BrighterGreen
Mia MacDonald and Sangmithra Iyer. The Challenges of China’s Encounter with Factory Farms. August 2008.
ETC Group
Green Revolution 2.0 for Africa? April 2007.
Food First
Dr. Eric Holt-Gimenez, Dr. Miguel A. Altieri, and Dr. Peter Rosset. Food First Policy Brief No. 12: Ten Reasons Why the Rockefeller and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations’ Alliance for Another Green Revolution Will Not Solve the Problems of Poverty and Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa. October 2006.
Oakland Institute
Voices from Africa: African Farmers and Environmentalists Speak Out Against a New Green Revolution in Africa
Edited by Anuradha Mittal and Melissa Moore, 2009
A collection of African views on solutions to hunger and poverty on the continent. The essays contest the idea of the need for a green revolution in Africa, expressing resistance to genetically modified crops and supporting protection of biodiversity as a way to ensure food sovereignty. The effects of the global food crisis are felt especially acutely in sub-Saharan Africa, where 24 million people are below the hunger threshold. The essayists argue that the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) fails to recognize the root causes of hunger and poverty in Africa. In order to address hunger issues a paradigm shift is needed in agriculture that provides widespread access to safe and nutritious food while maintaining the health of communities, cultures, and the environment. This essay collection attempts to address the absence of the voice of the African farmer from discussions about solutions to the hunger crisis.
South Centre
Sustainable Development in the Context of Climate Change: Overriding Priority of the South, 2008
Sustainable development and climate change are inherently linked. This analytical note calls for a more collective global approach to climate change, supporting developing countries in their efforts to shift to a “low-carbon sustainable development path.” While climate change has largely been exacerbated by countries in the “North,” the global “South” will experience greater adverse impacts, especially people involved in agricultural activities (a major concern, as 50 percent of populations of developing countries earn their livelihood through agriculture). The poor of the South cannot afford to have climate change hinder their sustainable development and their food security, yet climate change is likely to do so, as well as increasing the economic inequalities between developed and developing countries. Therefore, any discussion of climate change mitigation must include the sustainable development of the global South.
Tebtebba
Oil Palm and Other Commercial Tree Plantations, Monocropping: Impacts on Indigenous Peoples’ Land Tenure and Resource Management Systems and Livelihoods
By Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Parshuram Tamang, 2007
In this report, Tebtebba approaches emerging climate change-related issues such as biofuels, carbon sinks, and carbon emission trading from an indigenous point of view, arguing that the recommendations adopted by the UNFCCC are creating a “host of other problems.” Tebtebba accuses the industrialized countries of being unwilling to effectively reduce GHG emissions and instead promoting unjust and “market approach” measures such as carbon emission trading or the use of biofuels. The report highlights various studies that demonstrate the inefficiency of biofuel production, especially considering the deforestation witnessed in Third World countries to grow crops for biofuels which result in net energy losses. According to the author, the current measures undertaken to reduce climate change by the industrialized countries are regarded as ineffective and contradictory to the “basic worldviews and values of indigenous people who have used their lands in a sustainable manner.”
Third World Network
Rethinking Agriculture: Briefing Paper 56
By Lim Li Ching, 2009
In order to face the myriad effects of climate challenges on agriculture, a global paradigm shift in agricultural production is necessary. As a sector that both contributes to and is affected by climate change, agriculture holds a unique opportunity to adapt to and mitigate climate change effects. Extreme and erratic weather patterns, water scarcity, and food insecurity will only be exacerbated by climate change, and agricultural systems must evolve to face these challenges. Additional challenges to food security, economic stability, and environmental sustainability that developing nations face come from non-weather related issues as well, such as biofuel production, land grabs, corporate concentration, genetically engineered crops and the financial crisis. Organic, ecological, and sustainable agricultural systems have a demonstrated ability to provide both economic viability and environmental sustainability to farmers and communities, and global policy and aid programs must support these practices.
Third World Network
Sustainable Agriculture: Meeting Food Security Needs, Addressing Climate Change Challenges Briefing Paper 1
By Lim Li Ching, 2009
The effects of climate change on agriculture are inherently linked to environmental conservation and food security. Furthermore, it has become apparent that agricultural systems contribute to climate change. In order to meet the various challenges posed by the relationship between climate change and agriculture, such as food insecurity, economic stability, and environmental conservation, a new approach to agriculture must be adopted. This report emphasizes the ability of sustainable and organic methods of agricultural production to meet global food demand, increase the income of farmers in developing countries, and mitigate and adapt to climate change. In order to do so, the agriculture sector will need collaborative efforts between farmers, communities, and policy makers.
Third World Network
Food Crisis, Climate Change and the Importance of Sustainable Agriculture
By Martin Khor, 2008
Agriculture both affects and is affected by climate change. Directly, agriculture emits billions of tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) annually through soil and manure management practices, biomass burning, and enteric fermentation in cattle. Indirectly, agricultural contributions to climate change include emissions from pesticide and fertilizer production and application and emissions from land-use changes as a result of land being converted into crop land. The adverse effects of climate change can be detrimental to agricultural production especially in developing countries, particularly because of water scarcity and increasingly frequent droughts and floods. As these effects become more apparent, they will only worsen food security in vulnerable regions. However, agriculture can also play a role in mitigating and adapting to climate change, especially through the employment of sustainable and organic practices to reduce emissions, improve irrigation methods, and increase food production in developing countries.
Third World Network
The Case for Sustainable Agriculture: Meeting Productivity and Climate Challenges
By Lim Li Chin, 2009
Sustainable agriculture, which includes such practices as organic farming and agroecology, integrates natural regenerative processes, minimizes non-renewable inputs and draws on traditional and local knowledge of farmers. As this paper shows, the application of sustainable agriculture methods can greatly enhance farm productivity, especially in the developing world, without harming the environment. Importantly, ecologically friendly, energy-efficient sustainable agriculture mitigates the pressing problem of climate change and also enables farmers to better respond and adapt to increased climate variability. This paper calls for investment, research, and policy support to be channeled toward sustainable agriculture in order to promote mainstream adoption of farming approaches which can more reliably feed the world now and into the future.
More info available here
Third World Network
Conflict Deepens Before Copenhagen
By Martin Khor
November 9, 2009
Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis
By Vandana Shiva, October 2008
South End Press, $15 paperback original, ISBN: 9780896087828
In Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis (South End Press, 2008), Dr. Vandana Shiva guides us through the current discussion on agricultural reform and climate change, and dares us to imagine a truly sustainable world. She speaks with a bold and visionary voice that compels us to address the shortage of food and the destruction of the environment simultaneously, arguing that they are inherently linked, and that any attempt to solve one without the other will get us nowhere. With her customary sharp insight and accessible style, Shiva’s latest work exposes the myriad ways in which industrial agricultural practices not only cause hunger and poverty but also cause untold environmental destruction. At the heart of the innovative links that Shiva makes between the environment, food production, and social justice is a bold question: Does our future lie with soil or oil?
