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United Nations Environment Programme

Background Guide

Written by: Sam Llaneta, Sruthi Venkatachalam, Aayush Parikh, Kobby Nkansah: Case Western Reserve University

The UNEP was established at the first United Nations Conference on the Human

Environment in Stockholm in 1972 in order to link social issues to environmental policies and

programs. UNEP is led by a UN Undersecretary-General and Executive Director, and supported

by a Deputy Director. The committee represents the UN’s voice in terms of environmental

issues. UNEP also acts as a catalyst, advocate educator, and facilitator for the purpose of

promoting the sustainable development of the global environment. The primary work

conducted by UNEP includes assessing global, regional, and national environmental trends and

conditions, developing international environmental instruments, as well as strengthening

institutions for a wiser management of the environment.1

I. Combating the Accumulation and Production of Marine Debris

Statement of the Issue

A recent simulation estimated that 5.25 trillion plastic particles with a combined weight

of 269,000 tons are currently floating in the world’s oceans.2 Plastic waste makes up the

majority of marine debris and is particularly problematic, as many plastics do not degrade in the

presence of water.3 Once this waste enters the ecosystem it is often consumed by fish, turtles,

birds, and other organisms that mistake it for food or simply consume it along with other food.4

This is not only threatens to the organism itself since the debris can cause internal injuries and

block its digestive tract, but also other organisms since plastic debris that enters the food web

accumulates in organisms that consume others that consume the plastic. For this reason, small

plastic pellets used in the manufacture have been particularly problematic. Colloquially called

1 Cleveland Council on World Affairs, “UN Environment Programme Background Guide”, 2015.

2Eriksen, Marcus, Laurent C. M. Lebreton, Henry S. Carson, Martin Thiel, Charles J. Moore, Jose C. Borerro, Francois

Galgani, Peter G. Ryan, and Julia Reisser. "Plastic Pollution in the World's Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea." PLoS ONE 9, no. 12 (2014). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0111913. 3 Weisman, Alan. "Polymers Are Forever." Orion Magazine. Accessed December 29, 2016.

https://orionmagazine.org/article/polymers-are-forever/. 4 "| OR&R's Marine Debris Program." | OR&R's Marine Debris Program. Accessed December 29, 2016.

https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/discover-issue/impacts.

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“nurdles,” these round white pellets strongly resemble fish eggs, and a 1998 survey in California

found that they comprised 98% of pollution collected on beaches in Orange County California.5

Plastic debris also can also leach toxic substances used in its production into the

environment, and other pollutants can collect on the surface of plastic debris which causes

organisms to consume it along with the plastic. These pollutants also accumulate in organisms

in higher trophic levels, as they often are soluble in fat and thus build up in fatty tissue. This can

cause a number of health issues in those organisms as well as human communities that rely on

marine life for food. In 2008, Faroese chief medical officers warned against the traditional

consumption of pilot whale meat when it was found to contain excessively high levels of

mercury, PCB’s, and DDT.6Larger debris also poses a threat to marine life. Dense materials sink

to the ocean floor where they can endanger other marine habitats. At particular risk are coral

reefs which are also threatened by ocean acidification and rising water temperatures. Coral

reefs comprise the most biologically diverse aquatic habitats, and the other threats they face

are only exacerbated by marine debris which can crush and smother coral.7 Large pieces of

debris on the ocean’s surface can also threaten coastal habitats by transporting invasive species

to new habitats where they can compete with and threaten local populations.

Perhaps the type of debris that poses the greatest threat to marine life is ghost nets.

Ghost nets include abandoned crab traps as well as fishing nets that continue to catch marine

life long after being abandoned. Abandoned nets indiscriminately entangle marine life that

comes in contact with them including turtles, seabirds, and marine mammals. An estimated

100,000 marine mammals and over a million seabirds die each year from becoming entangled

in ghost nets.8 Gillnets are particularly dangerous, as they are suspended vertically in the water.

