Tackling Climate Change and Fighting Hunger

Photo credit: Food Tank

Climate change is undermining the food security of the world’s poor, 80 percent of whom live in rural areas and depend on agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

Co-operative News

Tackling Climate Change and Fighting Hunger Should Go Hand-in-Hand

The COP 21 climate conference, to be held in Paris in the aftermath of the recent barbarian acts of terrorism, is a fresh opportunity for the international community to come together and show its commitment to the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as the most appropriate way to promote a fairer, safer and more inclusive world, where no one is left behind.

There will be no peace without sustainable development. And there will never be sustainable development while people continue to feel excluded, and while people continue suffering from extreme poverty and hunger.

A solution for a better world must involve everyone. That is what the 2030 Agenda is about: universality, solidarity and inclusiveness.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are intertwined. Climate change is probably the issue that best represents this connectivity between them.

SDG 13 is specific to climate change. It determines that countries should take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Failure to do so would put at risk the achievement of all the other SDGs, in particular the fight against hunger.

Ridding the world of hunger cannot be separated from the need to curb the harmful effects of climate change on food security and nutrition. Countries gathering for the COP 21 negotiations must bear this in mind.

Once only a dream, a world free of hunger is now within our reach. We produce enough food, we possess the technology, and we know what policies and actions work best.

Read the full article: Food Tank

S.O.S. – saving the vital resource soils

Photo credit: Food Tank

Food Tank discusses what each of us can do to protect soil health with Michaël Wilde from the Save Our Soils campaign.

shutterstock

Save Our Soils

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has named 2015 theInternational Year of Soils. Soil is one of the earth’s most valuable natural resources, and Food Tank recently discussed the importance of saving this vital resource with Michaël Wilde from the Save Our Soils campaign.

Food Tank (FT): What is the importance of the International Year of Soils?

Michaël Wilde (MW): The International Year of Soils, initiated by the FAO, is extremely important because it gives us a stage to inform the media and the public about how important soil is for our planet. The European Union refers to Soil as one of the earth’s most important yet most neglected resources, so we really need to grab this opportunity to let everyone know about the soil crisis and also about the Soilutions!

FT: How much soil is being lost?

MW: Every minute we lose the equivalent of thirty soccer fields of soil. As a result, we are losing 10 million hectares of farmland every year. Furthermore, it is estimated that one-quarter of the earth’s soils are highly degraded.

FT: What is causing soil degradation?

MW: Erosion is the most common form of soil degradation. When soil is left exposed to wind and rain, erosion occurs. Soils with low organic matter content will erode more easily. These soils are less able to retain water and can, therefore, be easily washed or blown away by the wind. Agriculture is responsible for three-quarters of the erosion worldwide. The erosion takes place due to poor treatment of the soil and frequent removal of the vegetation. Because of these practices, erosion on farmland is estimated to be 75 times bigger than natural erosion in forest areas. Deforestation and urbanization are also responsible for the current soil loss and degradation.

FT: What impact can soil degradation have on food security, climate, and public health?

 

Read the full article: Food Tank

Urban roof gardens to green the cities

 Photo credit: Food Tank

Fresh & Local farms Mumbai’s rooftops.

Greening Mumbai: Bringing Agriculture to the Rooftops of India’s Largest City

 

Mumbai, India ranks among the largest cities in the world, with a total metropolitan population of 21 million people. As one of the most densely populated cities in the world, Mumbai does not have much room to spare for agriculture. Undeterred by this challenge, Mumbai-based organization Fresh & Local is growing food on the flat rooftops of city buildings to provide fresh produce to the city’s residents.

Fresh & Local was established in 2010 by Adrienne Thadani, an organic food advocate and activist. The vision that drives the project is “an urban India where city residents have the resources and knowledge to use urban farming to transform the spaces around them.” According to Fresh & Local, urban gardens address many aspects of wellbeing in the city by “empowering city residents with the ability to grow their own food and medicine, creating active outdoor urban places, greening the city, improving air and water quality, increasing urban biodiversity and building community.”

With this vision in mind, in 2010, Thadani and her partners created their first rooftop garden atop a middle-income apartment building which produces food for residents while creating a green space where they socialize and work together. Since then, Fresh & Local has expanded to work with more than 2,000 individuals in Mumbai, Alibaug, Jaipur, and North Goa.

Read the full article: Food Tank