By Eva Fillion, EcoAgriculture Partners
You can tell that World Environment Day is taken seriously when it is celebrated for an entire week. This year’s theme, Raise Your Voice, Not The Sea Level, is focused on the adaptations and resilience of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to the effects of climate change. The week-long celebration kicked-off on June 1st in the host country of Barbados.
The world’s 52 Small Island Developing States contribute less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but are highly susceptible to the risks associated with climate change. Because of their geographic locations, size, fragile economies, limited resources and dense populations (SIDS are home to approximately 62.3 million people), the level of risk that many SIDS face are not commensurate with their contributions to global climate change. It’s a classic case of inequality and tragedy of the commons: larger nations contribute disproportionately to climate change while smaller nations bear the brunt more directly.
Small Island Developing States face many risks from climate change, the most pressing being rising sea levels. The IPCC predicts that sea levels will rise up to 0.7 meters (or 2.3 feet) by 2100, which could put many SIDS under water. An increased sea level also threatens fresh water supplies, contributes to erosion and flooding and is harmful to coastal reefs, which has detrimental effects on ecosystem health, food security and local livelihoods. As many SIDS look to their futures in an unstable climate, they are searching for ways to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle.
Agriculture’s role in global health is tricky: while large-scale operations feed many people, they also have longer-term negative effects on the climate. Roughly a quarter of all global greenhouse gas emissions that cause warming of the earth’s atmosphere stem from industrial agriculture and related industries. Thus, this sector not only needs to adjust to a changing climate, but also evolve to contribute less to these changes.
Efforts around the globe to reduce the environmental impacts of food and commodity production are at the forefront of many nations’ sustainable development plans. The United Nations Barbados Sustainable Development Policy highlights the importance of biodiversity preservation, responsible water use and reduction of reliance on chemical pesticides and fertilizers, among other efforts. In terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, combating climate change and recognizing the dire situation for many SIDS, agricultural reforms are a great place to start.
Photo: Domenic Scaturchio on Flickr
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