It is estimated that by 2050, due to global population growth, we will need up to 50% more food than in 2012. We therefore face an enormous challenge to feed the world while protecting our forests from agricultural expansion, which accounts for almost 90% of deforestation caused to the planet.
This challenge represents a great opportunity that we must not let slip. It is possible to redesign the global food system so that agriculture and forests grow together, rather than one growing at the expense of the other. It is feasible, or rather necessary, that both benefit from each other and are not mutually exclusive.
If we embrace this way of thinking and acting on a global scale, the result will be a sustainable food system that will go a long way in fighting climate change, preserving biodiversity and boosting the global economy. If not, the prospects are bleak.
how to get it
At this critical moment, a new document from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) entitled “Stopping Deforestation in Agricultural Value Chains: The Role of Governments” assesses the progress made and describes what still needs to be done. And governments have a critical role to play, including creating the conditions that enable the necessary changes on a scale that can make a difference.
Consuming countries have already taken action, including setting import standards for agricultural products, earmarking funds to support small farmers in producing countries and committing to fund more sustainable supply chains. They implement a range of strategies ranging from land-use planning to more forest-friendly practices, along with additional payments for ecosystem services.
Global initiatives such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), a UN mechanism to mitigate climate change by reducing net greenhouse gas emissions through improved forest management in developing countries, are helping many producing countries. The goal is to achieve meaningful outcomes: halting deforestation, driving transformative change, and gaining access to climate finance for future reinvestments. Through a UN-REDD partnership, FAO supports developing countries in their process and helps them to implement their commitments on the ground.
However, much greater coordination is needed between consuming and producing countries to create truly transformative agri-food systems capable of producing more food and ensuring food security and nourishment for a growing population without turning forests into fields .
Small farmers, who produce 35% of the world’s food but live in poverty, need much more support
Governments around the world must provide this management so that different sectors and stakeholders at all levels – international, national, regional and local – work towards common goals. They must create the legal framework and facilitate the financing and market conditions that favor the adoption of approaches based on synergies between forestry and agriculture. Investigative authorities should approach compromises in a mutually supportive manner.
Through the New York Declaration on Forests in 2014, the private sector committed to eliminating deforestation from its supply chains, be it beef, palm oil, soybeans, cocoa, coffee or rubber.
Efforts to implement these commitments need to be stepped up to make concrete progress. At the same time, growers – most of whom live in tropical and subtropical countries – struggle to meet these standards as they require huge changes on site. Applying more sustainable farming practices often requires upfront investment in new equipment, a period of education and training, and changes in crops and land use, during which harvests often fail. The process of certification itself can also be prohibitively expensive and time consuming once new processes are in place. Small farmers, who produce 35% of the world’s food but live in poverty, need much more support to overcome these obstacles.
Producer countries, where the vast majority of deforestation occurs, face the greatest challenges in bringing about the necessary changes. Every day they will have to strike a difficult balance between the commitments they have made to international deforestation and climate change targets and the need to ensure food security and the livelihoods of their people. But they must formulate policies that address the root causes of unsustainable agricultural practices, strengthen governance, and improve law enforcement. They need to ensure they have up-to-date agricultural and forestry data that is open, transparent and accessible. Consumer countries and the private sector must redouble their efforts to support the countries that produce our food, as they need much greater financial and technical support to do it in ways that save our planet.
Tiina VahanenDeputy Director, Division of Forestry, and Serena Fortuna, Senior Forestry Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
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