The IssueFood production will need to increase by at least 60 per cent over the next 35 years to provide food security for the 9 billion people expected to be living on the planet by 2050. The changing climate directly impacts food security and the supply of nutritious, ample and safe sources of reasonably priced food for the planet’s 7 billion people as well as their growing demands. The warming of the planet is already affecting yields of crucial crops . Moreover, approximately one-quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions come from land-use, making sustainable practices in agriculture critical.

Action PlanThe Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture www.fao.org/climate-smart-agriculture aims to enable 500 million farmers worldwide to practice climate-smart agriculture: increasing agricultural productivity and incomes, strengthening the resilience of food systems and farmers’ livelihoods and curbing the emission of greenhouse gases related to agriculture. The alliance is a voluntary coalition of a broad range of stakeholders: governments, food producers, farmers, scientists, civil society, multilateral organizations and the private sector.

Approximately one-quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions comefrom land-use

Action Area: AGRICULTURE

Rice fields, Viet Nam – UN Photo/ Kibae Park

For example, The New Partnership for Africa’s Development www.nepad.org has worked with a number of international and non-governmental organizations to create the Africa Climate-Smart Agriculture Alliance to help 25 million farmers become more resilient and food secure by 2025.

DeliverablesThe Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture expects at least 20 countries to join by the Summit and agree to promote climate-smart approaches by 2020. At least 20 companies and organizations also are expected to pledge to support climate-smart approaches to agriculture, food security and nutrition. Each partner is expected to announce new measures to enable agriculture systems to become more productive, resilient and reduce the intensity of emissions.

In addition to the launch of the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture, a series of complementary initiatives will also be presented that address:

• Adaptation and resilience of agricultural and food system livelihoods affected by a changing climate

• Adoption of practices that will reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and short-lived climate pollutants by agriculture and food systems

• Increased sourcing of commodities which are produced using climate-smart practices by large food companies

• Increased availability of insurance to compensate farmers for assets and production damaged through of extreme weather events, and more small farmers able to access insurance

• More effective, useful and accessible farmer-based research on options for climate-smart agriculture and food-systems practices

The United Nations Secretary-General has invited leaders from Government, business, finance and civil society to come to the Climate Summit on 23 September and make bold commitments to action in areas that are critical for keeping global temperature increases to less than two degrees Celsius.

Find out more at:

www.un.org/climatechange/summit

For more information on contributing to this Action Area contact:

David NabarroSpecial Representative of the UN Secretary General for Food Security and Nutrition

nabarro@un.org

Anthea WebbSeniorLiaisonOfficer(FoodSecurity), United Nations

anthea.webb@undp. org

Tracy RaczekUN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team

OfficeoftheAssistantSecretary-General for Strategic Planning

raczek@un.org