The Sustainable Agriculture Transition: How to make the most of transformative technology
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It is not just that transformative technologies are new and effective; they also address structural challenges that have defied rural development efforts since industrialization began.
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The introduction of a low-cost decentralized energy source would bypass the prohibitive costs and infrastructure requirements of connecting remote areas to a regional electricity grid, improving rural communities' access to electricity.
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Their transformative power rests in their ability to revolutionize food production by raising productivity while improving sustainability.
This policy brief provides a concise overview of the key findings from a recent IISD report, which studied three technologies that could make a significant contribution to the transformation needed. The three technological innovations are: i) off-grid renewable energy systems, made affordable with the significant drop in the cost of solar photovoltaics; ii) the rapid and dramatic improvements in battery technology that has exponentially increased batteries’ usefulness as an energy source; and, iii) the evolution of information and communications technology resulting from the expansion of “big data.”
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IISD Trade and Sustainability Review, Volume 1, Issue 2, March 2021
This second edition of IISD's Trade and Sustainability Review features analytical pieces and commentaries that focus on a series of transitions in the realm of trade and sustainability development.