NEIL D. HAMILTON is a professor of law and director of the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University. Contact: [log in to unmask] • December 16, 2009 On Monday afternoon, Dec. 14, three days of outside meetings in Copenhagen came to a head in an official COP 15 side event, "Beyond Copenhagen: Agriculture and Forestry are Part of the Solution." More than 400 people crowded the Niels Bohr room in Hall H at the Bella Center for a meeting organized by the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP). The main message was food security and climate change are inexorably linked, and any agreement coming out of Copenhagen that does not address the role of agriculture will not succeed. The meeting began with an opening statement by Ajay Vashee, from Zambia, president of IFAP, who urged the negotiating parties to include agriculture in the text of the agreement. His remarks were followed by representatives of the FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organzation), the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research), and by M.S. Swaminathan, the famous India plant breeder familiar to Iowans as a World Food Prize winner. The message from all the speakers was the same - food security, poverty reduction and climate change are interlinked - and agriculture and forestry play major roles in the climate change debate both in adaptation and in mitigation. Many speakers picked up a theme being forwarded on buttons handed out by African delegations: "No agriculture - no deal." Only time will tell if the negotiators are listening and agriculture is included in the final text. The link between climate change and food security was the theme of remarks U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack made as keynote speaker Saturday at the Agriculture and Rural Development Day. It took place at the University of Copenhagen College of Life Sciences and was organized by a consortium of international agricultural research organizations, aid donors and institutions promoting agriculture. The day brought together over 350 national representatives, farmers, government officials and academics to consider the impact of climate change on agriculture. Roundtable discussions were held on themes such as the triple challenge to agriculture of increasing food productivity, climate resilience and greenhouse gas mitigation, and on unlocking the potential of emission markets for small farmers. Vilsack gave an address and impressed the audience with his understanding of the impact climate change is having on agriculture - and the need to address climate change if we are serious about food security and poverty reduction. He spoke about what he refers to as the Borlaug principles to evaluate our efforts - scope, scale and impact - to ensure our efforts are designed to meet the magnitude of the challenges we face. The secretary, Christie Vilsack and his staff stayed to participate in several of the "idea marketplace" discussions that followed. ____________________________________________________________ Banking Click here to find the perfect banking opportunity! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/c?cp=bkenPSUk0S9qpzE2kMO9oQAAJ1CqhysHoqKPmxy1AMlPj2phAAYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAXeAAAAAA= - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp