While interest is generated over new and emerging technologies, there is a diversity of knowledge, technologies and practices in agriculture, health care, conservation and sustainable use of natural resources and ecosystem management. Many of these support the livelihoods of small farmers, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples and local entrepreneurs affecting millions of people and communities across the world, especially in developing countries. In many cases, national industries have developed from traditional knowledge and endogenous technologies.There are thus vast potential and promises in these sustainable systems and practices, requiring investment and mainstreaming into development policies at the national, regional and international level. A holistic approach to technology assessment and choice would develop sophisticated principles, criteria and indicators that enable countries to benefit from sustainable production and conservation systems.

Civil Society Statement on the IAASTD (Spanish)

Declaracion de 20 organizaciones de la sociedad civil sobre el resultado de la IAASTD. […]

Civil Society Statement on the IAASTD

Statement from 20 civil society organizations on the outcome of the IAASTD in South Africa. […]

Overhaul of agriculture systems needed

The IAASTD concluded that a radical change is needed in agriculture policy and practice, in order to address hunger and poverty, social inequities and environmental sustainability questions. […]

Benefits of Organic Farming

The following article, published in The Ecologist, makes the case that organic farming is productive enough, particularly in developing countries, to feed the world. […]

Global Seed Vault cannot replace on-farm conservation

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, focusing on ex situ collections in gene banks should not be viewed as the solution to seed conservation. […]

Sustainable Agriculture without Genetic Engineering

Sustainable agricultural practices, which include organic farming, that offer many benefits to the environment, biodiversity, local livelihoods, and human health, are viable alternatives to genetic engineering. […]

Agricultural biodiversity discussions at the CBD

The issue of agricultural biodiversity was discussed at the 13th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) technical body held in Rome in Feb 2008. […]

Sustainable agriculture’s climate mitigation potential

A new report written for Greenpeace by Professor Pete Smith from the University of Aberdeen, a lead author on the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, examines the direct and indirect impacts of agriculture on climate change. […]

Push-pull’ strategy successfully controls pests, weeds

Research published online recently demonstrates the benefits of using ‘push-pull’ approaches for controlling insect pests and weeds. […]

Compost Sharply Increases Crop Yields in Tigray, Ethiopia

Data collected in 2002-2004 from a farming project in Tigray, Ethiopia showed that, on average, composted fields gave higher yields, sometimes double, than those treated with chemical fertilizers. […]