The hidden costs of global food and land use systems sum to 12 trillion USD. So ecosystem protection and restoration have significant mechanism not only for the growing well-being of Ethiopia, but rather essential prerequisite for it, so said scholars.
On the panel discussion hosted by The Food and Land Use Coalition here in Addis, among the suggested remarks of Ethiopian scholars, Professor Sebsebe Demissew indicated that ecosystem protection and restoration does not impede economic growth and the growing well-being of Ethiopians. They are rather an essential prerequisite for it.
Expert Assefa Admassie (PhD) noted that strong land use plans and policy ensures more integrated land use practices and can help establish a solid foundation for a new economy that provides for the citizens of Ethiopia, with a sustainable supply of food, fiber and other benefits.
Expert Getachew Gebru (PhD) quoted as “systematic change and building consensus on the path towards sustainability is directly needed to transform the food and land use system in Ethiopia”.
Director of country partnerships, food and land use coalition, Ed Davey said that the hidden costs of global food and land use systems sum to 12 trillion USD, compared to a market value of the global food system of 10 trillion USD. In this regard, humanity faces an opportunity to design food and land use systems that protect our environment, improve our health, increase social justice and strengthen food security.
“We have one to two years in which to turn them in the right direction, and a decade thereafter to transform them. There are already many courageous change agents working often at significant professional and personal risk in order to advance transformation,” he noted.
On his report he indicated the world faces a remarkable opportunity to transform food and land use systems over the next ten years. The scientific evidence and economic case demonstrate that, by 2030, food and land use systems can help bring climate change under control, safeguard biological diversity, ensure healthier diets for all, drastically improve food security and create more inclusive rural economies.
As to him, delivering such a transformation will be challenging but will ensure that food and land use systems play their part in delivering the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement targets on climate change.
Transformation of food and land use systems thus needs to become an urgent priority globally in the leadership of public and private sectors, and for civil society, multilateral institutions, the research community, consumers and citizens.
“To support such leadership, the Food and Land Use Coalition report proposes a reform agenda. This agenda is centered on ten critical transitions of health diets, productive and regenerative agriculture, protecting and restoring nature, healthy and productive ocean, diversifying protein supply, reducing food loss and waste, local loops and linkages, digital revolution, stronger rural livelihoods as well as gender and demography,” he pointed out.
He went on to say that these ten critical transitions enable food and land use systems to provide food security and healthy diets for a global population of over nine billion by 2050, while also tackling our core climate, biodiversity, health and poverty challenges.
According to him, the specifics of the reform program will inevitably vary from one country to the next and from one community to the next. But all countries and communities could benefit from taking a holistic approach to the transformation of food and land use systems, combining the massive opportunities that are becoming available in respect of nutritious food, nature-based solutions, wider choice and supply and opportunity for all agendas.
Adding he stated that the consumption patterns of more than nine billion people as well as what they choose to eat and how they make those choices, are the critical factors shaping how food and land use systems evolve. Empowering consumers to make better-informed decisions that are healthier for them and for the planet ignites the whole reform agenda.
Concerning framework for sustainable food and land use system, Director of Water and Land Resources Institute, Dr. Gete Zeleke said that Ethiopia has made challenges individually and in specific geographical areas. The country can proudly point towards success stories in boosting yields on existing croplands, restoring degraded lands as well as improving nutrition.
He further indicated that a new, sustainable food and land use economy must simultaneously address in building a prosperous, market-driven, resilient rural economy for farmers and livestock keepers, find a nutritious and more efficient way to feed 140 million people by the 2030s.
And it should address for align the country’s food and land use system with its sectorial climate resilience strategies. It should as well give response to protect and overtime to regenerate of biophysical resources.
The Ethiopian Herald January 19/2020
BY MEHARI BEYENE
