Through Agroforestry, PRETATERRA Contributes to Most of the UN SDGs
Translated from Portuguese. Original published by PRETATERRA.
What are the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)?
In 2015, the United Nations (UN) published a plan of action to be put into practice over the next 15 years, made up of 17 goals to secure human rights, end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, achieve gender equality and act on climate change, in other words, moving toward a more sustainable world in every sense. This plan became known as the 2030 Agenda, and its goals as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Each SDG has a global objective and specific associated targets, which you can explore here.
How did agriculture become part of the problem if it's so important to everyone?
When we talk about the connection between people and the environment, we are talking about agriculture. The relationship between food and people, with the advance of different technologies, changed our behavior, from hunter-gatherers to farmers, and as a result we changed the landscape. Since the Green Revolution, with the large-scale mechanization of agriculture in monoculture and the narrowing of the crops we grow, we have arrived at what may be considered one of humanity's greatest challenges today: how can we restore our soils and springs and feed a growing population with diverse, highly nutritious food?
The solution is agroforestry!
Agroforestry systems, by their very logic, contribute to many of the UN SDGs. Agroforestry prevents erosion, silting and flooding (SDG 6), recharges groundwater (SDG 6), restores degraded soils (SDG 2), contributes to biodiversity by creating habitats and ecological corridors in the landscape (SDG 15), reduces the need for inputs (SDG 12), and sequesters and stores carbon at rates comparable to restoration (SDG 13), with the benefits of food production (SDGs 1, 2, 3). It can be applied in urban areas, for example marginal land and any available space (SDG 11). It brings economic (SDGs 1, 8 and 10) and climate (SDG 13) resilience to farmers through a diversity of crops producing at different times. It is compatible with gender equality and with young people and women taking part at every stage (SDG 5).
PRETATERRA contributes to even more SDGs
PRETATERRA Academy multiplies knowledge of biodiverse, resilient and replicable production systems, a new way of thinking about agriculture for everyone (SDGs 8, 10 and 13).
PRETATERRA works globally with farmers and communities, NGOs, foundations, associations, research institutes, commodity buyers, export companies, investment firms and financial funds (SDG 17).
Want to learn more about the agricultural paradox?
Watch our talk for SESC in the "Viralizando Conhecimento" series, recorded during the COVID pandemic at the end of 2020, where we discuss the topic further (in Portuguese).
