FAO Committee on Agriculture
 

FAO Committee on Agriculture

 

 On the occasion of the 21st Session of the Committe on Agriculture
A Side Event on Organic Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment  

 FAO, Rome, 22 April 2009
from 12:00 to 14h:00 hours
Iran Room, FAO Headquarter, Rome

The event is financed by the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and organized by the Danish International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (ICROFS) in collaboration with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and FAO.  

Denmark has been named “Organic Country of the Year 2009” and will be hosting COP15 in Copenhagen in December 2009. The side event is organized in recognition of the important value Organic Agriculture may play in answering to the social and environmental challenges that our food systems are facing and the need to cope with growing food demands in times of climate change. The interdependencies and relationship between agriculture, environment and climate change will have to be taken into consideration for the choices we make to secure a sustainable production of food and fibre.  

Organic agriculture and agro-ecological methods improves and depends on biodiversity, soil fertility and other ecological support functions. Research results indicates that agro-ecological methods, as used in Organic Agriculture, potentially have positive effects related to climate adaptation as well as climate mitigation which can be of high value for future sustainable development in particular smallholder farmers possibilities to improve their agricultural production while adapting to climate change.  

Organic agriculture is knowledge intensive and should be adapted to local conditions and the farmers’ situation. Thus, there is need for further development in line with the principles of organic agriculture and there is a need for improved knowledge transfer systems which acknowledges traditional as well as scientific knowledge. We, the organizers, would, therefore, appreciate this opportunity to discuss with representatives from FAO member countries the possible contributions of organic agriculture to answer to the challenges for the agricultural sector in different countries.  

The side event will present a range of important issues from a general perspective by representatives from FAO, IFOAM and ICROFS as well as from an African and Asian perspective by representatives from Ethiopia and Thailand. Further details are provided in the programme.