Addressing Organic Agricultural Development in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in China

Abstract

Organic agricultural development is an adaptation strategy to climate change, is a concrete and promising option for new countryside construction or urban-rural integrated development and has additional potential as a mitigation strategy. Mitigation and adaptation based on organic agricultural development can build on well-established traditional Chinese peasant’s practice because organic agriculture is a sustainable livelihood strategy with thousands of years in use in China. The paper argues that subsidies for agricultural development may be justified by a mitigation or adaptation strategy. This paper therefore highlights some of the persistent challenges associated with sustainable organic agricultural development in China. We aim to explore how organic agricultural development can maintain sustainable rural development and thereby serve as mitigation and an adaptation option is a possible future transition towards a low-carbon economy