2021 Declaration of Urban Farmers in Response to Climate Crisis

Since declaring the 1st year of urban agriculture in 2012, the city of Seoul has promoted urban agriculture through policymaking with urban farmers. By hosting annual international conferences for the past 10 years, Seoul has cultivated a public platform where urban farmers around the world connect to share the diverse practices of urban agriculture.

Urban agriculture around the world fosters an ecological transformation of the city into a space where all lives thrive. By creating a sustainable food system, supporting cultural diversity, strengthening local economy, and improving the quality of welfare and living, urban agriculture contributes to resolving various social issues that are interconnected.

As urban farmers are dedicated to integrating agriculture in urban areas, we declare to take a lead in practicing solutions in response to the threats and catastrophes aggravated by climate crisis. We, as climate farmers who embody the wisdom of practicing a life based on mutual cooperation, call for an action to create a sustainable local food system for building a more inclusive and resilient city.

As the ambassador of urban agriculture, we urban farmers would commit to ethical management practices that align with followings:

• Make compost using discarded organic resources of the city to reduce the emission of methane and carbon dioxide.

• Sequester carbon by regenerating the soil destroyed from the use of the fossil fuel-based materials and pesticides.

• Transform the city into an ecological space through gardening with nature-based farming technologies that contribute to biodiversity.

• Create a sustainable local food system in response to the imminent food crisis from the climate crisis and realize food justice.

• Create educational opportunities for communities to learn and practice the lifestyle that mitigates the climate crisis.

• Create an open and public community garden where everyone including the socially marginalized can access, and together create a life where the community heals and thrives.

• Build a network of solidarity for climate justice through urban agriculture with other grassroots movements that work in response to the climate crisis.

We call on all governments to incorporate urban agriculture on an actionable policy level for planning a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable city that actively responds to the climate crisis. We request policies that strengthen the relations between rural and urban residents, protect people’s right to garden, foster and financially support grassroots movements for spreading urban agriculture.

We anticipate that converting public land use as community farms will take a strong root in the city, turning the city into a more ecological and transformative space to live. We support the solidarity amongst all urban farmers around the world in their proactive responses to the climate crisis. Let the global urban farmers work in solidarity to cultivate the city and the Earth into a more ecological friendly space.

Cultivate an edible landscape through urban agriculture !