Because of this, a durable gillnet can remained suspended in the water for long periods of time

after it is abandoned and efficiently catch a variety of marine life as if it was still in use.9

The economic impacts of marine debris are just as far reaching as the environmental

impacts. To begin with, the environmental impacts of marine debris, like a reduction in

biodiversity and the destruction of marine habitats, reduce the productivity of fisheries and

5 "Resolution of the California Ocean Protection Council On Reducing and Preventing Marine Debris." Accessed

December 29, 2016. http://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20070208/0702COPC05_MarineDebris_Resolution.pdf.

6 MacKenzie, Debora. "Faroe islanders told to stop eating ‘toxic’ whales." New Scientist. November 28, 2008.

Accessed December 29, 2016. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16159-faroe-islanders-told-to-stop-eating-toxic-whales/. 7 "| OR&R's Marine Debris Program." | OR&R's Marine Debris Program. Accessed December 29, 2016.

https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/impacts/how-does-marine-debris-impact-corals. 8 "Abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear." Accessed December 29, 2016.

ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0620e/i0620e.pdf. 9 "Ghost nets hurting marine environment." FAO - News Article: Ghost nets hurting marine environment. Accessed

December 29, 2016. http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/19353/icode/.

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endanger the food security of millions of people who rely on the world's oceans for food.

Marine debris also negatively impacts coastal communities whose economies rely on tourism.

The infamous syringe tide is estimated to have caused New Jersey tourism revenue losses of

over $1 billion in 1988.10 Lastly, marine debris poses a navigational hazard to both large and

small vessels. Large pieces of debris can cause substantial structural damage to small boats and

ships, and smaller debris can tangle propellers and clog intakes.

History

The danger that marine debris poses to marine life has been known since the Second

World War. In 1944 the first animals documented to become entangled in debris were fur seals

that became trapped in the remains of food-drop bags that the Japanese military used during

their invasion of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.11 After the war, the widespread use of plastics

especially in packaging and consumer products along with the rise of so called “throw-away

culture” that promoted single use plastic goods accelerated the issue of marine debris, as much

of the plastic waste it created found its way into the world’s oceans either as litter or runoff

from landfills. By 1962, seabirds in New Zealand and Canada were discovered to have ingested

plastics, and a 1966 survey of dead adolescent albatross in northwest Hawaii found that three

quarters had ingested plastic debris.12

Around the same time, the danger posed by entanglement in debris became apparent.

The incidence of entangled of fur seals in the Bering Sea rose of one in 500 in 1967 to over one

in 150 in 1975, and although the incidence rate fell and stabilized in the early 1980’s,

entanglement in debris was still able to drive population decline. By 1973, fish and birds were

reported entangled in rubber bands, six-pack rings, plastic bags, and other debris.

It was at this time in 1972 when the United States passed it first regulatory acts to

protect its waterways from pollution. These acts include the Clean Water Act, Coastal Zone

Management Act, and Ocean Dumping Act which regulated the amount pollution and gave the

States and Coast Guard the authority to regulate dumping in U.S. waters. Further legislation like

the Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act and the Shore protection act sought to

reduce the production of marine debris by prohibiting dumping in the United States’ exclusive

economic zone and regulating waste transport.13

10

Schmitt, Eric. "On the Jersey Shore, a Summer to Forget." New York Times, September 2, 1988. Accessed

December 29, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/02/nyregion/on-the-jersey-shore-a-summer-to-forget.html. 11

"With Millions of Tons of Plastic in Oceans, More Scientists Studying Impact." National Geographic. June 13,

2014. Accessed December 29, 2016. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140613-ocean-trash-garbage-patch-plastic-science-kerry-marine-debris/. 12

Bergmann, Melanie, Lars Gutow, and Michael Klages. Marine Anthropogenic Litter. Cham: Springer Open, 2015. 13

Marine Defenders: Marine Debris Laws. Accessed December 29, 2016.

http://www.marinedefenders.com/marinedebrisfacts/laws.php.

