In this section, you may find new materials that have been published on the topic of ‘Climate Smart Agriculture’ since the date of the event. We continually select major new publications and articles that add up to the policy points discussed in the briefing.
Click here to read the latest CTA Brussels Office News on the topic of Climate Change
Scaling Up Climate-Smart Agriculture through the Africa Climate Business Plan
worldbank.org, 01/10/2018
Scaling up climate-smart agriculture in Africa is vital to ending hunger and boosting shared prosperity on the continent. The Africa Climate Business Plan (ACBP) launched at the twenty-first Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris is an important step toward addressing the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change. The ACBP calls for focused public and private sector investments to help African people and countries adapt to climate change and build up the continent’s resilience to climate shocks. The Plan includes a focus on climate-smart agriculture and supports the vision for accelerated agricultural transformation in support of the Malabo Declaration. See Less –
Institutional Perspectives of Climate-Smart Agriculture: A Systematic Literature Review
Totin, EdmondSegnon, Alcade CSchut, MarcAffognon, HippolyteZougmoré, Robert B.Rosenstock, ToddThornton, Philip K., June 2018
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is increasingly seen as a promising approach to feed the growing world population under climate change. The review explored how institutional perspectives are reflected in the CSA literature. In total, 137 publications were analyzed using institutional analysis framework, of which 55.5% make specific reference to institutional dimensions. While the CSA concept encompasses three pillars (productivity, adaptation, and mitigation), the literature has hardly addressed them in an integrated way. The development status of study sites also seems to influence which pillars are promoted. Mitigation was predominantly addressed in high-income countries, while productivity and adaptation were priorities for middle and low-income countries. Interest in institutional aspects has been gradual in the CSA literature. It has largely focused on knowledge infrastructure, market structure, and hard institutional aspects. There has been less attention to understand whether investments in physical infrastructure and actors’ interaction, or how historical, political, and social context may influence the uptake of CSA options. Rethinking the approach to promoting CSA technologies by integrating technology packages and institutional enabling factors can provide potential opportunities for effective scaling of CSA options.
Policy Support Gap for “Climate-Smart” Agriculture
ipsnews.net, 09/01/2018
Conditioned that ploughing is the sure way to produce crops, Zimbabwean farmer Handrixious Zvomarima surprised himself by trying a different method. He planted cowpea seeds directly without tilling the land. It worked. The new method tripled Zvomarima’s cowpea yield when many farmers did not harvest a crop following the El Nino-induced drought which affected more than 40 million people in Southern Africa. Some of the technologies that more farmers need include access to resilient seeds and livestock breeds, timely weather information and weather index insurance. Zvomarima from Shamva District, 120 km northwest of Harare, adopted the water-saving method known as ‘no till farming’. This is part of the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices and approaches developed and promoted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This model of climate-smart agriculture seeks to sustainably increase productivity and incomes while helping farmers adapt to and become more resilient to the effects of climate change. CSA practices also aim to reduce and remove agriculture’s greenhouse gases emissions, where possible. “Policymakers have a role to play in climate-smart agro-technological innovation; the researchers suggest traditional supply-side measures and equivalent demand-side measures (such as tax breaks) could reduce cost and increase return on investment for users,” said Dr. Federica Matteoli, project Manager at FAO Climate Change and Environment Division in Rome. She shared a case study of Italy’s embrace of CSA at the 4th Global Science Conference on Climate Smart Agriculture in Johannesburg, South Africa in November 2017. Matteoli said policies need to be compatible with CSA objectives and their ability to boost the development and adoption of CSA technological innovation.
Indigenous knowledge systems and climate change management in Africa
CTA, November 2017
Climate change presents a profound challenge to food security and sustainable development in Africa. Its negative impacts are likely to be greatest in the African region, which is already food insecure. In the face of global climate change and its emerging challenges and unknowns, it is essential that decision makers base policies on the best available knowledge. In recent years, the knowledge of local and indigenous people, often referred to as indigenous knowledge (IK) has been increasingly recognised as an important source of climate knowledge and adaptation strategies.
