Santiago de Chile, August 27 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Chilean state officials, along with other experts, opened Wednesday a seminar on sustainable agriculture and climate change, co-organized by the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

During its sixth edition, the seminar focused on fomenting a shift toward a sustainable agricultural model in order to address the challenges of climate change within the context of both the U.N.’s 2030 development agenda, set to be approved in September, as well as the debates around the 21st U.N. Conference on Climate Change (COP 21) that will take place in Paris in December.
        
The main objectives remain the eradication of hunger, malnutrition and chronic undernourishment, included in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals to be voted in September, said regional representative of the FAO Eve Crowley.

“Agriculture could work as well as a potential for mitigating [greenhouse] emissions, but in that purpose it is crucial to change the paradigm toward a sustainable model [of agriculture],” said Crowley.

According to CEPAL estimates, in the region, the farming sector is responsible for 28 percent of such emissions, while the constant change of land use and deforestation account for 21 percent.
 
This pattern could seriously affect food security in at least three areas of the region where poverty rates are high and communities are depend greatly on agriculture: Central America, Brazil's northeast, and part of the Andean areas, said the CEPAL joint executive secretary Antonio Prado.