A/70/287 development of local knowledge and expansion of irrigation and storage infrastructure will likely be critical in adapting food security to a changing climate. IX. Agroecology: an alternative to industrial agriculture 73. It is important that adaptation policies focus on ensuring the right to food for both present and future generations through sustainable agricultural practices. This implies moving away from industrialized agricultural practice s. Agroecology is an ecological approach that integrates agricultural development with relevant ecosystems. It focuses on maintaining productive agriculture that sustains yields and optimizes the use of local resources while minimizing the negative environ mental and socioeconomic impacts of modern technologies. 70 Recycling nutrients and energy rather than augmenting nutrients with external inputs, integrating crops and livestock and improving interactions and productivity throughout the agricultural system rather than focusing on individual species are also important components of agroecology. 71 It is a system that foregoes the use of synthetic inputs, such as synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, veterinary drugs, genetically modified seeds and breeds, preservatives, additives and irradiation. 72 Benefits of agroecology on soil quality, plant health and biodiversity 74. Small-scale farmers and agroecological practices play a central role in conserving crop diversity and developing varieties of plants that are adapted to a range of weather conditions, including droughts. During a drought in Guangxi, China, in 2010 when many of the modern crop varieties (hybrids) were destroyed, the better-adapted traditional varieties, such as drought- and wind-resistant maize, were able to survive. 73 When a hurricane in West Bengal, India, in 2009 turned large swathes of farmland into salt ponds, only traditional salt-tolerant varieties of rice, preserved by a handful of farmers, survived. 74 By returning to traditional varieties and planting different varieties, farmers have become more resilient to the impact of climate change and more independent from commercial seed breeders, and can avoid using expensive chemical inputs that are required for modern hybrid seeds. 75 Increased resilience of crops and farms 75. Locally developed crops have been shown to be extremely adaptable and robust because they have been bred over generations specifically to cope with __________________ 70 71 72 73 74 75 20/25 See http://nature.berkeley.edu/~miguel-alt/what_is_agroecology.html. Olivier De Schutter, “Commentary VI: Agroecology: a solution to the crises of food systems and climate change”, in Trade and Environment Review 2013: Wake up Before it is Too Late: Make Agriculture Truly Sustainable Now for Food Security in a Changing Climate (Geneva, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2013). See www.fao.org/organicag/oa-faq/oa-faq1/en/. Krystyna Swiderska and others, “The role of traditional knowledge and crop varieties in adaptation to climate change and food security in south-west China, Bolivian Andes and coastal Kenya”, paper prepared for the United Nations University-Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability workshop “Indigenous peoples, marginalized populations and climate cha nge: vulnerability, adaptation and traditional knowledge”, Mexico City, 19 -21 July 2011. Debal Deb, “Valuing folk crop varieties for agroecology and food security”, Independent Science News (26 October 2009). Krystyna Swiderska and others, “The role of traditional knowledge and crop varieties”. 15-10041