In Ghana’s cocoa industry, a strong push to make farms ‘climate-smart’
CIAT, Oct 9, 2017
A consortium involving the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the Rainforest Alliance, Root Capital, and the Sustainable Food Lab is gaining ground to ensure Ghana’s most important crop — cacao — survives, thrives, and even contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions despite climate change. The organizations are working to promote climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices for the country’s cocoa farmers. CSA is an approach that enables farmers to produce more while adapting to the changing climate and cutting down GHG emissions. The efforts in Ghana is part of the consortium’s broader goal to ensure CSA goes beyond pilot projects and achieves wider adoption. Climate change, according to projections, is due to dramatically alter the landscape of cocoa farming in the West African country — currently one of the world’s largest producers of the crop, which is the key ingredient in chocolate. Regions that produce a significant share of cocoa today, like Sunyani in the west of the country, are likely to become unsuitable for cocoa production by 2050 as a result of rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns.
RIASCO action plan for Southern Africa – Revised regional response plan for the El Niño-induced drought in Southern Africa December 2016 – April 2017
reliefweb, December 2016
El Niño conditions persisting during the 2015/16 planting season have caused the worst drought in 35 years in Southern Africa, resulting in a second consecutive failed harvest. This has created severe food shortages and compounded existing vulnerabilities. Since July 2016, Namibia and Botswana have declared national drought emergencies, in addition to the declarations made earlier by Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Madagascar issued a letter of solidarity with the SADC Appeal, and Mozambique has maintained a red alert in affected areas. Southern Africa is now entering the peak of the crisis. Subsistence farmers’ meagre April 2016 harvest had largely been depleted by October. The next harvest is five months away in March/April 2017. Almost 513,000 children need treatment for severe acute malnutrition, 780,000 children for moderate acute malnutrition, and more than 3 million children still have reduced access to safe drinking water as a direct result of the drought. People targeted for humanitarian assistance will increase from 12.3 to 13.8 million during the January to April 2017 peak of the lean season, mainly due to rising needs in Malawi, Madagascar and Zimbabwe. Even with the generous funds received to date, many countries are facing a growing gap between needs and assistance levels.
Climate Change, A Goat Farmer’s Gain
ipsnews.net, 15/11/2016
Bongekile Ndimande’s family lost more 30 head of cattle to a ravaging drought last season, but a herd of goats survived and is now her bank on four legs. In money value, the drought deprived Ndimande of more than 21,000 dollars. Each goat would be worth an average of 714 dollars if they had survived in the dry, hot and rocky environment in her village of Ncunjana in the KwaZulu Natal Province, which has been stalked by a drought that swept across Southern Africa. More than 40 million people are in need of food following one of the worst droughts ever in the region, with the Southern African Development Community launching a 2.8-billion-dollar emergency aid appeal. Smallholder farmers in South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal Province have shifted to goat production to adapt to climate change. Their fortitude could be a success story for African agriculture in need of transformation to produce more food to feed more people but with fewer resources. Livestockfarmers like Ndimande are making good of a bad situation. They need help to cope with worsening extreme weather events which have led to increased food, nutrition and income security in many parts of Africa. Adapting agriculture to climate change and climate financing are pressing issues at the seminal 22nd meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP 22) which opened this week in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh. Morocco – already setting the pace in implementing the global deal to fight climate change through innovative projects – has unveiled the Adaptation of African Agriculture (AAA), a 30-billion-dollar initiative to transform and adapt African agriculture.
Why ‘climate-smart’ agric matters
newtimes.co.rw, November 2016
Agriculture sector accounts for more than half of total employment in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and over 70 per cent in East African Community (EAC), according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). In addition, agriculture accounts for about 32 per cent of the Community’s combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $146 billion as per EAC statistics for 2016. But experts have warned that climate change effects are threatening the sector, which they consider a backbone of the continent and region’s economy. Barrack Okoba, a ‘climate-smart’ agriculture expert at FAO, Kenya said climate change is here with us and it is a reality. “Be it in Rwanda, be it in Djibouti, be it in Kenya, Uganda, smallholder farmers are facing the threats and, therefore, our report is just a declaration that countries need to invest and invest in a smart way so that we can protect the smallholder farmers,” Okaba said.
