“Seemingly conflicting elements of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be reconciled if addressed properly,” says Jonas Jägermeyr from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), lead-author of a team of scientists from institutions including the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and Wageningen University. “Agricultural production and water management are a key example, since food production will likely double in the future while the water cycle will regionally be disturbed by climate change.” The study in the journal Nature Communications provides new quantitative evidence that negative environmental effects can be avoided while maintaining food production at global level. Much of this potential can be realized through traditional and affordable farmers’ practices accessible for smallholders.
Just recently, this topic has been emphasized at the highest political level by the leaders of the world’s greatest economies, the G20. Their Hamburg Declaration states: “In order to achieve food security, we are committed to increase agricultural productivity and resilience in a sustainable manner, while aiming to protect, manage and use efficiently water and water-related ecosystems.” The SDGs are also the basis for Germany’s sustainability strategy.
“Our study details how such visions could start to fall into place without relying on future technology fixes,” Dieter Gerten from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research says. “We can start now, mainstreaming traditional measures with sizeable effects.”
Article: Jägermeyr, J., Pastor, A., Biemans, H. and Gerten, D. (2017): Reconciling irrigated food production with environmental flows for Sustainable Development Goals implementation. Nature Communications [COI:10.1038/ncomms15900].
Weblink to the article (open access): http://rdcu.be/ui20