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However none of this legislation addresses the fact that an estimated 80% of marine

debris originates on land.14 The famous Syringe Tide of 1987-88 devastated the economies of

coastal communities in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut after medical waste and other

garbage washed up on Beaches in those states causing some communities even far removed of

the affected areas to lose 40% of their expected tourism revenue in 1988 when the debris

scared tourist away from beaches across those states. The source of the debris was identified as

the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island, New York where garbage fell into the nearby Fresh Kills

estuary that carried it into New York Bay. New York City ultimately accepted responsibility the

clean-up effort and agreed to provide the estimated $10 to $15 million to remove the debris.15

The Syringe tide demonstrated that marine debris can affect communities far removed

from the source of the waste. This was further demonstrated by the so called “Friendly

Floatees” that fell off of a container ship in 1992. The Friendly Floatees are 29,000 bath toys

including yellow rubber ducks that fell off a container ship in the North Pacific when their

shipping container broke open in a storm. Some of the Floatees drifted through the world’s

oceans for over a decade before washing ashore in the Scotland in 2003, over 17,000 miles

from where they fell overboard.16 The path that the Floatees drifted actually gave

oceanographers new insight on the oceanic currents. Spills from container ships are actually

quite common as other incidents of shipping containers falling overboard occurred in 1990 and

1994 when shipments of Nike sneakers and hockey equipment spilled into the ocean and

ultimately washed ashore and also used to study ocean currents17

Current Situation

Currently, the situation regarding marine debris is improving with increased

environmental awareness; however, a lot of work still must be done to remedy the situation.

Around the world there are areas known as garbage patches have developed. These are not

areas where garbage has created a permanent station, but is rather a fluid and moving body

where marine debris seems to be concentrated from sea currents. Additionally, the trouble in

14

Sheavly, S. B., and K. M. Register. "Marine Debris & Plastics: Environmental Concerns, Sources, Impacts and

Solutions." Journal of Polymers and the Environment 15, no. 4 (November 28, 2007): 301-05. doi:10.1007/s10924-007-0074-3. 15

Narvaez, Alfonso A. "New York City to Pay Jersey Town $1 Million Over Shore Pollution." December 8, 1987.

Accessed December 30, 2016.http://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/08/nyregion/new-york-city-to-pay-jersey-town-1-million-over-shore-pollution.html 16

Clerkin, Ben. "Thousands of rubber ducks to land on British shores after 15 year journey." Daily Mail Online. June

27, 2007. Accessed December 30, 2016. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-464768/Thousands-rubber-ducks-land-British-shores-15-year-journey.html. 17

Walton, Marsha. "How sneakers, toys and hockey gear help ocean science." CNN. May 28, 2003. Accessed

December 30, 2016. http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/05/28/coolsc.oceansecrets/index.html.

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cleaning up these areas of concentrated garbage is that there isn’t a feasible option to clean up

the small pieces of plastic and transport it effectively, especially when the concentration of

marine debris isn’t in permanent locations. If small scale cleanup operations were enacted, they

run the risk of harming the ocean life that lives there at the same time. Therefore, the issue of

cleaning garbage patches is a delicate one.18

Since marine debris has serious impacts on shipping, commerce, and biodiversity, many

actions have been taken to combat the issue of marine debris. New Zealand is currently

implementing a plan that reduces marine debris from New Zealand shipping vessels that uses a

partnership between government agencies, non-government organizations, and the fishing

industry to implement strategies dedicated to targeting the issue of marine debris. South Korea

is currently using an educational kit to show fisherman how to reduce marine debris.19

The global community has also begun to acknowledge the importance of cleaning

marine debris. The 65th session of the UN General Assembly resolved that the issue of marine

debris needs to be solved rapidly and urged member states to adopt policies that were

centered around preventing, reducing, and controlling the pollution levels of the world’s

oceans. This resolution asked states to cooperate regionally and work together to effectively

combat what is indeed a global phenomenon. Additionally, the UN General Assembly endorsed

the Rio+20 Outcome Document, a huge step for establishing oceanographic wellbeing.20

The Rio +20 Outcome Document established the notion that the oceans are indeed in

trouble and asked that committed nations take action so that by the year 2025, there is a

significant decrease in marine debris. The document further acknowledged the importance of

local and national policies targeting the issue of waste reduction and urged nations work on

developing and enforcing these practices, especially in regards to plastic waste.

