UNEA: Technology V. Nature

New York Times - Keira Rodger

March 8, 2025, 4:28 pm

With water issues such as flooding, drought, and extreme weather conditions harming agricultural processes, solutions expanding on previous UN mandates such as Integrated Water Resources Management and Nature-based Solutions are being searched for. Human caused climate change has increased the likelihood of climate disasters occurring. With the human caused climate change causing food insecurity and reduced water security the UNEA committee met on Saturday ready to discuss water-related disaster resilience and climate-resilient agriculture.

During the moderated debate in the first session of the conference two polarising ideas went head to head, the use of AI and technology in farming, versus natural farming methods, a divide between technology and nature. While no country directly opposed these ideas, questions on implementing occurred; whether developing countries will have access to this technology, or if natural farming solutions require manual labour too extreme to feed the population. New Zealand advocated for developing countries, mentioning concern for their the voices being lost, proposing a resolution that will include aid and resources for

underdeveloped countries. The USA delegate critiqued the practicality of natural methods, stating how chemicals have always been used in farming and how natural farming “requires immense amounts of manual labour that is not feasible when feeding billions of people”.

Although Russia, China, and the USA described wanting to enhance sustainability and further research, backlash was heard from the UK, throwing accusations of an authoritarian government.

Questions were raised on Russia’s position, and whether the invasion of Ukraine lead them to be a trustworthy leader in matters of improving the land, agriculture, or helping underdeveloped countries. Russia fought back, mentioning how there can be no “one size fits all” policy in the situation of technology and farming. This enforced ideas such as supporting developing countries with technologies, aiding rural areas with high

tech farming at low costs and implementation of natural and technological solutions while furthering research.

A large moment in debate referenced the inclusion of developing countries. Many worried that voices of these countries would be lost in the larger blocks or ideas, without being prioritised. Without access to large technologies for agriculture due to a lack of research or tech, the worry was countries would be left behind in the fast paced technological advances. This led to countries such as Sierra Leone, Mali, Indonesia, and Angola working together to forward their beliefs. Although China offered development or development aid, for undeveloped countries, they decided to remain independent to forward certain

beliefs.

With the fight for research on new technologies and the development of current systems, what does the future of sustainable agriculture look like? Will the fight continue or will old technology prevail and leave

our climate to degenerate?