Climate Smart Agriculture key to poverty reduction in Malawi- NASFAM
maravipost.com, November 2016
National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM) says climate smart agriculture could become Malawi’s key avenue to poverty reduction and food security only if new climate related science and technology are adopted by small farmers in the sector. Speaking during the 20th NASFAM Annual General Assembly Meeting titled: ‘Climate Smart Agriculture-smallholder farmers opportunities and constraints in scaling up’ on Thursday in Lilongwe, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development George Chaponda said advances in climate change science and technology that have taken place worldwide offer Malawi more opportunities and new better tools needed to promote its agriculture productivity. He therefore, recommended NASFAM for opting to embrace climate smart agriculture as a boarder strategic way of dealing with climate change challenges in Malawi. Chaponda then assured Malawians to continue engaging farmers in bid to fighting food insecurity, hunger malnutrition and at the same time to ending poverty in the country.
Agriculture must adopt climate-smart practices to better help poverty reduction – UN report
United Nations, October 2016
The rapid transformation of farming and food systems to cope with a warmer world, such as adopting climate-smart practices, particularly to curb greenhouse gas emissions, is critical for hunger and poverty reduction, the United Nations agriculture agency said today in a new report. “There is no doubt climate change affects food security,” said the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), José Graziano da Silva, as he presented The State of Food and Agriculture 2016 report at the agency’s headquarters in Rome. “What climate change does is to bring back uncertainties from the time we were all hunter gatherers. We cannot assure any more that we will have the harvest we have planted,” he added. That uncertainty also translates into volatile food prices, he noted. “Everybody is paying for that, not only those suffering from droughts,” Mr. Graziano da Silva said.
Urgent need to transform key food producing regions in Africa by 2025
phys.org, March 2016
Agriculture in parts of sub-Saharan Africa must undergo significant transformation if it is to continue to produce key food crops, according to a new study published today in Nature Climate Change. The study shows that maize, beans and bananas are most at risk from climate change. The research is the first to allocate timeframes for changes in policy and practice in order to maintain production levels and avoid placing food security and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers at risk. Study lead author Dr Julian Ramirez-Villegas from the University of Leeds, who is working with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), said: “This study tells where, and crucially when, interventions need to be made to stop climate change destroying vital food supplies in Africa. “We know what needs to be done, and for the first time, we now have deadlines for taking action.” The study examines region-by-region the likely effect of different climate change scenarios on nine crops that constitute 50% of food production in sub-Saharan Africa. While six of the nine crops studied are expected to remain stable under moderate and extreme climate change scenarios, up to 30% of areas growing maize and bananas, and up to 60% of those producing beans are projected to become unviable by the end of the century. In some areas transformations will need to take place as soon as 2025. Transformation could mean changing the type of crop grown in the area in question, improving irrigation systems, or in extreme circumstances, moving away from agriculture altogether.
Farmers should drive climate-proofing, report finds
scidev.net, 28/10/2015
According to the new Montpellier Panel report ‘The Farms of Change: African Smallholders Responding to an Uncertain Climate Future’, African smallholder farmers should be given financial, technical and political support to help climate-proof their food production. It also recognises that while Africa does have a significant amount of bottom-up community led initiatives, farmers still need more financial resources and support. Smallholder farmers can adapt to climate challenges through scaling –up existing initiatives and improving research to better target the inter-linked challenges of food insecurity. Ramadjita Tabo, one of the study’s authors and head of the West and Central African hub of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in Niamey, Niger said, “Change will come from the bottom up as local people take action for themselves”. With rising temperatures, by up to six degrees and shrinking crop yields, extreme weather is expected to impact between 2 and 7 % of the continent’s GDP , according to UN FAO research.