Currently, the largest legal framework addressing the issue of marine waste is UNCLOS,

which calls for the protection of the oceans from all forms of marine debris and waste.

Specifically, Article 207 asks that states pass legislation aimed at mitigating the issue of

pollution.

Analysis

Marine debris poses a great threat not only to marine ecosystems, but also many

coastal communities that rely on the ocean for food, tourism, and transportation. The 18

What We Know About: The “Garbage Patches”. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 19

Carswell, Ben, Kris McElwee, and Sarah Morison. "Technical Proceedings of the Fifth International Marine Debris

Conference." Accessed December 30, 2016. https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/5imdc_proceedings_final.pdf. 20

Impacts of Marine Debris on Biodiversity: Current Status and Potential Solutions. Secretariat of the Convention

on Biological Diversity, 2012. Accessed December 30, 2016. https://www.thegef.org/sites/default/files/publications/cbd-ts-67-en_0.pdf.

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environmental devastation that it brings endangers the survival of a diverse array of marine

species, through habitat destruction, entanglement, and the health issues associated with the

consumption of plastic and the potentially harmful substances that they leach into the

environment. This can have disastrous effects for communities that rely on the ocean for food

as toxic substances that accumulate in marine organisms can harm the people that consume

them, and the loss of marine life and biodiversity associated with marine debris reduces the

productivity of the waters that sustain them. Furthermore, debris can travel long distances and

wash ashore far from its point of origin. This is particularly problematic for coastal communities

with tourism based economies, as it makes beaches less desirable and scares off potential

visitors.

While there are many efforts currently underway to fight the problem of marine debris,

some methods used to remove debris can further harm marine life and contribute to the

environmental damage, and current measures aimed at fighting the production of marine

debris are largely ineffective and fail to address the fact that much of the debris originates on

land.

Conclusion

Marine debris is a pressing issue that has greatly increased in scope over the last half century. The international community must act swiftly and effectively to solve these issues, but it must do so in a way that does not further harm marine ecosystems. It must balance the needs of developing economies that rely on manufacturing with the needs of coastal communities whose economies that rely on the health of world’s oceans. This body must come together and act to create an effective solution to this issue that respects the needs of all of its members. Questions to Consider

What methods can be used to effectively clean garbage patches without harming

marine ecosystems?

Who will take responsibility for removing debris from international waters?

Since their waste contributes to the problem, but they see few of its negative effects,

how much should landlocked states contribute to cleanup efforts?

How will landlocked states be incentivized to reduce waste and contribute to cleanup

efforts?

What measures can be taken to reduce the amount of debris that originates on land?

How will the amount of industrial waste be reduced without hurting important

industries like manufacturing on which developing economies rely?

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II. Promoting the use of Sustainable Agriculture

Statement of the Issue

The last century has seen unprecedented population growth with global population rising from an estimated 1.6 billion people in 190021 to over 7 billion today, and conservative estimates predict that the global population will rise to 11.2 billion by 2100.22 This explosive growth was made possible by the Green Revolution, a series of innovations in agricultural technology that spread across the world in the middle of the 20th century and increased both the amount and yields of arable land. Some of these technologies include high yield crop strains, synthetic fertilizer, and improved irrigation systems. While these technologies provided nutrition to billions of people who otherwise would not be able to sustain themselves without the food they produce, these technologies also cause widespread environmental harm and even place the food security of those that rely on them at risk.

Norman Borlaug is considered the father of the Green Revolution for using selective breeding to develop a high yield variety of wheat for a Mexican project that allowed the country to go from importing half of its wheat in 1944 to being a net exporter of wheat two decades later.23 This development was so important that the citation on Borlaug’s Nobel prize read “More than any other person of this age, he helped provide bread for a hungry world.”24 Since then, many new varieties of high yield crops have been developed, and breakthroughs is genetic engineering allow for the development of new varieties of crops with increasingly specific traits. While these new variety of crops are not directly harmful to the environment, they incentivize practices that are.

