July, 08 2009, 11:46am EDT
Worldwatch Institute Launches Initiative to Assess Agricultural Methods' Impacts on Sustainability, Productivity
WASHINGTON
The Worldwatch Institute is launching a two-year
project to point the world toward innovations in agriculture that can
nourish people as well as the planet, supported by a $1.3 million grant
from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project will focus
specifically on sub-Saharan Africa.
Currently, 1 billion people worldwide go to bed hungry each night. In
the first study of its kind, the Worldwatch Institute will assess the
impacts of a range of farming techniques on the environment and
agricultural productivity. The project will provide stakeholders,
including policymakers, farmer and community networks, and
international donors, with research on practical solutions for creating
sustainable food security.
Among the many innovations and approaches that Worldwatch plans to examine are:
- Adding nitrogen-fixing plants into crop rotations as a low-cost solution for enriching soils and breaking weed and pest cycles;
- Overcoming freshwater shortages with rain harvesting, efficient irrigation, micro dams, and cover cropping;
- Strengthening local breeding capacity, including the use of farmer-run seed banks and genetic markers of important crop traits;
- Tapping
international carbon-credit markets to reward farmers for enriching
their soils and planting carbon-sequestering tree crops; - Involving women farmers in decision-making at all levels.
"Agricultural development is at a crossroads," said Worldwatch
President Christopher Flavin. "The current crisis offers a window of
opportunity for refocusing the world's attention on food, agriculture,
and rural areas, and for reestablishing food security as a global
priority. We look forward to bringing Worldwatch's signature
multidisciplinary approach to this groundbreaking project."
The day-to-day management of the project will be overseen by
Worldwatch Senior Researcher Brian Halweil. "We're thrilled to be
working with the Foundation and partners to take a serious look at
sustainability as well as agricultural productivity," said Halweil. "We
hope to harness the global environmental community as an ally in
eliminating hunger in the 21st century, as well as the growing ranks of
people in wealthy nations who see food as the way to affect the world
around them."
The project will culminate in the release of State of the World 2011: Nourishing the Planet.
This 27th edition of the Institute's widely read annual report, which
tackles the most critical trends in sustainability each year, will be
accompanied by an online, behind-the-scenes look at the ongoing
research, which will enable farmers, scientists, government officials,
and others around the world to share their perspectives regarding
agricultural solutions for alleviating hunger.
"Environmental sustainability is critical to ensure the greatest,
longest-lasting impact on the lives of small farmers in the developing
world," said Prabhu Pingali, Deputy Director of Agricultural
Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "By
understanding how a range of approaches affects the environment and
farmer productivity, this project will help all of us create sound
solutions to help farmers lift themselves out of hunger and poverty in
the long term."
The Worldwatch Institute will enlist key partner organizations to
provide on-the-ground research in locations around the world, access to
farmer-to-farmer networks, and knowledge of specific agricultural
interventions, from irrigation and soil improvement to market
development. This robust network includes World Neighbors,
Ecoagriculture Partners, Heifer International, Rodale Institute, Slow
Food International, International Fund for Agricultural Development,
and the Global Water Policy Project.
Comments Sara J. Scherr, President of Ecoagriculture Partners: "This
project offers a unique opportunity for the environmental community and
the agricultural development community to jointly explore new
strategies and technologies to achieve universal food security while
also sustaining habitats for wildlife, protecting critical watersheds,
ensuring healthy soils, and helping to mitigate-rather than
exacerbate-climate change."
The Worldwatch Institute was a globally focused environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C., founded by Lester R. Brown. Worldwatch was named as one of the top ten sustainable development research organizations by Globescan Survey of Sustainability Experts. Brown left to found the Earth Policy Institute in 2000. The Institute was wound up in 2017, after publication of its last State of the World Report. Worldwatch.org was unreachable from mid-2019.
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