Developing a Sustainable Agricultural System in the Context of Sustainable Development Goals and Demands in Germany

Abstract

Agriculture is one of the areas that is significantly contributing to deepening environmental problems and the environmental crisis itself. Therefore, the need to transform agriculture into a sustainable one is still very relevant. The international community has already confirmed this position, as well as the need to transform agricultural systems across the globe, by adopting the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By this, countries have committed themselves to active solutions at national levels in order to come as close as possible to achieving this ambition. The aim of this paper is to examine in particular the Goal 2 "Zero Hunger" and to look more closely at the commitments that countries in the global community have made. The main part of this paper is then to examine and analyse how these commitments to transform agriculture into a sustainable one have been reflected in the national policies of Germany as a country that is one of the most important agricultural countries in the world and thus potentially one of the biggest environmental harms in this context. Our study will present particular steps and actions taken by the country since 2015 and will assess how the 2030 Agenda's agricultural intent has been fulfilled so far by this country in the almost 7 years since the adoption of the SDGs.