Promoting net-zero economy through climate-smart agriculture: transition towards sustainability: Fid-Bau Portal

Promoting net-zero economy through climate-smart agriculture: transition towards sustainability

Sarker, Md Nazirul Islam / Hossain, Babul / Shi, Guoqing / Firdaus, R. B. Radin

Climate smart agriculture (CSA) is a potential approach for promoting a net-zero economy. CSA is one of the key approaches that can provide a sufficient agri-food supply to feed a rapidly increasing population with minimum greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide. Net-zero is an intrinsic approach to tackling the adverse effects of climate change that ensures minimum GHG emissions and removes GHG from the atmosphere with maximum production in all possible sectors, including agriculture. As an important global issue, the relationship between CSA and a net-zero economy deserves further investigation. Therefore, this study explores the potential of CSA to promote a net-zero economy. A mixed method comprising a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guided systematic review of the most relevant document selection and a narrative review substantiated this argument. This study reveals that the key components of CSA (productivity, adaptation, and mitigation) can ensure emitting less GHG and capturing GHG from the atmosphere. They also argue that the transition from conventional practice-based agriculture to CSA increases economic returns. Land management practices, such as zero tillage, minimal tillage, crop residue decomposition, cover crops, and planting legumes, provide increased economic benefits. Although agroforestry generates comparatively low economic returns, it has the most significant potential for removing GHG from the atmosphere. CSA ensures sustainability in terms of economic benefits, social cohesiveness, and environmentally friendly practices by integrating climate resilience. These findings will be helpful in understanding practical approaches to address the challenges of creating an agricultural-based economy and taking the initiative for agricultural resilience.