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Change in agriculture can meet food needs: IAASTD
Staff Reporter
Rawalpindi—Agricultural production will be increasingly constrained
by the declining availability and degradation of water in the
countries of Asia and the Pacific with implications for food
production, says a report which puts development at heart of
Asia-Pacific security. At a time of record high prices for food
commodities, the report, ‘International Assessment of Agricultural
Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) says by 2020 per
capita water availability is estimated to decline to between 15 per
cent and 35 per cent of that available in 1950. The way the world
grows its food will have to change radically to better serve the
poor and hungry if the world is to cope with a growing population
and climate change while avoiding social breakdown and environmental
collapse - a message from the report prepared by over 400
scientists, released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
The report says rapid urbanisation and industrialisation in the
region leads to competition for productive land resources. In
addition, there are problems of increasing land degradation,
declining soil fertility, increasing toxicity, and
salinity/alkalinity. Projects to reclaim degraded lands for arable
purposes will only make a small contribution to future growth in
food production, it warns. Along with increases in productivity
there is also a need for systems of compensation, payments and other
rewards that might increase the supply of environmental public goods
linked to particular forms of land use. These can be coupled with
stringent environmental regulations that will ensure the most
productive and effective use of limited resources, the report
emphasises.
The report predicts that by the year 2020 nitrogen pollution from
food production (fertiliser use and domestic animal waste) and
consumption systems will increase by 1.3-1.6 times in East Asian
countries from 2002 levels. The report warns that agricultural
production in the region will be threatened by climate change and
variability. Through emissions from rice cultivation and livestock,
and deforestation, agriculture in the region contributes
substantially to GHG emissions.
To mitigate the effects of climate change, agricultural knowledge,
science and technology (AKST) development to reduce emissions from
agriculture, is needed. In order to adapt to climate change, AKST
development is required to meet the challenges of cultivation that
is resistant to drought, long inundation, salt, high temperatures,
and so on. As water availability will be highly variable over time
and space, AKST development also is necessary for conserving water
and increasing irrigation efficiency.
“Unless there is a determination to promote development, much of
eastern Asia faces the prospect of serious social problems and an
increasingly degraded environment.” The assessment report says
current patterns of agricultural development will increase pollution
and environmental deterioration and pose major challenges for
growing food and reducing poverty.
Without political commitment by key decision-makers to ensure
development, the downward spiral towards socio-economic turmoil and
ecological degradation may be rapid and perhaps even irreversible,
it says. The report argues that some of the gains of the region’s
high growth can and should be used to build safety nets for the
rural poor, the majority of whom are women: it advocates policies
designed to secure gender equity and social inclusion.
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