on climate change. A major theme of the conference this year will be the role that the agriculture sector has in meeting globally-agreed greenhouse gas emission targets. It is therefore really exciting to see such an active forum discussion board, read your thoughts and learn about all the interesting research underway.
Over the past week I have been particularly struck by contributions that have identified the importance of agriculture as a provider of eco-system services that support efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of farming. But many contributors have also noted the sometimes negative impacts of agricultural policies that don’t directly consider environmental impacts on issues such as land use, women’s empowerment and nutrition outcomes.
Several contributors have provided interesting lists of actions in agriculture (both technologies and interventions/policies) that are thought to benefit environmental outcomes. But how strong is the evidence for these technologies and policies? Do we really have the data to press policy makers to be making the right decisions that benefit both the planet and populations? Finally, our discussions have largely been about small-scale farming activities. While small-holder and subsistence farmers are among the most vulnerable populations on earth, does their impact on the environment outweigh the role of big agri-business? Should we in fact be focusing much more on the role that big business has to play in this critical issue?
We’ve only got a few days left on this forum so please send in your thoughts quickly! Thanks to you all for your superb contributions so far.
Dr. Alan Dangour
On behalf of the LANSA research consortium, may I thank you all enormously for contributing to a hugely interesting debate on the critical issue of sustainable farming systems for food and nutrition security. Contributions have been wide-ranging in both content and geographic focus and have demonstrated the impressive commitments and resolve of practitioners and researchers in this field.
As the COP23 meetings enter their second week in Bonn, it is clear that agriculture is becoming a critical focus area for policy makers. At this time more than ever, high quality research evidence is needed to support policy makers to make decisions about how to sustain national and global agricultural systems in an uncertain future.
The quality of the debate on this forum has encouraged me greatly that there is much excellent work underway. But the challenge is big and there is much still to do.
Thank you again.
Alan Dangour, Aliza Pradhan, Md. Sirajul Islam
Dr. Alan Dangour
Today marks the opening of the 23rd Conference of the Parties in Bonn, Germany (so called COP23) which is the United Nations’ annual meeting on climate change. A major theme of the conference this year will be the role that the agriculture sector has in meeting globally-agreed greenhouse gas emission targets. It is therefore really exciting to see such an active forum discussion board, read your thoughts and learn about all the interesting research underway.
Over the past week I have been particularly struck by contributions that have identified the importance of agriculture as a provider of eco-system services that support efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of farming. But many contributors have also noted the sometimes negative impacts of agricultural policies that don’t directly consider environmental impacts on issues such as land use, women’s empowerment and nutrition outcomes.
Several contributors have provided interesting lists of actions in agriculture (both technologies and interventions/policies) that are thought to benefit environmental outcomes. But how strong is the evidence for these technologies and policies? Do we really have the data to press policy makers to be making the right decisions that benefit both the planet and populations? Finally, our discussions have largely been about small-scale farming activities. While small-holder and subsistence farmers are among the most vulnerable populations on earth, does their impact on the environment outweigh the role of big agri-business? Should we in fact be focusing much more on the role that big business has to play in this critical issue?
We’ve only got a few days left on this forum so please send in your thoughts quickly! Thanks to you all for your superb contributions so far.
Dr. Alan Dangour
Dear all,
Wonderful to see so much interest in this topic.
It would be fantastic to learn about more examples of on-going research on this important topic.
Please keep your contributions coming!
Alan