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Mitigating and adapting to climate change through ecological agriculture

While agricultural productivity is adversely affected by climate change, agriculture is itself a significant contributor to global warming. Agricultural activities have been identified as a major source of the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change. However, as this paper explains, agriculture also has considerable potential for climate change mitigation. In particular, the adoption of “ecological agriculture”, which integrates natural regenerative processes, minimizes non-renewable inputs and fosters biological diversity, can have tremendous scope for reducing emissions and enhancing soil carbon sequestration. At the same time, many ecological agricultural practices also constitute effective strategies for adapting to climate change, which is a priority for
developing countries. This paper looks at the various ways in which ecological agriculture integrates mitigation and adaptation capacities, and calls for more investment and policy support to be devoted to this productive and sustainable form of farming.

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