climate smart agriculture
DESCRIPTION
There is a renewed interest in the role of agriculture at the climate change negotiations, as evidenced by a number of interesting side-events during COP 16 in Cancun. The reason is simple: Agriculture and related activities account for a third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, most of which can be mitigated, an opportunity that policy makers simply cannot afford to miss. What’s more, some of the techniques that sequester carbon have the added advantage of building the water-retention capacity and nutrient content of soils, hence contributing to a triple-win situation where mitigation, adaptation and yield increases are all addressed. In response to this, SIANI and Sida arranged a one-day workshop on the theme From Source to Sink: How to make Agriculture part of the Solution to Climate Change while contributing to Poverty Alleviation? The main purpose of the workshop was to link the multiple potentials of agriculture to other development goals such as over-all poverty alleviation and food security, with particular reference to the needs of smallholder farmers who make up 70% of the world’s poorest people.TRANSCRIPT
Climate-smart Agriculture
Peter Holmgren
FAO
Peter Holmgren, FAO
3 November 2009
Two Goals of Our Time
1. Achieving Food Security– 1 billion hungry
– Food production to increase 70% by 2050
– Adaptation to Climate Change critical
2. Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change– ”2 degree goal” requires major emission cuts
– Agriculture and Land use = 30% of emissions..
– ..and needs to be part of the solution
Climate Change and Food Security
Climate Change, Food and Security
Overlaps, Synergies and Trade-offs
National ->International
National ->Local
Climate
UNFCCC“Carbon”
Biodiversity
CBD“Species”
Food Security
WSFS“Calories”
+ Human rights,Health, Trade, Education, .....
LOCALREALITIES
GLOBAL OBJECTIVES
Action Can help Food Security
Can help meet CC Mitigation
Increase productivity (yields per area) under environmental and sustainability constraints
Yes (yes)
Reduce expansion of agriculture and sustainable forest management
Yes
Effective water use Yes (yes)
Reduce losses in / more efficient agricultural practises
Yes Yes
Reduce losses in food processing and handling
Yes Yes
Improve agricultural markets and incentives
Yes Yes
Carbon sequestration in vegetation and soil
(yes) Yes
But solutions also depend on
• Demographic changes
– population
– urbanization
• Economic growth
• Structural changes in agriculture
• Consumption patterns
Remember:
Climate change mitigation
will never be the main goal
for agriculture.
Climate-smart Agriculture
Agriculture that sustainably:
• increases productivity
• increases resilience (adaptation)
• reduces/removes GHGs
AND
• enhances achievement of national food security and development goals
Key messages 1: Practises
• Climate-smart practices exist
• Ecosystem approach at landscape level is crucial
• Investments are needed in
– filling data and knowledge gaps
– R&D of technologies, methodologies
– conservation and production of varieties and breeds
Key messages 2: Policies
• Smallholders need institutional and financial support for the transition
• Strengthened institutions for dissemination and coordination
• Consistency between agriculture, food security and climate change policies
Key messages 3: Finance
• Available financing, current and projected, are substantially insufficient
• Combining finance (public/private, climate change/food security) improves options
• Fast-track financing must take sector-specific considerations into account
On scope of agriculture mitigation
• It is not only about soils.
• Vegetation in agriculture landscapes has a very large potential
• Emission reductions per produced unit will be a major contribution
On MRV and Monitoring
• Often said to be an obstacle
• but, Don’t Worry!
• Some consolation:– No need to measure Carbon or
emissions everywhere
– Only at strategic levels do we need to monitor actual emissions
– At operational levels, focus will be on proxies that help implement policies
Links to REDD+
• Emissions from forests are largely caused by agriculture
• So REDD+ is largely to be achieved in the agriculture sector
• Which means that climate-smart agriculture should be included in REDD+ strategies and finance
FAO actions
• MICCA Programme
– Mitigation of Climate Change in Agriculture
– Knowledge – emissions, mitigation potentials
– Pilots of mitigation payments
• EX-ACT – incorporating climate impact in agriculture investment projects
• Adaptation Framework Programme
– Brings together adaptation in all FAO work areas
• UN-REDD Programme
Two Goals
Achieving Food Security
Avoiding Dangerous
Climate Change
We must reach both.
Peter Holmgren, FAO
3 November 2009