Introduction
Any long-term change in temperature and weather of an area is known as climate change. The causes of climate changes may be natural or fabricated. In the beginning of 19th century rapid industrialization, take place, which besides other activities also affect the climate of an area. For instance, burning of coal, fossil fuels etc. can cause the climate change most probably by interrupting the air and change its composition. These sources i.e. burning of fossil fuels etc. can aid the green house effects, which ultimately change the climate.
The potential of climate change is measure in term of their negative effects on all forms of lives. The disruption of balance ecosystem, change in weather patterns, increase in temperature, extensive flooding, melting of glaciers, and increase in the eruption of volcanic are the key consequences of climate change. All the aforementioned effects can lead to the negatively effects the human and other animal’s lives, enhance the death ratio, increase non-communicable diseases, and create the emergence of health issues. Agriculture sector is also at high risk from climate changes due to temperature changes, flooding, irregular rainfall, and longer or shorter drought seasons. All these situations can lead to affect the foods that are produced in that particular area.
Agriculture is one
of the main sources of income in many countries around the globe. (In Pakistan
60% of the land is considered as agriculture land). They aid to the countries
assets and improve the quality of life of the residents. Proper and fresh foods
availability, verities of food items, and labour working etc. all are the
benefits of agriculture sector. But unfortunately, some negative aspects like
their contribution in climate change (production of different gases i.e. CO2,
CH4, NO2 etc.), acidification of rain, eutrophication,
residual of fertilizers, and waste of residual etc. are also associated with
this sector. These problems are more emerged currently due to the use of
advance agriculture techniques, which on one side enhance the productivity and
required less time but on the other hand produce poisonous gases, and disrupt
the ecosystem.
According to the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) for the Asia region declared that the
geographical location of a country a can also associated with the climate
change. Besides geographical location other factors like socioeconomic
development, rapid industrialization, and lack of proper resources also
contribute to the climate change.
Currently, the matter of climate change is of global
concern different international and national organization are working for the
prevention or to overcome the drastic effects of climate change, but there are
more to be done. Therefore, the present article aimed to describe various environmental
friendly methods that can help to reduce the climate change, but the demand of
agriculture substances is not affected.
Eco-friendly
system
The activities or products that cause
limited destruction in the environment and have a sustainable factor are referring
as eco-friendly substances or actions. The factor of
sustainability and presentation of the available resources for future
generation is the key property of eco-friendly and hence, it is separated from
the term environmental friendly. Eco-friendly system is crucial for balancing
of ecological, social, and economic value of any population. It also accounts
for waste reduction, renewable energy, and sustainability of the long-term
environmental factors.
Sustainability
and food system
Sustainability is a multidimensional
concern, to which our food systems also attribute. The nature of clean and safe
food is the basic right of any human and it is also our responsibility to save
the food for future. The food conservation in the environments and its safe
storage for future is the concern of global association and collaboration. Food
system is comprised of a chain of steps ranging from cultivation in the fields
to processes food on the table. As looking sample and linear chains, the food
system is considered a complex and multifactorial process that required time,
care, and patients. For any society it is necessary that there will be a steady
and sustainability in the food chain, but this may also vary from place to
place and also changes with time. Food chains indicate the overall status of an
area in term of field potential, the agriculture land, and the socioeconomic
status. Sustainable food can provide a healthy and fresh food for the
consumers.
Figure 1: Graphical illustration showing the
pillars of sustainability
Agricultural impact on environment and climate
Agriculture is the important part of our life which
helps to generate new crops and aid to the economic value of any country. Besides
the importance and crucial part in our daily life, the agriculture sector also
impact negative on our environment, mostly due to the operation and process
associated with agriculture. Rigorous agricultural processes can harm the
environment through fertilisation, irrigation, machinery and plant protection
chemicals. Similarly, the agriculture waste and animal manure on burning can
aid to the air pollution. Recently the impact of agriculture on climate change
is recognized and got full attention. Different parts and constituents of
agriculture can badly impact the climate. For instance, the soil ‘type,
irrigation, chemicals, etc. can badly impact our surrounding.
Importance of sustainable food
The aim of food is to remove the hunger
and vanished the poverty. The sustainable foods have both of these properties
with additional benefits of its safe nature to the environments. It also not affects
the biodiversity of the area and covers the all aspects of the foods. Sustainable
foods also help in the restoration of forest as they required less area for
cultivation. The increasing in multiple diseases also provide a way to use
sustainable foods as they provide more choices. The sustainable
foods
and agriculture must meet the required criteria for present and future
generation, while ensuring the environmental protection. The basics of food
security like access, availability, utilization and stability must be present
in a food which are claimed to be sustainable.
Examples of sustainable
foods
Different foods are used as sustainable
foods. Each food has its own importance that collectively helps to reduce their
environmental impact. Food with good nutritional values and improved health
like, cereals, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and olive oil etc. have the
least environmental effect. Some of the important sustainable foods are listed
below.
Mushroom
Mushrooms belong to saprophytes that can
help to decompose the remaining of an organism and obtained their energy. These
also live in different association with their host and generally no chemical or
pesticides etc. are used for their cultivation, and hence aid to the safe
nature of the environments.
Corn
corn is extensively used in feed industries and considered as a sustainable
food. Its demand is more in developing countries as they produce more feeds supplements.
Their industrial applications make them parallel with petroleum and its demand
is gradually increasing. Here, its importance is in term of environmental
protection. It is identified that organic corns can produce less carbon
footprint then non-organic. They also lack the production of pesticides and
widely distributed in different soils.
Conclusion
The agriculture sector contributes huge to the
socio-economic value of a country. Due to the current situations of climate
changes, which effect the agriculture sector a lot, is of issue of interest. Following
the green ways of agriculture by promoting the concept of sustainable foods,
can reduce the effects on the land. Various types of foods are grown which have
all the required properties of a foods, and also have the factor of
sustainability. Such foods required less area and give more products. In
conclusion, promoting the climate friendly or environmental friendly
agriculture not only help to reduce the burden of negative complications but also
help to give more products.
About the Author:
Abrar Hussain is a young research scholar in the filed of probiotic. Currently, he is pursuing his Ph.D. from ICCBS, University of Karachi. He has a mind of creativity and the concept of innovation. He presented his work in several national and international conferences and obtained a dozens of certificates.
Isha Arif
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