The higher yields of these new crop varieties made them very attractive to farmers who were thus incentivized to grow them over other varieties. This created many monocultures, where farms grew only one type of plant because standardizing their farming practices further increased efficiency. Monocultures cause many issues that mostly stem from the fact that all the plants extremely genetically similar if not genetically identical. This makes them susceptible to the same diseases meaning one disease can spread quickly and wipe out an entire crop. The dangers of disease to monocultures and the people that rely on them was demonstrated in early 19th century Ireland when the island lost up to a quarter of its population through starvation, disease, and migration after a fungus devastated the variety of potato on which

21

"International Programs, World Population." US Census Bureau, Demographic Internet Staff. Accessed December

30, 2016. https://www.census.gov/population/international/data/worldpop/table_history.php. 22

"World Population Prospects - Population Division." United Nations. Accessed December 30, 2016.

https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/DataQuery/. 23

Muir, Patricia S. "A. HISTORY." 2014. Accessed December 30, 2016.

http://people.oregonstate.edu/~muirp/grrevhis.htm. 24

Folger, Tim, and Photographs By Craig Cutler. "The Next Green Revolution." National Geographic. Accessed

December 30, 2016. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/green-revolution/.

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most of the island’s poor relied for food.25 Development of these new crops also often sacrificed adaptability for yields. This is because these plants grow well under very specific conditions making them particularly vulnerable to extreme weather and changing weather patterns, two increasingly common phenomena caused by climate change.26 The use of synthetic fertilizer began in early 20th century with the invention of the Haber–Bosch process which reacts hydrogen produced from natural gas to create ammonia that is then processed into nitrates that can be used by plants. In addition to nitrogen fertilizers, potassium and phosphorus fertilizers are also widely used to replenish nutrients in soil that are depleted by intensive cultivation of crops at a pace where the nutrients cannot be naturally replenished. The overuse of synthetic fertilizers can lead to issues with water and soil quality caused by a buildup of these nutrients and other substances in them. Farmers add more nitrogen to the soil than their crops can use because nitrates are water soluble and wash away. This runoff accumulates in the world's lakes, rivers, and oceans where it can cause runaway growth of algae and cyanobacteria that has disastrous effects for those aquatic ecosystems.27 In addition to its harmful effects on water quality, overuse of fertilizers can also damage soil quality by changing its pH and depositing salts and toxic elements. This reduces natural nutrient availability, hurting long term yields. Lastly, the production of synthetic fertilizers releases greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide and methane, and excess fertilizer produces nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas almost 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.28 The green revolution also saw industrial irrigation technology spread across the world, bringing water to previously inarable land. Improvements in irrigation technology also allowed for the planting of new varieties of crops in areas that would otherwise be to arid for them. This extra farmland feeds millions of people, but its continued use is not sustainable these irrigation projects often draw water from natural sources at a higher rate than the water can naturally be replenished, an issue that is only exacerbated by changing weather patterns due to climate change. The most drastic example of this occurred in the Aral Sea which was once the 4th largest lake in the world until a Soviet irrigation project slowly drained it over the latter half of the 20th century until it was 10% of its original size.29 This have caused a wide range of socioeconomic issues for the region whose economy formerly relied on the lake’s fisheries.30 In

25

"Great Famine potato makes a comeback after 170 years." IrishCentral.com. March 03, 2013. Accessed

December 30, 2016. http://www.irishcentral.com/news/great-famine-potato-makes-a-comeback-after-170-years-194635321-237569191.

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"Biodiversity and Agriculture." Biodiversity and Agriculture | The Center for Health and the Global Environment.

Accessed December 30, 2016. http://www.chgeharvard.org/topic/biodiversity-and-agriculture. 27

Venkataraman, Bina. "Rapid Growth Found in Oxygen-Starved Ocean ‘Dead Zones’." The New York Times.

August 14, 2008. Accessed December 30, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/us/15oceans.html. 28

"Human Alteration of the Nitrogen Cycle." UNESDOC Database | United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization. April 2007. Accessed December 30, 2016. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001509/150916e.pdf. 29

Qobil, Rustam. "Waiting for the sea." BBC News. Accessed December 30, 2016.

http://www.bbc.com/news/resources/idt-a0c4856e-1019-4937-96fd-8714d70a48f7. 30

Thompson. "The Aral Sea Crisis." The Aral Sea Crisis. 2008. Accessed December 30, 2016.

http://www.columbia.edu/~tmt2120/impacts%20to%20life%20in%20the%20region.htm.

