UN: Strive For "Second Green Revolution"

Speaking at a high-level meeting of the 16th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), Ban said that the world has refocused its attention on agriculture after "a quarter century of relative neglect."

"The onset of the current food crisis has highlighted the fragility of our success in feeding the world's growing population with the technologies of the first green revolution and subsequent agricultural improvements," he said.

"Agriculture needs reinvigorating," he said, citing reasons such as the slowing productivity growth, overworked soils, water shortages, less agricultural land and less public investments in agriculture.

"We need to work together to develop a new generation of technologies and farming methods which make possible a second green revolution, one which permits sustainable yield improvements with minimal environmental damage and contributes to sustainable development goals," he said.

The secretary-general called for efforts to "prepare our agricultural systems for the effects of climate change, which is predicted to have negative impacts on agricultural and land productivity in many parts of the tropics -- and especially in Africa and South Asia."

On bio-fuels, he urged the international community to study carefully both its "potentials and the risks."

"We need to ensure that policies promoting biofuels are consistent with maintaining food security and achieving sustainable development goals," he added.

The high-level meeting was held as part of the 16th CSD annual gathering which began May 5 at the UN Headquarters and focused specifically on agriculture, drought, rural development, land, desertification and Africa.

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