Report: Climate-Smart landscape in Africa
eldis, 24-09-2015
This report documents and analyses the current and future perspectives of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) for five major sectors in West Africa. It explores the specific features of the scientific, institutional, policy and funding CSA landscape, providing relevant information that could guide the definition of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Framework for CSA Intervention, Funding, Monitoring and Evaluation. The sectors covered are crop production, livestock, fisheries, forestry/agroforestry, and water. For each sector, a particular emphasis is given to the current status, the climate projections and likely socio- economic and environmental impacts expected, the bottlenecks to action and suggested next steps for adaptation and mitigation.
Ensuring Transparency & Accountability in the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture in COP21
iddri.org, 15-07-2015
This policy brief explores whether the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture (GASCA/the Alliance0 could be a credible candidate for the Lima Paris Action Agenda (LPAA) and identifies recommends three areas where progress may be made: (i) GACSA can be a platform to share knowledge and experience in relation to climate induced changes in food systems;(ii) in order to fulfil such a role, the policy brief suggests that GACSA should be endowed with accountability mechanisms e.g. monitoring system; (iii) The Alliance should therefore also respond to concerns by civil society organisations.
– New publication: Climate change and agriculture
quae.com, 2015
In March 2015, over 700 individuals including 600 researchers and 150 stakeholders and policy makers from 75 countries and 5 continents gathered together to discuss the role of Climate-Smart Agriculture to address food security and the environment. The main recommendations include: I) Agriculture in the future must address the challenges of sustainable food systems and landscapes; II) Researchers and practitioners must engage to build evidence and design the trajectories for multiple transformative transitions of climate-smart agriculture; III) The future relies upon policy, institutional and financing decisions.
– CAFS Reports on Advances in Climate-Smart Agriculture
ccafs.cgiar.org, 07 May 2015
The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has published its 2014 annual report, titled ‘Climate-smart agriculture: Acting locally, informing globally,’ on advancing the concept and practice of climate-smart agriculture in farmers’ fields and global initiatives, as well as through collaboration with farmers, civil society, governments and researchers. The report consists of five main sections on: impact through policies and partnerships; capacity to deliver impact; breakthrough science and innovation; communications for development; and gender and social inequality.
– Agricultural biotechnology for climate change mitigation and adaptation
ICTSD, 13 April 2015
Can biotechnology help respond to and deal with climate change and other agricultural development issues?
Climate implications for agriculture are clear, direct, and significant. Likewise agriculture has important implications for global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Fossil fuel for farm inputs and equipment, animal agriculture, land clearing and preparation are significant contributors to GHG emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has reported that farming is responsible for over a quarter of total global greenhouse gas emissions. By contrast, the share of farming in global gross domestic product (GDP) is about four percent, indicating that agriculture is highly GHG intensive. Important interlinkages between agriculture and climate have broadened the policy agenda for both. The climate change agenda includes farming as simultaneously vulnerable to climate change, a worrying source of GHG emissions, and – through adjustment in production practices – a potentially potent source of mitigation.
What role can innovative agricultural practices and technologies play in GHG mitigation and adaptation to climate change? What policy and institutional changes would encourage the innovation and diffusion of these practices and technologies to developing countries? We address these questions in a research paperand subsequent article published in science journal Food Policy in 2012 on which this article is based.
– Policy Support Guidelines for the Promotion of Sustainable Production Intensification and Ecosystem Services.
FAO, 2013
Global food demand is steadily growing, due to increasing world population (currently ~1.1 percent per year and decreasing towards zero), and changes of food habits due to urbanization and per capita economic growth. With current dominant production systems it is proving difficult to increase agricultural production sustainably to meet demand, and this in a sustainable way. Additional challenges are posed in some regions with a limited agricultural potential, due to climatic conditions.
– CCAFS Explores Climate Change Financing Opportunities for Smallholders
IISD, 24 January 2014
Recognizing the constraints faced by smallholder farmers to invest in long-term sustainable land use practices, the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Program (CCAFS) has announced a working paper on financing sustainable agriculture and mitigation.