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addition to depleting water sources, irrigation can often bring a host of other environmental problems like reducing soil quality by depositing salt that is not washed away by normal water flow and raising the water table which itself can cause a diverse range of issues.

These are just a few of the environmental issues that industrial agriculture causes. For instance, growing demand for meat in the developing world has driven increased production and with it increased habitat destruction to make new land available for pastures and increased greenhouse gas emissions in the form of methane from livestock. Many other issues like this and the heavy use of pesticides and herbicides may be addressed. History

The modern sustainable agriculture movement began in the 1980’s, a time when financial stress on farmers which resulted in many leaving their farms. At this point in time, the term sustainable agriculture was being used often but was not yet well defined.31 Facing a terrible drought and a diminishing future due to global warming, farmers started looking to the future and increased their use of fertilizers.32 It was in the 1990, however, that sustainable agriculture took a leap when the United States introduced the Food Agriculture Conservation and Trade Act that defined sustainable agriculture and listed the long terms goals such as satisfying human fiber needs and enhancing natural resources on which the farming industry relies.33 In addition, throughout the 1990s the field of sustainable agriculture continued to grow as universities in in United States because establishing centers for research and offering courses in sustainable agriculture beginning with Iowa State University’s Graduate school offering degrees in the field in early 2000’s.34 However, the greatest leaps and improvements in sustainable agriculture have been seen in the 21st century. This is a direct result of a greater demand for farm products. Farm output in 2008 was 158% higher than what is was 60 years ago, and to match this growing need the farming industry has expanded its investments in sustainable agriculture by substantial amounts in the early years of the 21st Century.35

The United States took large steps towards ensuring the safety of its agricultural resources in 2009 when it passed the Food Security Act. The bill aimed to ensure that the country could provide emergency responses to food crises and promote food security, thereby

31

"Reflecting on the "early days" of sustainable agriculture research and education." World leading higher

education information and services. January 04, 2011. Accessed December 30, 2016. http://world.edu/reflecting-early-days-sustainable-agriculture-research-education/. 32

"Historical Timeline — 1980." Agriculture in the Classroom. 2014. Accessed December 30, 2016.

https://www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/1980.htm. 33

"USDA | Office of the Chief Economist | Sustainable Development | Definitions." USDA | Office of the Chief

Economist | Sustainable Development | Definitions. Accessed December 30, 2016. http://www.usda.gov/oce/sustainable/definitions.htm. 34

"Science & Environmental Health Network - The Networker: A Brief History of Sustainable Agriculture: Mar 04."

Science & Environmental Health Network - The Networker: A Brief History of Sustainable Agriculture: Mar 04. Accessed December 30, 2016. http://www.sehn.org/Volume_9-2.html. 35

"Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century." 2010. Accessed December 30, 2016.

http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/materials-based-on-reports/reports-in-brief/Systems-Ag-Report-Brief.pdf.

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putting a greater pressure on sustainable agriculture.36 In addition, the government pledged $3.5 billion in 2009 to undertake new approaches to nutrition security and global food security.37 Current Situation

The current situation of sustainable agriculture is a result of increased awareness and action in response to the problems facing the world on that issue. As many people have begun to realize, the current rate at which food is being produced and consumed is not sustainable since it is rapidly depleting resources. For instance, it is expected that the intake of animal product between the years of 2000 and 2050 will double, an event that would force farmers to make shifts in the way that animals are fed and grown.38 Problems such as this one have forced the sustainable agriculture movement, a movement that currently focuses on the environmental and economic dimensions of the solution. Agricultural practices have significant impacts on the water, air, energy and soil of a region and it is mismanagement of these resources that could have significant impacts on the environment. For instance, a majority of the energy used in agriculture comes from petroleum, a non-renewable resource, a practice that isn’t sustainable. Sustainable agriculture practices acknowledge the importance of those nonrenewable resources and the unviability of switching out completely. Sustainable agriculture suggests the combined use of renewable and non-renewable energy sources as to be environmentally conscious and economically feasible.

