A/HRC/25/57 recommendations from the United Nations Environment Programme21 as well as other international agencies.22 17. Agroecology refers to a range of agronomic techniques, including intercropping, the recycling of manure and food scraps into fertilizers, and agroforestry, that reduce the use of external inputs and maximize resource efficiency. It is consistent with, and complementary to, genetic improvement, as done by the CGIAR (formerly known as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) research centres through marker-assisted breeding, and as done by generations of farmers cultivating landraces. There are strong environmental arguments in favour of agroecology. But agroecology also provides other social and health benefits. Diverse farming systems contribute to more diverse diets for the communities that produce their own food, thus improving nutrition.23 Because agroecology reduces the cost of farming by minimizing the use of expensive inputs, it improves the livelihoods of farming households, particularly the poorest households. And it supports rural development: because it is knowledge-intensive and generally more labour-intensive, it creates employment opportunities in rural areas. Though easier to implement on smallersized farms, agroecological techniques can be disseminated on a large scale, and should also inspire reforms in how large production units operate. B. Sustainable consumption 18. Far greater attention should also be paid to demand-side issues. Three priorities emerge in particular. A first priority is to mitigate the negative impacts of industrial livestock production by discouraging the increase in demand for meat where meat consumption has already reached levels that are more than sufficient to satisfy dietary needs. A range of options might be considered. They include rethinking taxes and subsidies to discourage the most polluting modes of production and to encourage the shift from ruminants to poultry for a more efficient conversion of cereals into meat protein; reducing methane emissions from enteric fermentation by increasing the level of starch or rapidly fermentable carbohydrates in animal feed, which reduces excess hydrogen and subsequent methane formation; or improving manure management and land management. But almost every study recognizes that solving the environmental problems caused by livestock farming will require reducing the demand for animal products.24 19. A second priority is to constrain the demand for liquid biofuels in the transport sector of high-income countries. Mandates for the consumption of biofuels in transport fuels in the United States of America and the European Union, and support to the production of biofuels in the form of subsidies, have significantly increased demand for agricultural commodities over the past 10 years.25 This has represented a major source of price volatility on agricultural markets and one of the most important factors explaining the global food price crisis of 2008,26 in part because these policies have strengthened the links 21 22 23 24 25 26 United Nations Environment Programme, The Environmental Food Crisis (Nairobi, 2009). FAO and Bioversity International, Sustainable agriculture and rural development policy brief 11, 2007. F.A.J. DeClerck and others, “Ecological approaches to human nutrition”, Food and Nutrition Bulletin, vol. 32, supplement 1 (2011), pp. 41S–50S. R.C. Ilea, “Intensive livestock farming: Global trends, increased environmental concerns, and ethical solutions”, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, vol. 22 (2009), p. 153. D. Zilberman and others, “The impact of biofuels on commodity food prices: assessment of findings”, American Journal of Agricultural Economics (2012), pp. 1–7. doi: 10.1093/ajae/aas037. R. Naylor and W. Falcon, “Food security in an era of economic volatility”, Population and Development Review, vol. 36 (2010), pp. 693–723. 9