The scientific community sees “the need for a dramatic shift to ecological farming,” says an article on the website, Before It’s News, summarizing a recent Agroecology Symposium.

Current approaches to agriculture which are chemical-intensive, based heavily on fossil fuels and monocultures won’t provide the resilience needed in the global food system in the face of climate change, writes Monique Mikhail, Senior Political Advisor at Greenpeace USA.

“The tide appears to be changing with more and more international heavy-weights recognizing the need for an overhaul of our food system by focusing on ecological farming,” says Mikhail.

Organized by the Food Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) the symposium brought together scientists, policymakers, farmers and NGOs to discuss promising ecological farming solutions and how to scale them up. They called on FAO to support ecological farming as the central strategy for building resilience to climate change.

During the symposium, Greenpeace Africa presented research which shows how 2 ecological farming methods – increasing soil fertility with agroforestry and push-pull technology – can increase the incomes and resilience of small-scale farmers.

At the close of the symposium, Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General of FAO said Ban Ki-moon would be approached to launch a UN-wide program on agroecology as a central strategy for addressing climate change and building resilience.

Read the full story: Is FAO opening a window for ecological farming?

Find out more about Greenpeace Africa’s work: http://www.greenpeace.org/africa/financialbenefits/