fao-cc-pub

Climate-Smart Agriculture: capturing the synergies among mitigation, adaptation and food security-Emerging issues in the northern mountainous region of Viet Nam

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 22:00:00 GMT

This brief provides an update on the Climate-Smart Agriculture project in the Northern Mountainous Region of Viet Nam. In particular, it provides some key information on this area to highlight the importance of climate change, agriculture and food security.

Climate-Smart Agriculture: capturing the synergies among mitigation, adaptation and food security-Emerging evidence from Zambia

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 22:00:00 GMT

This brief provides emerging evidence from the implementation of the Climate-Smart Agriculture project in Zambia. The analysis clearly indicates that better screening of agro-ecological and socio-economic constraints and incentives for adoption of conservation farming are needed in order to achieve its effective and durable adoption. It also suggests that alternative approaches to sustainable agricultural intensification that better address the constraints and objectives of sustainable agricultural intensification in the near term are needed. This may include modifications of the current conservation farming technologies as well as broadening the range of technologies considered to include other forms of sustainable land management and agricultural intensification.

Climate-Smart Agriculture: capturing the synergies among mitigation, adaptation and food security-Emerging evidence from Malawi

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 22:00:00 GMT

This brief provides emerging evidence from the implementation of the Climate-Smart Agriculture project in Malawi. We analyze factors governing farmers’ decision to adopt adaptation strategies and evaluate the potential impact of adoption on crop productivity by using multivariate econometric regression. We also try to uncover distributional impact, particularly where these households are heterogeneous on key dimensions such as land holding, gender and geographical region. The findings suggest positive synergies between adaptation strategies and food security. However, some caution needs to be taken given the interdependence of practices as well as the heterogeneity of impacts across farm size, gender and geographical region.

Climate-Smart Agriculture Sourcebook

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 22:00:00 GMT

The purpose of the sourcebook is to further elaborate the concept of CSA and demonstrate its potential, as well as limitations. It aims to help decision makers at a number of levels (including political administrators and natural resource managers) 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. This sourcebook is a reference tool for planners, practitioners and policy makers working in agriculture, forestry and fisheries at national and subnational levels. The sourcebook indicates some of the necessary ingredients required to achieve a climate-smart approach to the agricultural sectors, including existing options and barriers.

National integrated mitigation planning in agriculture: a review paper-MICCA Series 7

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 22:00:00 GMT

his review of national greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation planning in the agriculture sector provides national policy makers and others in the agriculture sector with an overview of national mitigation planning processes to aid them in identifying the relevance of these processes for promoting agricultural development. It also gives policy makers and advisors involved in low-emission development planning processes an overview of mitigation planning in the agriculture sector and highlights the relevance of agriculture to national mitigation plans and actions. The review provides an overview of agreements under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on GHG mitigation in developing countries. It examines 32 low-emission development strategies (LEDS) from 18 developing countries and 62 nationally appropriate mitigatioin actions (NAMAs) in the agriculture sectors of 30 countries. It describes the status of development of the NAMAs, the agricultural activities proposed and the alignment of the NAMAs with other policies and policy goals. The report summarizes the status of and trends in national agricultural mitigation planning, the barriers and risks involved, and the opportunities and potentials for agricultural NAMAs. It also suggests an approach to NAMA development in the agriculture sector based on 12 basic building blocks.

Advancing Agroforestry on the Policy Agenda

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 22:00:00 GMT

Agroforestry is a dynamic, ecologically based, natural resources management system that, through the integration of trees on farms and in the agricultural landscape, diversifies and sustains production for increased social, economic and environmental benefits for land users at all levels (ICRAF). These guidelines are an invaluable addition to the agroforestry global agenda.

Organic Agriculture: African Experiences in Resilience and Sustainability

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:00:00 GMT

The experiences featured in this publication show that the complexity of plant and animal interactions with the environment can be managed for improved productivity and resilience, and that farming requires enhancing natural processes, rather than substituting them with external inputs.

Forests and water:a complex relationship

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 22:00:00 GMT

This publication provides an overview of forest and water interactions and describes the increasing international momentum gained by this topic. It then presents, in chronological order, summaries of the various events held between 2008 and 2011, as well as their main outcomes and recommendations. It concludes with the most important part of thepublication; namely, the analysis of the key recommendations and the forests and water agenda for the next years.

Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 22:00:00 GMT

This report reflects the conclusions of the Workshop and the analysis undertaken by FAO and Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research (PAR) over the past year. This Workshop, held at FAO in April, 2010, explored the different challenges that confronted agriculture and the options that existed or could be developed that would be needed to meet the challenges of feeding the world, coping with climate change and improving impact of agriculture on the environment.

ROADMAP ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 22:00:00 GMT

The present document introduces a proposed Roadmap on Climate Change and Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and provides an indicative estimate of the extra-budgetary resources required for the implementation of the Roadmap activities. The proposed Roadmap is presented in

Appendix I and the estimated extra-budgetary resource requirements in Appendix II.

SELECTED PROCESSES AND INITIATIVES ON CLIMATE CHANGE OF RELEVANCE TO GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 22:00:00 GMT

This document compiles information on processes and initiatives related to genetic resources for food and agriculture and climate change.

State of Mediterranean Forests 2013

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Global changes (changes in societies, lifestyles and climate) strongly affect the Mediterranean region. If unmanaged, such changes could lead to the loss of biodiversity, an increased risk of wildfire, the degradation of watersheds, and desertification, with serious consequences for the sustainable provision of forest goods and ecosystem services.

Quinoa: An ancient crop to contribute to world food security

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 23:00:00 GMT

This technical report is an updated and detailed compilation of the nutritional benefits and agricultural versatility of quinoa. The report discusses the expansion of the crop to other continents and demonstrates quinoa's high potential to contribute to food security throughout the world -- especially in areas where the population does not have access to adequate protein sources or where production conditions are limited by low humidity, reduced availability of inputs, and aridity.

Helping smallholder farmers mitigate climate change

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 23:00:00 GMT

This joint FAO CCAFS policy brief stresses that carbon payments for mitigation are unlikely to be adequate to incentivize changes in behaviors due to challenges related to low returns, transaction costs and long timeframes for payback. It argues that incentives related to food security and adaptation to climate change are central to promote mitigation, and that policies and investment are required to provide up-front finance and long-term rewards.

Advancing agroforestry on the Policy Agenda

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Aimed at decision-makers, key policy advisors, NGOs and governmental institutions, the policy guide shows how agroforestry can be integrated into national strategies and how policies can be adjusted to specific conditions. The policy guide provides examples of best practices and success stories, as well as lessons learned from challenges and failures.

FAO, Forests and Climate Change

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 23:00:00 GMT

This publication summarizes the work that FAO is undertaking, with its partners, to assist countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change as it relates to forests, trees and the people who depend on them. It is organized in four of the five main areas of FAO's integrated approach to sustainable forest management (SFM):*Monitoring and Assessment*Management planning and practices*Policy and governance*Forest products, services and industry

The fifth main area of work, Intersectoral cooperation and coordination, cuts across the other four areas.

Building resilience for adaptation to climate change in the agriculture sector

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 23:00:00 GMT

Summary report of the of the joint workshop organized by FAO and OECD on Building resilience for adaptation to climate change in the agriculture sector held April 2012.The various sessions of the workshop questioned the notion of resilience from very different angles, confronting concepts, specific risk management strategies, case studies and national policies, from different perspectives, biophysical, economic, or social and institutional, and at various scales, from farm and household to national and global.

Environmental impact assessment: Guidelines for FAO Field Projects

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 23:00:00 GMT

This publication provides guidelines for all FAO units to undertake environmental impact assessments (EIA) of field projects. The use of these guidelines apply to all FAO field projects and activities, requring implications to be fully considered early in the planning process so as to avoid significant negative impacts of environmental or associated social nature.

Potential Impacts of climate change on food security in Mali

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 23:00:00 GMT

This paper examines how climate change could affect projections for agricultural production and rural poverty in Mali by performing a sensitivity analysis with the Threshold21 model, an integrated scenario-analysis tool. The simulation suggests potentially important impacts on agriculture production and more pronounced impacts in the rural population. The paper further examines the effectiveness of public investment, namely research and development for agriculture, as a crucial measure for adaptation. The large amount of resources that would be necessary to avoid the worst case scenario suggests the necessity of continued support from the international community to improve food security in the country and Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole more pronounced impacts on the rural population.

Community guidelines for accessing forestry voluntary carbon markets

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 23:00:00 GMT

These guidelines were developed to assist smallholders and smallholder groups, community-based forest managers, non-governmental organizations and local forestry officials to decide whether or not to undertake a forestry voluntary carbon market project and, once a decision has been taken to proceed, to provide guidance on how to design and implement the project.