Climate Action 2016-2017

COUNTRY PERSPECTIVES
emissions by sources and removal by sinks
of greenhouse gases in the second half of
this century. Sinks certainly mean forests, but
soils also function as sinks. Soil is a major
carbon reservoir, holding more carbon than
is contained in the atmosphere and terrestrial
vegetation combined. According to the UN Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO, Status of the
World’s Soil Resources), erosion carries away
25–40 billion tonnes of topsoil each year. Erosion
causes huge losses in crop yields and the soil’s
ability to store and cycle carbon, nutrients, and
water. Cereal production losses due to erosion
have been estimated at 7.6 million tonnes each
year. If action is not taken to reduce erosion, a
reduction of more than 253 million tonnes in
cereal production is projected by 2050.
Agriculture can make a contribution to carbon
sequestration. Reducing erosion and increasing
soil carbon helps to mitigate climate change and
adapt to it, as well as improve productivity and
nutrient intake. The French 4 per 1000 initiative
(www.4p1000.org) focuses on soils and has a
target to increase soil carbon by 0.4 per cent
every year and, with that, to halt the annual
increase in CO 2
in the atmosphere. The aim of the
initiative is to demonstrate that agriculture, soils
in particular, can play a crucial role in mitigating
adverse agricultural impacts, and to engage
stakeholders in a transition towards a productive,
resilient agriculture based on soil management.
To inspire the discussions on the role of
agriculture post-Paris, the Nordic Working Group for
Global Climate Negotiations (NOAK, www.norden.
org/noak) has launched a project called Agriculture
Initiatives and COP22. The project will take stock of
regional and global initiatives related to agriculture
and climate change, place these initiatives in
the context of agriculture-related components in
the INDCs, evaluate the extent to which the most
promising initiatives could be further developed
and replicated, and suggest ways to address the
challenges in the implementation of these initiatives.
The project will also organise a Nordic event
and ministerial roundtable at COP22 to discuss
agriculture and climate change and to present initial
findings of the project.
Thus quite a lot of action is already being
taken, from the regional to global level. These
agricultural initiatives will have an important
impact when paving the way for agriculture in
upcoming climate negotiations.
FINNISH ACTIVITIES
In Finland both top-down and bottom-up
initiatives are running in the context of climate
action in agriculture:
Enhancing sustainability. The Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry published the Climate
Programme for Finnish Agriculture, Steps towards
Climate-Friendly Food, in 2014. The objective is to
enhance the sustainability and profitability of the
Finnish food system. A climate-friendly production
system is productive relative to the land area
and non-renewable energy use. It is resilient
and adaptive in changing climate conditions. It
is efficient, minimising the emissions relative to
a kilo of raw material produced. Climate-friendly
consumption means healthy, sustainable diets
and the avoidance of food loss and waste. The
Climate Programme for Finnish Agriculture serves
as an information bank for those who aim for a
more sustainable and productive food system.
The programme brings together the most recent
research information on the climate issues in
food production and consumption, from the
perspective of both adaptation and mitigation.
It presents concrete climate change adaptation
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