Climate Action 2012-2013

AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND WATER
farmers are women, who play a key role in
producing food and providing for the food and
nutrition needs of their household, especially
children. These poor small farmers, who rely
on good climatic conditions to produce food
and generate income, are the ones that will be
particularly hard hit by climate change.
Agriculture is part of the climate change
problem. As estimated by the World Bank, it
contributes more than one-third of global
GHG emissions, together with forestry and
land-use change. Agriculture is also part of
the solution, as it has a large potential for
adapting to and mitigating climate change,
thus contributing to the reduction of GHG
emissions. Agriculture’s mitigation potential
is cost-efficient and comparable to other
large sectors such as industry, energy, and
transport. The global mitigation potential of
agriculture is worth between US$32 billion
and US$420 billion, as indicated by IFPRI
research. Exploiting this potential fully is
increasingly important in order to create a low
carbon agricultural sector that contributes to
substantial reductions in hunger and poverty
levels while emitting less GHG and protecting
the environment. However, this potential must
be harnessed in a way that is pro-poor and that
benefits smallholder farmers and women.
A GREEN AND BETTER FED WORLD
While the shift to a Green Economy is a must,
it must not be achieved at the cost of food
and nutrition security. The goal of improving
food and nutrition security while protecting
the earth’s natural resource base will require
an approach that is not ‘business as usual’ but
‘business as unusual’. Such an approach has to
be smarter, more innovative, better focused, and
cost-effective. The approach must include the
following elements:
Low-carbon agriculture. Farmers, policymakers,
scientists and investors must develop
ways for agriculture to contribute to a low
carbon economy while helping to achieve food
security on a large scale and in a sustainable
manner. Low carbon agriculture initiatives
are already being implemented in different
parts of the developing and developed world.
However, new policy and expanded market
incentives are needed to encourage a significant
switch to low carbon agriculture. Technological
innovations that help measure, track, and map
GHG emissions must be developed to better
target and monitor the mitigation potential held
in agriculture. These innovations are necessary
steps towards making low carbon agriculture a
technologically and economically feasible option
to small farmers across the world. In addition
to developing GHG emission reductions
measurement tools, it is important to expand
GHG emission reductions markets to agriculture.
“New policy and expanded
market incentives are needed
to encourage a significant
switch to low carbon
agriculture.”
A new nexus approach. To integrate food and
nutrition security into sustainable development,
the silo approach is not acceptable any more.
Despite the fact that trade-offs between green
growth, environmental sustainability, and food
productivity exists, it is important to explore and
develop complementary solutions. Several
agricultural practices in Africa, such as
combinations of inorganic fertiliser, mulching,
and manure, offer triple-wins in terms of
productivity, smallholder incomes, and
sustainability. Technological innovations in the
agriculture, water, and energy sectors are critical
to increase productivity, provide adaptive buffers
against emerging challenges, and enhance the
nutritional value of food crops.
“Innovations in the agriculture,
water, and energy sectors are
critical.”
New measures to evaluate cross-sectoral
impacts. The full costs and benefits of natural
resource use in food production have not been
taken into consideration by stakeholders in
their decision-making. To send the right signals
to all actors along the food value chain, the
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