The popular sustainable agricultural practice of diversification involves farmers growing a variety of different crops as opposed to growing just one crop. While specializing in one crop has advantages in efficiency and management, it is far riskier economically for the farmer. If that crop were to fail, the farmer would be in a bad financial situation. By integrating multiple crops and different forms of livestock into a farm, the farm can decrease soil depletion, decrease the number of weeds and pathogens, increase soil fertility, and increase the security of the farm financially.39 In a similar fashion, the concept of sustainable agriculture implements solutions such as soil management, and animal management that acknowledge numerous aspects of the problem. Currently, significant progress is being made in this issue. Organizations, both public and private, have begun acknowledging the importance of sustainable agriculture. The OECD,

36

S. 384, 111th Cong., U.S. G.P.O. (2009) (enacted).

37

"Bill Analysis: The Global Food Security Act of 2016 (S. 1252)." Bread for the World. May 2016. Accessed

December 30, 2016. http://www.bread.org/sites/default/files/bill-analysis-global-food-security-2016.pdf. 38Giovannucci, Daniele, Sara Sara, Danielle Nierenberg, Charlotte Hebebrand, Julie Shapiro, Jeffrey Milder, and Keith Wheeler. "Food and Agriculture: The future of sustainability." United Nations. 2012. Accessed December 30, 2016. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/agriculture_and_food_the_future_of_sustainability_web.pdf. 39

"What is sustainable agriculture?" What is sustainable agriculture? - UC SAREP. Accessed December 30, 2016.

http://asi.ucdavis.edu/programs/sarep/about/what-is-sustainable-agriculture.

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UNCSD, and UNEP are organizations that are actively calling for a more sustainable agricultural practices. Multilateral organizations such as the IBD, IFAD, IFC, and the World Bank are considering sustainable agriculture much more seriously in their own agricultural portfolios. Companies such as Unilever, Kraft, and Mars are committing to more sustainable agricultural practices.40

Analysis

While the Green Revolution enabled an unprecedented population boom in the 20th

century, it’s innovations in agriculture have been disastrous for the environment. In addition,

the heavy use of petrochemicals in agriculture and the unchecked used of water for irrigation

mean that modern industrial agricultural practices cannot be sustained for much longer let

alone be relied on to provide food for an additional 4 billion people. However, traditional

methods of agriculture cannot sustain the current population, so these technologies cannot be

abandoned outright. The solutions to these issues must come from more careful management

of current resources and new innovative technologies that will not harm the environment. This

necessitates cooperation between nations to share technology and resources like water.

Additionally, work must be done to reverse some of the issues caused by these unsustainable

practices. Soil quality must be improved and water reserves must be replenished in many parts

of the world before these practices can be replaced, as those practices have reduced natural

productivity.

Conclusion

The population boom of the last century has not come without a cost. The innovations in

agriculture that sustained an additional 6 billion people have had disastrous consequences for

the environment. As a result, they also endanger the food security of those that they sustain.

Implementing solutions to these issues is not something that can be done overnight or

individually. Governments must be committed to long term cooperation in order to protect the

environment and growing population of the planet. It is the responsibility of this body to create

a plan to achieve this goal.

40Giovannucci, Daniele, Sara Sara, Danielle Nierenberg, Charlotte Hebebrand, Julie Shapiro, Jeffrey Milder, and Keith Wheeler. "Food and Agriculture: The future of sustainability." United Nations. 2012. Accessed December 30, 2016. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/agriculture_and_food_the_future_of_sustainability_web.pdf.

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Questions to Consider

What technologies can be used to replace currently used unsustainable agricultural practices?

How will damaged soil quality and shrinking lakes rivers and aquifers be improved?

How will developing economies that rely on agricultural exports be incentivized to adopt sustainable agricultural practices?

How will governments work with corporations to propagate sustainable methods of agriculture?

Who will manage shared resources like water that are necessary for agriculture?