Systematic Review of Rooftop Agriculture in South and South East Asia: A Means to Achieve Urban Sustainability
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Date
2021
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Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka
Abstract
Humanity in the 21st century deliberately evolves them as urban species resulting pressing issue of
food security during a time where available fertile land is minimal. Rooftop gardens are gaining
relevance at such phase as they have the potential to meet the growing demand of nutritional needs in
cities and enhance the ecosystem services along with the social capital. Yet, there is no adequate
researches done and research literature available to understand how cities can achieve sustainability
via urban rooftop agriculture. Our primary intention was to do an in-depth analysis of how South
Asian and South East Asian countries have achieved urban sustainability through rooftop farming
interventions. Ergo, thirteen parameters were used to evaluate three bottom lines of sustainability.
Thirty papers were selected from the digital databases of Science Direct, Elsevier, and Academia
Education for this systematic review. Selected literature comprised of studies from Bangladesh, India
and Nepal representing South Asia and Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam representing South East
Asia. Regardless of region or country, findings revealed that the selected research literature supports
more environmentalism aspects signifying the reduction of carbon foot print followed by food
security cum self-reliance and climate change adaptation. Overall sustainability was best achieved by
India showing the highest achievement in all the above dimensions. Environmentalism accounted for
43% of overall rooftop sustainability providing a strong sense of environmental security for both
humans and the natural environment. Our in-depth analysis done at the regional level indicated that
South Asia is achieving much from rooftop agriculture to enhance food security and self-reliance
while South East Asia is concentrated on economic gain specifically focusing on extra cost saving
through rooftop agriculture practices. The way forward promoting rooftop farming in cities need
outreach programs, capacity development and policy interventions and nations must foster research
partnerships, collaborations and investments. Moreover, it is essential to have a productive
mechanism to disseminate the regional success stories and best practices among local urban
communities to transform their rooftops into more conducive communal spaces.
Keywords: Rooftop agriculture; South and South East Asia; Urban; Sustainability
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Keywords
Agriculture, Crop Production, Sustainability, Plantation