Forum global sur la sécurité alimentaire et la nutrition (Forum FSN)

Please see my book --- "Green" GREEN REVOLUTION: AGRICULTURE in the perspective of CLIMATE CHANGE, www.scribd.com/Google Books, 2011, 160p

[though I submitted the revised book to a publisher, so far I haven't heard from them]

Dr. S. Jeevananda Reddy

Dear all,

Just to share a publication I have recently read recently and that adresses some of the questions raised: http://agritrop.cirad.fr/568585/

Thank you,

Carole

In my opinion, agroecological practices have already proven they improve resource efficiency, minimize ecological footprint, strengthen resilience, secure social equity and responsibility, and create decent jobs, in particular for youth, in agriculture and food systems. Case studies abound and La Via Campesina is the best repository of them.

The barriers to this sustainable approach, practiced by millions of small producers the world over, are many. But the influence of corporate agriculture to keep the industrial agricultural model, the reprehensible effect of ever increasing land grabbing displacing small farmers, the growing vertical integration of mega corporations now involved in mega-mergers…  are never valiantly and proactively addressed by the HLPE. Why can so many of us see this as affecting agroecological approaches and those who are at high decision-making levels do not? Evidently, there are interests to be protected. The same need to be exposed AND addressed. …and the UN (the HLPE included) has to become part of this movement demanding changes in the global governance of these issues; so far, they have not, other than perhaps denouncing some of it --but not uniting us in announcing the regulatory measures needed to stop with this state of affairs. Creating enabling environments is not enough. We have done this for 40+ years. The root causes are never dis-enabled. Voila le probleme…

Again, quite a bit of evidence can be found in the literature about the negative impact of loaded trade and IPR rules imposed by the powerful to keep or expand their prerogatives (vide mega-mergers above).

The document under preparation by the HLPE should not used minced words about all of this. But I am afraid that another 2 years to wait till CFS46 is losing precious time. Farmers are being dispossessed, starved today --and this is not an overstatement.

In cosidering agroecological systems for environmental and human health ther are a few consideration I would like to put foward that I fele are often not included enough within the discussion:

1) the use of new crops.  We often examine agroecology as an incremental improvement to conventional agriculture, however the promotion of new crops, specifically long lived tree crops, there exists an opportunity to dramitically change the form of agriculture.

2) more inclusion of indigenous cultures.  What we call agroecology has been standard operating procedure for many indigenous cultures for hundres of years, if not millenia.  

3) Create a broader definition of agroecological methods, with more clarity between the two.  Creating boarder plantings or incorporatinga  few trees into monoculture is in no way equivalant to a multi-story food forest.  I think we do a diservice to the different forms of agro-ecology by grouping them together under a single umbrella without better distinguishing the differences. 

4) promote a better undertanding of the economics of agroecological systems.  Most of the work has been on the ecological enefits, which I think are obvious and we know, but we live in a economically dominated world are largescale adoption will only occur with better economic information on the different forms of agroecosystems.