Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Ethical Perspectives on Land Use and Food Production

This book assesses the institutional, technical and market constraints as well as opportunities for smallholders, notably, emerging farmers in disadvantaged areas such as the former homelands of South Africa. Emerging farmers are previously disadvantaged black people who started or will start their business with the support of special government programs. Public support programs have been developed as part of the Black Economic Empowerment strategy of the South African government. These programs aim to improve the performance of emerging farmers. This requires, first and foremost, upgrading the emerging farmers skills by providing access to knowledge about agricultural and entrepreneurial practices. To become or to remain good farmers they also need access to suitable agricultural land and sufficient water for irrigation and for feeding their cattle. Finally, for emerging farmers to be engaged in viable farming operations, various factors need to be in place such as marketing and service institutions to give credit for agricultural inputs and investments; input markets for farm machinery, farm implements, fertilizers and quality seeds; and accessible output markets for their end products. This book develops a policy framework and potential institutional responses to unlock the relevant markets for smallholders. "Climate change is a major framing condition for sustainable development of agriculture and food. Global food production is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time it is among the sectors worst affected by climate change. This book brings together a multidisciplinary group of authors exploring the ethical dimensions of climate change and food. Conceptual clarifications provide a necessary basis for putting sustainable development into practice. Adaptation and mitigation demand altering both agricultural and consumption practices. Intensive vs. extensive production is reassessed with regard to animal welfare, efficiency and environmental implications. Property rights play an ever-increasing role, as do shifting land-use practices, agro-energy, biotechnology, food policy to green consumerism. And, last but not least, tools are suggested for teaching agricultural and food ethics. Notwithstanding the plurality of ethical analyses and their outcome, it becomes apparent that governance of agri-food is faced by new needs and new approaches of bringing in the value dimension much more explicitly. This book is intended to serve as a stimulating collection that will contribute to the debate and reflection on the sustainable future of agriculture and food production in the face of global change."