– From Assessment to Implementation: Approaches for Adaptation Options Analysis
Eldis Communities, January 2013
As adaptation to climate change takes a central role in development policy and practice, a great deal of attention has been placed on documenting vulnerability and risk of impacts. However, there is limited experience in linking these vulnerability assessments to the identification and selection of options for climate change adaptation activities. This paper presents principles that should be at the center of adaptation options analysis, along with tools that will introduce rigor into the selection process.
– Methods for Economic Analysis of Climate change Adaptation Interventions
Eldis Communities, January 2013
This paper describes best practices for how and when to carry out economic evaluations of proposed climate change adaptation activities, which focus primarily on cost-benefit analysis (CBA). It is organized around the steps in estimating first the benefits of adaptation and then the costs involved. Because the benefits of adaptation are generally expressed in terms of prevented harm, we begin with the complex steps involved in estimating the harm caused by climate change, and then discuss how these estimates are integrated into a CBA and compared with costs.
– Stakeholder Participation in Climate Change Adaptation Planning
Eldis Communities, January 2013
Stakeholder participation increasingly is a key element in modern public administration and decision-making. While a number of authors have highlighted the importance of participation in decisions for climate change adaptation (hereafter “adaptation”), practical guidance on how to integrate stakeholder participation into new and emerging practices is still lacking. This paper attempts to outline considerations for fully integrating participation into adaptation decision making processes. It aims to assist developing country officials, project developers, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) mission staff, and other development practitioners who might need to design participation processes for adaptation initiatives.
– Climate Change Programme in Eastern and Southern Africa Strengthens Capacity, Builds Resilience
IISD, 4 February 2014
The COMESA-EAC-SADC (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, East African Community, and the South African Development Community) Tripartite Programme Management Units of the Programme on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in Eastern and Southern Africa met to finalize its 2014 work plans and budgets and review progress for the last half of 2013.
– Pacific forges ahead on joint disaster-climate strategy
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, 21 January 2014
United Nations agencies have joined together to contribute towards the development a new Strategy for Disaster and Climate Resilient Development in the Pacific (SRDP). As a core partner of the Technical Working Group for the new Strategy along with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) hosted and engaged expert representatives from UNDP, UNICEF, WHO and UN Women amongst others, to join in an interactive engagement workshop on 20 January 2014.
– Climate-induced migration creates perils, possibilities
Irin News, 20 January 2014
For Pacific islands like Palau, Tuvalu and Kiribati, the implications of climate change are clear – and devastating. Already, these governments have begun to plan for a future in which entire populations have to relocate as their islands vanish under the rising sea. But climate change also threatens ways of life in subtler ways, leaving families around the world to work out for themselves how to cope.
– FAO Compiles Experiences on Adaptation in Fisheries and Aquaculture Sectors
The Food and Agriculture Organization, January 2014
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has assembled descriptions of 26 current or recent fisheries and aquaculture programmes that have addressed climate change adaptation in developing countries. The report, titled ‘Climate Change Adaptation in Fisheries and Aquaculture,’ provides an overview of pathways through which climate change impacts fisheries and food security, placing these in context with the range of risks facing global marine and freshwater fisheries.
– Monitoring Climate-Smart Agriculture’s Triple Wins: The Power of Knowledge Sharing
World Bank, 8 January 2014
An innovative carbon accounting methodology – Sustainable Agriculture Land Management (SALM) – was approved by the Voluntary Carbon Standards (VCS) and validated in Kenya. SALM allows smallholder farmers in developing countries to benefit directly from the carbon market. Here’s how a new e-learning course is helping share this knowledge across all the regions. The World Bank Institute’s Climate Change Practice (WBICC) and the World Bank’s Bio Carbon Fund (BioCF) jointly developed an e-learning course on Sustainable Agriculture Land Management (SALM): Soil Carbon Accounting and Monitoring.
