Half of the world’s population is directly engaged in agriculture and nearly 40 per cent of land is devoted to agriculture and livestock. Food production sustains us all, but it also comes at a cost: water sources are being depleted and contaminated by food production, and unhealthy diets are burdening our health care systems.

This article released by UN Environment places emphasis on Agroecology considering it as the provider of new solutions, not only focused on environmental but also on food and healthy issues. In April 2018, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations along with other United Nations partners, including UN Environment, launched the Scaling Up Agroecology Initiative for tackling these issues. This initiative aims to show how diversified agroecological systems are vital not only to addressing poverty, hunger, and climate change mitigation and adaptation, but also for directly realizing 12 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in areas such as health, education, gender, water, energy and economic growth.

“Agroecology is about mainstreaming biodiversity in agriculture and bridging the gap between the producers of food and consumers,” says Emile Frison, the former Director-General of Bioversity International, a leading proponent of agroecology, and a current member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food).

Emma Siliprandi, lead focal point for the Scaling up Agroecology Initiative at the Food and Agriculture Organization asserts that agroecology “is based on bottom-up and territorial processes, helping to deliver contextualized solutions to local problems”.

To bring about change, education is vital. “Children should learn about agroecology in kindergarten,” says Frison.

Click here to read the entire story

Photo by: Pallab Helder/Pexels