CGIAR: Let's move from rhetoric to solutions on agriculture and climate change

This week rings in the international community’s final dash toward a new development framework meant to encourage sustainable, equitable growth and the eradication of poverty and hunger around the globe.

It’s a make-or-break moment — also for those who are eager to broaden the conversation and shine a spotlight on the importance of agriculture to an interconnected web of global challenges, from food security and nutrition to the environment and public health.

Those linkages will be at the center of debate at CGIAR Development Dialogues, an all-day event on Sept. 25 in New York hosted by the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers to engage decision-makers and compel them to think more broadly about climate-smart agriculture. This conference is particularly timely after Tuesday’s U.N. Climate Summit focused to a large degree on energy, transportation and forestry even though agriculture accounts for as much as 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, and the impact of climate change is felt in our food system immediately.