Home
High Sequestration, Low Emission, Food Secure Farming
Live from Cancun - a dialogue session with IAASTD Co-Chair Hans Herren and the IFOAM delegation

IFOAM & IATP Official Side Event at CoP16 in Cancun

IFOAM CoP 16 Background Briefing Paper

UN Right to Food urges urgent shift to ecological based farming to tackle climate change & hunger

IFOAM Paper: The Potential Impact of a Climate Agreement on Food Security, Right to Food & Climate Change

Cancun Climate Talks Overview by IATP

NEW! Review of key elements of negotiations by TWN

Go to Cancun page for summit updates


Organic Agriculture has a significant role to play in addressing two of the world’s biggest and most urgent is­sues: climate change and food security. Climate change mitigation and adaptation and food security are inseparable and inherent beneficial characteristics of Organic Agriculture.

Organic Agriculture has well established practices that simultaneously mitigate climate change, build resilient farming systems, reduce poverty and improve food security. Organic Agriculture emits much lower levels of greenhouse gases (GHG), and quickly, affordably and effectively sequesters carbon in the soil. In addition, Or­ganic Agriculture makes farms and people more resilient to climate change, mainly due to its water efficiency, resilience to extreme weather events and lower risk of complete crop failure. 

IFOAM at the UNFCCC- Bonn meetings, August
click here for information.

In time for the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, IFOAM and IFOAM EU Group have published three new publications to raise awareness of the important role of organic agriculture in mitigating and adapting to climate change and securing food supply:

Organic Agriculture - a Guide to Climate Change & Food Security - Cover  The Contribution of Organic Agriculture to Climate Change Mitigation - Cover
The Contribution of Organic Agriculture to Climate Change Adaptation in Africa The Contribution of Organic Agriculture to Climate Change Mitigation

Organic Agriculture mitigates climate change:

It reduces greenhouse gases, especially nitrous oxide, as no chemical nitrogen fertilizers are used and nutrient losses are minimized.

It stores carbon in soil and plant biomass by building organic matter, encouraging agro-forestry and forbidding the clearance of primary ecosystems.

It minimizes energy consumption by 30-70% per unit of land by eliminating the energy required to manufacture synthetic fertilizers, and by using internal farm inputs, thus reducing fuel used for transportation.

Organic Agriculture helps farmers adapt to climate change:

It prevents nutrient and water loss through high organic matter content and soil covers, thus making soils more resilient to floods, droughts and land degradation processes.

It preserves seed and crop diversity which increases crop resistance to pests and disease. Maintenance of diversity also helps farmers evolve new cropping systems to adapt to climatic changes.

It minimizes risk as a result of stable agro-ecosystems and yields, and lower production costs.

Conventional agriculture contributes to climate change:

It uses synthetic fertilizers and pesticides that require significant amounts of energy to manufacture 

It applies excessive amounts of nitrogen fertilizer that is released as nitrous oxide 

It operates intensive livestock holdings that overproduce manure and methane

It relies on external, soy-based animal feed that requires large amounts of fuel to travel thousands of kilometers to reach the farm

It mines the earth of the nutrients needed to sustain production thereby leading to the clearing of rainforest and “slash and burn” techniques that reduce carbon storage and release huge amounts of carbon dioxide from burning vegetation.


Sign up for IFOAM's free info list
Print
Links
IFOAM at CoP 16 Cancun, Mexico
IFOAM at the UNFCCC- Bonn meetings, August
IFOAM at the UNFCCC- Bonn meetings, June
Back to Advocacy Campaigns Main Page
IFOAM at COP 15
Organic Agriculture & Biodiversity Campaign
PDF-Downloads
(NEW) Coping with a Changing Climate Considerations for Adaptation and Mitigation in Agriculture
Purchase the IFOAM Study on the role of Organic Agriculture in mitigating Climate Change
Statement on the role of Organic Agriculture in mitigating Climate Change
Soil Association report: Soil Carbon and organic farming
FiBL Study: OA and Climate Change
Rodale Institute: Regenerative 21st Century Farming: A Solution to Global Warming
Organic Agriculture's Role in Countering Climate Change-Leaflet
Organic Agriculture and Food Security-Leaflet
Organic Agriculture and Food Security Dossier
60 Participatory Learning and action - Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change
Harvesting agriculture’s multiple benefits: Mitigation, Adaptation, Development and Food Security
© IFOAM 2010 - Contact us | Help | Imprint