– Managing the boom and bust: Supporting climate resilient livelihoods in the Sahel
International Institute for Environment and Development, November 2013
In contrast to the usual depictions of the Sahel as condemned to irreversible land degradation and frequent food crises, this paper from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) presents the region as one of considerable opportunity. By focusing on the potential of the Sahel’s dryland ecosystem and existing crop and livestock production methods, the paper reveals a region of abundant resources that have been leveraged to create thriving local and national economies. The paper seeks to highlight the region’s inherent resilience and reshape the discourse around development interventions.
– Climate change and adaptation: the case of Nigerian agriculture
Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), May 2013
The paper offers an economic assessment of climate change impacts on the four major crop families characterizing Nigerian agriculture, covering more than 80 per cent of agricultural value added. (…) Climate change turns to be unambiguously negative for Nigeria in the medium term with production losses, increase in crop prices, higher food dependency on foreign imports and GDP losses in all the simulations after 2025. In a second part of the paper a cost effectiveness analysis of adaptation in Nigeria agriculture is conducted. Adaptation practices considered are a mix of cheaper ‘soft measures’ and more costly ‘hard’ irrigation expansion. The main result is that cost effectiveness of the whole package crucially depends on the possibility to implement adaptation exploiting low cost opportunities. In this case all climate change damages can be offset with a bene?t cost ration larger than one in all the climate regimes. Expensive irrigation expansion should however be applied on a much more limited acreage compared with soft measures. If adaptation costs are those of the high end estimates, full adaptation ceases to be cost/effective. This points out the need of a careful planning and implementation of adaptation, irrespectively on the type, looking for measures apt to control its unit cost.
– 5 Areas for Action to Set the Green Climate Fund on an Ambitious Path
Insights WRI, 6 October 2013
Expectations are running high as the Board of the Green Climate Fund prepares for its fifth meeting in Paris this week. As the scale of the global climate change challenge becomes increasingly apparent, the GCF is expected to play a pivotal role in moving money quickly and smartly to help countries transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient development pathways.
– Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience
World Bank, June 2013
In the report Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience, launched in June 2013, scientists look at the likely impacts on three vulnerable regions if the world continues on its current trajectory and warms by 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times by mid-century and continues to become 4°C warmer by 2100.
– ‘Grassroots action’ in livestock feeding to help curb global climate change
CGIAR, 1 March 2012
In a series of papers to be presented next week, scientists in the Livestock and Fish research program offer new evidence that a potent chemical mechanism operating in the roots of a tropical grass used for livestock feed has enormous potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Referred to as “biological nitrification inhibition” or BNI, the mechanism markedly reduces the conversion of nitrogen applied to soil as fertilizer into nitrous oxide, according to papers prepared for the 22nd International Grasslands Congress. Nitrous oxide is the most powerful and aggressive greenhouse gas, with a global warming potential 300 times that of carbon dioxide.
“Nitrous oxide makes up about 38 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, which accounts for almost a third of total emissions worldwide,” said Michael Peters, who leads research on forages at the Colombia-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), a member of the CGIAR Consortium. “BNI offers what could be agriculture’s best bet for keeping global climate change within manageable limits.”
Scientists at CIAT and the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) have researched BNI collaboratively for the last 15 years.
– DFID, ACU and AAS Launch Climate Impacts Research Capacity Building Programme in Africa
African Academy of Sciences (AAS), 11 September 2013
The Department for International Development (DFID) has approved a 5-year climate impact research capacity building programme for sub-Saharan Africa called “Climate Impacts Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement (CIRCLE)”. CIRCLE will cost £4.85 million and will strengthen institutional research in addition to providing 100 research fellowships from 2013 – 2018. The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) will be implementing this project.
– Developing a methodology to evaluate climate-services for farmers
CCAFS/CGIAR, 15 August 2013
A workshop held in May aimed to create a monitoring and evaluation methodology related to climate-information services for small-scale farmers. This blog showcases some of the meeting highlights and presents the finalized Workshop report.
