Agriculture in the Face of Climate Change: Sustained and Inclusive Economic Growth as a Prerequisite for Sustainable Development

Climate change and weather extremes are already impacting millions of people, devastating crops, eroding coastlines, and threatening freshwater reserves. The agricultural sector is extremely vulnerable to the potential threats of climate change and must be prepared to mitigate and adapt. Decisive measures could help agriculture face expected changes, help keep global temperatures in check and also serve and create synergies between climate and sustainable development goals. Climate-smart agriculture—with its three objectives: sustainable increases in agricultural productivity and income, greater resilience of food systems, and the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with farming—may represent a model to best help direct our actions. Addressing the socio-economic and environmental challenges related to climate change requires a concerted effort from all actors and locally adapted responses to ensure we move towards sustained and inclusive economic growth (SDG 8). Businesses have already started to act and need to be supported in their efforts by a system of policies and an enabling environment for multistakeholder collaborations.