- Quote: "Experts often describe sustainability as having three dimensions (or pillars): environmental, economic, and social..."
Environmental sustainability involves the study of how to manage agricultural systems in a way that is sustainable and does not harm the environment.
Soil Health: Understanding the physical, chemical and biological properties of soil and their importance for agriculture production.
Crop Management: Practices that are employed in agricultural production including irrigation, fertilization, pesticide management, and tillage methods.
Crop Rotation: Alternating the crops planted on a particular land to enhance soil fertility and prevent pest and disease buildup.
Conservation Tillage: Reducing the amount of soil disturbance to preserve soil structure, reduce erosion and greenhouse gas emissions, and conserve moisture.
Organic Agriculture: Farming without the use of synthetic chemicals or genetically modified organisms. This approach enhances soil quality, reduces air pollution, and conserves water and energy.
Agroforestry: The practice of growing trees and shrubs with crops or animals to create a sustainable system in which agriculture, forestry, and the environment coexist harmoniously.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM): An approach to pest control that minimizes the use of chemical pesticides and instead relies on biological, cultural, and physical tools for pest management.
Sustainable Land Management practices: Methods used to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, including sustainable farming practices, land-use planning, and conservation economics.
Greenhouses: Controlled environments used to optimize crop growth and increase production.
Climate Change Adaptation measures: Applying innovative techniques to overcome the challenges posed by ongoing climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Soil sustainability: This focuses on maintaining the long-term health and productivity of the soil. Practices such as crop rotation, organic farming, and reducing soil erosion are used to achieve this.
Water sustainability: This involves using water resources in a sustainable manner by minimizing waste and increasing efficiency in irrigation, as well as conserving water resources.
Biodiversity conservation: This aims to protect and enhance the biodiversity of ecosystems surrounding agricultural lands. This can be achieved by using practices such as agroforestry and sustainable grazing.
Climate change mitigation: This involves reducing carbon emissions and implementing practices that help to sequester carbon in the soil or the environment.
Food security: This focuses on providing a reliable supply of affordable and nutritious food for current and future generations while reducing the environmental impact of agriculture.
Agro-ecological sustainability: This involves implementing practices that promote the interaction between different elements of the ecosystem surrounding agriculture, such as crops, animals, and insects.
Economic sustainability: This ensures that agriculture remains profitable and viable in the long term, while also providing livelihoods for farmers and rural communities.
- Quote: "In everyday use, sustainability often focuses on countering major environmental problems, including climate change, loss of biodiversity, loss of ecosystem services, land degradation, and air and water pollution."
- Quote: "UNESCO distinguishes the two like this: 'Sustainability is often thought of as a long-term goal...while sustainable development refers to the many processes and pathways to achieve it.'"
- Quote: "The economic dimension of sustainability is controversial...there will always be tension between the ideas of 'welfare and prosperity for all' and environmental conservation."
- Quote: "Indicators consider environmental, social and economic domains...Currently, they include certification systems, types of corporate accounting, and types of index."
- Quote: "Some barriers arise from nature and its complexity...For example, they can result from the dominant institutional frameworks in countries."
- Quote: "These include maintaining ecosystem services, reducing food waste, promoting dietary shifts towards plant-based foods, reducing population growth, promoting new green technologies, and adopting renewable energy sources."
- Quote: "The United Nations agreed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. These set a global agenda for sustainable development, with a deadline of 2030."
- Quote: "This means using fewer resources per unit of output even while growing the economy...reducing the environmental impact of economic growth such as pollution."
- Quote: "Existing global organizations such as the UN and WTO are inefficient in enforcing current global regulations...lack of suitable sanctioning mechanisms."
- Quote: "Business groups have tried to integrate ecological concerns with economic activity...Religious leaders have stressed the need for caring for nature and environmental stability...Individuals can also live in a more sustainable way."
- Quote: "One criticism is that the concept is vague and only a buzzword."
- Quote: "Some experts have pointed out that 'no country is delivering what its citizens need without transgressing the biophysical planetary boundaries.'"
- Quote: "Experts often describe sustainability as having three dimensions (or pillars): environmental, economic, and social..."
- Quote: "In everyday use, sustainability often focuses on countering major environmental problems, including climate change, loss of biodiversity, loss of ecosystem services, land degradation, and air and water pollution."
- Quote: "UNESCO distinguishes the two like this: 'Sustainability is often thought of as a long-term goal...while sustainable development refers to the many processes and pathways to achieve it.'"
- Quote: "The economic dimension of sustainability is controversial...there will always be tension between the ideas of 'welfare and prosperity for all' and environmental conservation."
- Quote: "Indicators consider environmental, social and economic domains...Currently, they include certification systems, types of corporate accounting, and types of index."
- Quote: "Some barriers arise from nature and its complexity...For example, they can result from the dominant institutional frameworks in countries."
- Quote: "These include maintaining ecosystem services, reducing food waste, promoting dietary shifts towards plant-based foods, reducing population growth, promoting new green technologies, and adopting renewable energy sources."