From June 2-3, Stockholm+50, a crucial international environmental meeting anchored in the Decade of Action, will take place in Stockholm. The theme is “a healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our opportunity.”
The meeting will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Environment and will recognize the importance of multilateralism in tackling the Earth’s triple planetary crisis: climate, nature, pollution.
Fashion has a role to play in these areas to mitigate loss.
Nature-based solutions, which are the sustainable management and use of natural features and processes, can be used to tackle socio-environmental challenges.
Nature-based solutions involve conserving, restoring, or better managing ecosystems to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Examples include allowing forests to regrow, restoring coastal wetlands, and switching to restorative agricultural practices, such as cover crop rotation, that support healthy soils.
These ecosystems reduce climate change by capturing CO2 from the air and sequestering it in plants, soils, and sediments. They also provide a wide range of other important benefits, such as cleaner air and water, economic benefits, and increased biodiversity.
Broadly speaking, nature-based solutions fall into four categories: forestry practices, wetland-related practices, restorative agriculture, and ocean-based practices.
Here, we will elaborate upon restorative agriculture and how fashion can benefit from it.
Restorative agriculture ranges from practices that build soil carbon, such as no-till agriculture and cover crop rotation, to agroforestry and improved livestock management.
Take, for example, Nettle and mulberry. Both these plants are used in restorative or regenerative farming, which is a holistic approach to agriculture that focuses on the interconnection of farming systems and the ecological system as a whole.
When used as multi-crops, these plants, after mulching and with manure produced by livestock, can add valuable nutrients to the soil, reducing the need for fertilizers, and increasing soil organic matter.
Farmers can benefit from double yields while keeping soils healthy which capture large amounts of carbon and water and reduce the amount of polluted runoff.
This diversity is an essential component in building healthy soils that retain excess water and nutrients. It can help farmers obtain revenue from other sources and it’s beneficial to other wildlife and pollinators. Lastly, having living roots in the soil ensures that fields are never bare.
Nettle has been grown as a multi crop because of its mineral retention which gives other crops food and for its medicinal properties and stem fibers which are used to make the nettle fabric.
Nettles are commonly found in the Himalayas and known as the Himalayan nettle, and are harvested by local communities.
Land, where the colonies of the giant Himalayan stinging nettle grow, can slow down the water velocity while keeping the fertile soil from washing down the mountain and encourages forest protection and biodiversity.
The giant nettle’s bast fiber creates a luxurious fabric which is strong, soft, and resilient, and used to make scarves, shoes, and a variety of products.
Mulberry, another cover crop used in regenerative agriculture, is regarded as a unique plant on earth due to its positive impact in environmental safety. It relieves mother nature from all ecological disturbances and hence, it is appropriate to call it the most suitable plant in providing a sustainable environment for future generations.
Cultivation of mulberry plants is called Moriculture. When it is grown as a multi-crop, it is used as crop rotation, which helps farmers in interrupting pests’ reproductive cycles, reduces the need for pest control, and can reduce the need for added fertilizer.
Mulberry is used extensively in sericulture, which is an agro-based cottage industry involving interdependent rural, semi-urban and urban-based activities. It involves a large number of women participating and is helpful for improving the status of women in family enterprises. Alternatively, the silk industry benefits from the regenerative farming practices while providing us with the fabric we all love.
The concept of regenerative farming is not new and was practiced by indigenous communities centuries ago, long before industrial agriculture occurred. With commercial crops such as cotton depleting the world’s arable lands, it is important that fashion takes a stand with its future regenerative and deeply rooted in nature-based solutions by empowering local communities, providing alternative jobs, and working with the world’s natural systems instead of against them.
This is all for a healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our opportunity.
