Systemic governance of sustainable agriculture: Implementing sustainable development goals and climate-friendly farming

Abstract

Globally ‘sustainable agriculture’ is increasingly recognized as central to addressing many of our pressing environmental and social issues with current efforts towards ‘sustainable agriculture’ being pursued by numerous global institutions. Johan Rockström’s impactful address ‘Beyond the Anthropocene’ to the World Economic Forum in early 2017 (Rockström, 2017) emphasized the need for humanity to remain in the Holocene for our modern human survival, highlighting ‘sustainable agriculture’ and ‘sustainable forestry’ as fundamental prerequisites to succeed in our transformation to sustainability through planetary stewardship. It is unclear, however, what exactly ‘sustainable agriculture’ is or who will deliver this important public good for humanity. This commentary highlights the significant challenges and collaborative opportunities for developing systemic approaches of governance of ‘sustainable agriculture’ at the farm, nation and international level that could deliver at least six of the Sustainable Development Goals.