– Caribbean region needs a tsunami warning centre
Scidev.net, 29 August 2013
Caribbean countries urgently need a regional tsunami warning centre to protect their densely populated coastlines, according to an article in Science today.
– ICARDA Annual Report Stresses Innovations on Climate Resilience
ICARDA, 29 August 2013
The 2012 Annual Report of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) notes that despite significant challenges due to the on-going conflict in Syria, the Center has made significant achievements in translating research into action and policy impact, highlighting its leadership in the high-level international conference on Food Security in the Dry Lands, as well as enhanced partnerships with Canada and South Asia.
– CCCCC Launches Online Climate Risk Management Tool for the Caribbean
Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), 19 July 2013
The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) launched an online tool for assisting Caribbean decision makers in assessing climate risks as part of their efforts to build climate resilience into their development policies, plans, programmes and projects.
– WMO, IFRC to Collaborate on Reducing Risks of Climate-related Hazards
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 3rd July 2013
Responding to concerns over the increasing frequency, severity and cost of disasters related to extreme weather and climate events, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to strengthen their collaboration on reducing the risks of climate-related hazards.
– IISD, IDS Present a User-Oriented Analysis of Climate Knowledge Brokering Platforms
The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), July 2013
The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the Climate & Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) have released a paper that examines the current state of alignment between climate knowledge brokering (CKB) platforms and the information-seeking and knowledge-sharing behavior of users of online climate change information.
The paper, titled ‘Understanding needs, meeting demands: A user-oriented analysis of online knowledge brokering platforms for climate change and development,’ authored by Anne Hammill, Blane Harvey and Daniella Echeverria, reviews the case for knowledge brokering and how brokering activities are put into practice online for climate change and development.
– GEF Approves US$33 Million Grants for Climate Change Adaptation in Africa
African Development Bank Group, 2nd July 2013
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council recently approved several grants for promoting adaptation to climate change in Cameroon, Djibouti, Kenya, Angola and Madagascar. These grants will be channelled through the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The grants to be implemented by the AfDB will come from different funds. The Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) will provide funding for the Rural Livelihoods’ Adaptation to Climate Change Program in Djibouti and Kenya, with the objective of contributing to developing strategies for pastoralists’ resilience to climate change.
– What Climate Change Means for Africa, Asia and the Coastal Poor
The World Bank, June 19, 2013
The World Bank has released a report, titled ‘Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience,’ which looks at the likely impacts of present day, 2°C and 4°C warming on agricultural production, water resources, coastal ecosystems and cities across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and South East Asia.
The report illustrates the range of impacts that much of the developing world is already experiencing, and would be further exposed to, and it indicates how these risks and disruptions could be felt differently in other parts of the world. It reaffirms the 2012 assessment of the International Energy Agency (IEA) that in the absence of further mitigation action there is a 40% chance of warming exceeding 4°C by 2100 and a 10% chance of it exceeding 5°C in the same period.
– Climate-Smart Agriculture Sourcebook
FAO, 2013
This collaborative publication aims to further elaborate the concept of climate-smart agriculture and demonstrate its potential, as well as limitations. It aims to help decision makers at a number of levels to understand the different options that are available for planning, policies and investments and the practices that are suitable for making different agricultural sectors, landscapes and food systems more climate-smart. The Sourcebook is developed by FAO in collaboration with many partner agencies and individual contributors.
– New report reveals how climate change will hit West Africa
CGIAR, CCAFS, 8th April 2013
In a joint effort, International Food Policy and Research Institute (IFPRI) and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), have developed the West African Agriculture and Climate Change monographs. It is the first of three monographs on climate change and agriculture, featuring West, Central, and Eastern Africa. The monographs result from a research project headed by IFPRI Senior Researcher Gerald Nelson.
