TakingITGlobal

Agriculture We demand that governments enact the following policies to reduce environmental damage from agricultural practices and protect farmers from the impacts of climate change • Provide subsidies for farmers to implement sustainable practices that benefit the environment and reduce environmental degradation. • Prioritize low-carbon domestic consumption over imports. • Support the resiliency of small-scale farmers. • Protect of farmers by implementing safety nets such as weather-index based insurance. We must ensure that the agriculture industry is as environmentally sustainable as possible. In order to do so, we must first prioritize domestic consumption through the encouragement and support of local, small-scale farming. Not only does this reduce the carbon emissions associated with the transport of agricultural goods across large distances, it will counteract large monocultures by encouraging the production of a variety of crops locally. This will have benefits such as increased land connectivity for flora and fauna and increased biodiversity. Additionally, biodiversity in the agriculture industry should also be promoted through the increased use of crop rotation and agroforestry. Policies of crop rotation and agroforestry further reduce the economic need for deforestation and the resulting loss in biodiversity. Development and sustainability must be interrelated and encouraged. Agricultural practices dependent on increasing arable land and thus deforestation must be discouraged. We propose that subsidies be made to farmers to encourage fallow fields and crop rotation which would promote more efficient agriculture. The youth are in consensus regarding the actions individuals must take in response to the significant emissions associated with the meat industry. The emissions associated with this sector are greater than those from transport, and as such, meat and animal product consumption must be reduced, for example by the promotion of vegetarian or vegan diets nationwide as suggested by the youth of Peru. Youth all over the world agree that agriculture must be a sustainable practice to reduce carbon emissions and prevent climate change. This should be achieved by supporting farmers in their transitions to sustainable techniques by implementing an incentive policy for sustainable practices. Such practices include crop rotation, integrated pest management, and the use of alternative energy sources. Others have also suggested implementing education programs for farming techniques such as crop rotation, crop diversity, and water use to improve the sustainability of the agriculture industry. For example, South Korea is developing an irrigation technique which reduces the amount of water used and is far more effective and efficient than most irrigation techniques thus far. Applying these innovations in practice will make agricultural practices more sustainable. Farmers need to be protected from the increased frequency of drought and extreme weather events. Small- scale farmers, unable to mobilize large financial resources to buffer from interannual crop failures, are particularly at risk. The youth propose a weather index-based insurance as an increased safety net for farmers. An example of this concept in action is the International Finance Corporation's Kilimo Salama program, a safe farming weather-index-based insurance initiative that has had great success. Modeling a system after one such as the IFC Kilimo Salama could provide the necessary framework to get such a plan into action. "Governments must support and encourage alternative techniques of agriculture and farming that are much more eco-friendly, and environmentally oriented." (India)

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