Sustainable Development & Agriculture: Historical Underpinnings and Carbon’s Emergent Role

Melinda Sundell and Amy S. Willis, SIANI

ABSTRACT

Managing the natural environment in order to improve human well-being has been an ever-present task. Over time, the ideas of sustainable development and sustainable agriculturehave been molded and adapted to the changing needs of a growing, dynamic, andincreasingly industrializing society. Taking a close look at what has moved the discussionforward, and how climate change concerns have caused carbon to enter the sustainabledevelopment and agriculture discourse, provides a conceptual framework for howenvironmental policy is likely to implement sustainability-focused change in the comingdecades. As carbon sequestration is discussed more frequently, the myriad of benefitssurrounding carbon sequestration as a part of sustainable agriculture methodology isrevealed. In many respects, carbon sequestration simultaneously addresses climate change,food security, and natural resource concerns. In turn, already-existing sustainable agriculturetechniques can enhance carbon sequestration.If the positive outcomes from sustainable agriculture’s use of carbon sequestration areoutlined and if these pressing issues of climate change, hunger, and resource use are framedeffectively, policymakers and those in the environmental arena will have the impetus to takeaction more capably than ever.

The Sustainable Development Discourse

In essence, sustainable development is a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development; and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations

“

”

- Brundtland Report1987

Events in Sustainable Development300 BC: Aristotle Recognizes a tragedy of commons-type problem and the need to conserve resources

1700s: a reaction against mercantilism fuels activity within sustainable development discourse

1800s: concerns surrounding population growth begin to mount

1972: UN Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment

1987: Publication of the Brundtland Report by the World Commission on Environment & Development

1992: UN Conference on Environment & Development and Agenda 21

2000: Adoption of Millennium Development Goals

2001: Kyoto Protocol negotiations and signing

2002: Earth Summit in Johannesburg

Environmental Justice

Origins of the environmental

justice movement,

United States 1987

How has environmental justice changed

over time, global North South dichotomy

Framing current issues through environmental

justice

A History of Sustainable Agriculture

Research from thinkers such as Leibig,

Boussingault, Darwin and Mendel set foundation for

science in sustainable agriculture

20th Century industrialization spurs backlashes

of sustainable agriculture

research and movements

The Green Revolution, Silent

Spring, and the evolution of modern

sustainable agriculture

Events in Sustainable Agriculture

The Green Revolution

Norman Borlaug in Mexico: the “quiet” wheat revolution

Application of principles to rice crops in India

Expansion and success in China, Pakistan, and the Philippines

Since The Green Revolution

• 1970s: a number of events set the stage for the Alternative Agriculture movement

• Permaculture sustainability movement and philosophy

• 1980s: re-emergence of hunger issues and weaknesses of the Green Revolution

• 1990s: attempting to solve environmental problems with technology and quantitative models

Climate Change and Carbon:Global Threats Re-frame the

Discourse

Evo

lutio

n of

Clim

ate

Cha

nge

Ana

lysi

s

Human-caused micro-climate concerns for centuries

Svante Arrhenius

20th Century studies and entrance into international policy arena

Car

bon

Seq

uest

ratio

n

WMO pollutant monitoring project

IPCC Second Assessment Report

Kyoto Protocol

Car

bon

Mar

kets

Market environmentalism

North-South debate

Weaknesses of a climate change strategy based on carbon markets

Carbon, Climate Change, and Hunger

Looking through the Lens of Carbon:

Climate-Agriculture Interactions

Carbon Emissions from Farm Operations

On-Site Functions of the Soil Organic Carbon Pool

Off-Site Functions of the Soil Organic Carbon Pool

“Why…is a human-made phenomenon likeglobal warming – which may kill hundreds ofmillions of human beings over the next century– considered ‘environmental’? Why arepoverty and war not considered environmentalproblems while global warming is? What arethe implications of framing global warming asan environmental problem – and handing offthe responsibility for dealing with it to‘environmentalists’?”

- consultants Michael Shellenbergerand Ted Nordhaus

Image Credits:• http://7darya.net/images/20080902032604_dsc_0890.jp

• http://www.yufreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/envjustice1.jpg

• http://muerteporkiki.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/sustainable-agriculture.jpg

• http://www.manitoba.ca/conservation/pollutionprevention/Headers/Grants%20Lake%20Dugout%20-%20Wetlands.jpg

• http://www.state.il.us/hpa/images/IH1203Cover.jpg