– Climate-Smart Agriculture in Africa: e-discussion summary report
IPC-IG (a partnership between the Government of Brazil and the UN Development Programme – UNDP), 26 March 2013
During a month-long e-discussion on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and the role of South-South cooperation in agricultural development in Africa, the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) invited participants to share real-life examples to strengthen the evidence base on climate-smart agriculture, particularly in the context of Brazil-Africa agricultural cooperation. The discussion took place from 10 February-4 March 2013. IPC-IG is a partnership between the Government of Brazil and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
– Book: West African agriculture and climate change: a comprehensive analysis
Eldis, 2013
This book examines the food security threats facing 11 west African countries — Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo — and explores how climate change will increase the efforts needed to achieve sustainable food security throughout the region.
– Could China and its fellow Brics nations lead the way on climate change?
The Guardian, 28 January 2013
Brics nations have the means and motivation to create a climate agency that could act and research instead of just arguing. The stalemate in the latest round of climate negotiations, held in Doha, Qatar, last month, makes it clear that a fresh approach is needed if the world is to avert climate catastrophe. One part of the solution should be a new global climate agency, founded, financed and led by a coalition of the big emerging market countries.
– Davos 2013: new vision for agriculture is old news for farmers
The Guardian, 25 January 2013
The media spotlight is on the role of smallholder farmers in poverty reduction and food security, but what they need is action on land rights and support to stand up to powerful partners
– Advancing the climate negotiations
FIELD, 15 January 2013
A new paper by Joy Hyvarinen considers opportunities for advancing the climate negotiations and related issues. This includes the expert dialogue on the 2013-2015 review, ministerial events, loss and damage, and equity.
– In Caribbean, Climate-Smart Agriculture Bolsters Farm Production
AlertNet, 14 January 2013
A new initiative is catching on in the Caribbean that aims to increase and sustain agricultural productivity by incorporating information about weather and climate into the farming process, all under the umbrella of climate-smart agriculture.
–AfDB supports initiatives for climate resilience
AfDB, 13th August 2013
Three countries in the Sahel and West Africa will receive grants to fund activities in the sectors of water and agriculture, in support of climate change adaptation. The African Development Bank (AfDB) has mobilised over USD 70 million through the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF). A grant of USD 7.2 million will go to Benin to support the country’s flood control efforts and the development of climate-resistant agricultural infrastructure in the Ouémé Valley. Mauritania will receive USD 6.3 million to improve investment in the water sector and to implement resilience activities in the pastoral and forestry sectors in the southern part of the country. As for Sierra Leone, a grant of USD 4 million dedicated to water and sanitation infrastructure will support people’s resilience to climate change. While African countries contribute little to greenhouse gas emissions, the AfDB noted that they are the most affected by climatic changes that threaten livelihoods and natural assets.
–Farmers struggle to adopt climate-smart methods
FAO, 14th August 2013
Preliminary results from a project aimed at helping Malawi, Vietnam and Zambia make the transition to a “climate-smart” approach to agriculture show that some farmers are struggling to adopt the new methods, while others are finding ways to cope well with climate-change problems like late rains.
– Giving climate smart negotiators a stronger voice
Climate & Development Knowledge Network, 21th August 2013
The poorest and most climate-vulnerable countries have the most to lose from climate change, but they typically lack the resources and expertise to fully represent their interests in international climate negotiations. There is a need to level the playing field with those who have a stronger voice. Raising the capacity of international climate negotiators to represent their own concerns during the UNFCCC and related negotiations is possible, with the right kind of support.
A new Working Paper by Stuart Jefford and Dan Hamza-Goodacre sets out the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN)’s initial thinking on how climate change negotiators from the poorest and most climate-vulnerable countries can be supported to have effective, influential voices. It presents a range of examples drawn from the literature and CDKN’s experience to date.
– World Bank: Climate change will hit poorest hardest
World Bank, 20 November 2012
All nations will suffer the effects of a warmer world, but the world’s poorest countries will suffer most from food shortages, rising sea levels, cyclones and drought, the World Bank’s new report on climate change says.
– Plant perennials to save Africa’s soils
Nature, September 2012
An interesting article on climate smartagriculture published in NATURE journal, one of the most prestigious journals globally. It is based on a development work on climate smart agriculture in Malawi (christened evergreen agriculture).
