For Immediate Release
Dec. 13, 2018
A.G. Kawamura, co-chair of Solutions from the Land (SfL) and a member of the North America Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (NACSAA), addressed delegates and observers in critical side events at global climate talks in Katowice, Poland, this week. With the 24th Conference of Parties (COP24) staged by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) winding down, Kawamura issued the following statement from the talks:
“The criticism of – and the impatience with – agriculture that seems to drive many discussions about how to address and adjust to changing climate patterns is a challenge for the sector. Yet, the sector’s ability to feed a global population that has grown by 5.8 billion people in just under 100 years would indicate agriculture has been doing well.
“Agriculture and our food systems are not broken. They are evolving and improving at an amazing pace with unbelievably important advances. And yet, we need help, support and understanding today – and certainly in the future. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved without agriculture functioning well and in a collaborative alignment with all stakeholders – in other words, everybody who eats.
“NACSAA, other regional alliances and the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture (GACSA) are critically important in helping to educate, equip and mobilize all the stakeholders in their pursuit of transformative change and adoption of climate smart practices and thinking. NACSAA represents a diverse and dynamic cross section of agriculture that is big and small, organic and conventional, business to subsistence.
“Likewise, the climate regions in North America have extremes as well – desert to tropical forest, below sea-level to mountains, hottest to coldest temperatures, and highest to lowest rainfall. The diversity of crops and crop systems is possibly more expansive and varied than any other region in the world. The need to support the role of farmers, ranchers and foresters as they struggle to adjust to changing climate, regulatory mandates, criticism from a misinformed public and misperceptions about what is happening today with agriculture is a priority for NACSAA and GACSA.
“It is why all those who work the land and those who help producers grow and sell their goods should join the efforts of NACSAA and others who focus on climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices. It is critical for all diverse stakeholders in the agriculture sector take an active role in the development of policy that aims to counter a changing climate.”
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For additional information, contact Ernie Shea at 410-952-0123 or at EShea@SfLDialogue.net.
Solutions from the Land (SfL) is a non-profit entity focused on land-based solutions to global challenges. SfL identifies and facilitates the implementation of integrated policies, practices and projects at a landscape scale that will result in land being sustainably managed to produce food, feed, fiber and energy, while enhancing biodiversity, protecting and improving critical environmental resources and delivering high value solutions to combat climate change. For more on Solutions from the Land, click HERE.
