QU DONGYU: AGRICULTURE IS A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTOR TO DEFORESTATION
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) has called for transformational change aimed at addressing food security, agriculture and forestry. "It is possible to reconcile food security, agriculture production and forest conservation," said Qu Dongyu, FAO director-general at a dialogue on "turning the tide on deforestation" on the margins of COP25. To this end, FAO is working with countries to coordinate land use approaches across sectors, ensuring integrated management of forests and agriculture so that both food security and forestry objectives are met. Dongyu pointed out that a number of countries have managed to reduce the number of undernourished people and improve agricultural productivity while maintaining or increasing their forest area. Agriculture is a significant contributor to deforestation (over 70%), and with rising population and food demands, forests are increasingly under pressure. To address this, Dongyu put forward sol...