.
It’s known that the world will need to feed 9 billion people by 2050. But that is just one part of what is both an immense and complex challenge. There are other factors that need to be considered: Consumption patterns are changing, natural resources are being increasingly depleted, and climate change is impacting farmers, consumers and especially the poor like never before. Let’s not forget, agriculture and land use change are responsible for around 25% of greenhouse gas emissions and are a big part of the climate problem – but also have the potential to be a big part of the solution.
So how can we meet one of our generation’s biggest challenges and build the food system of the future—one that can sustainably feed everyone, in every country, every day? How do we make food systems deliver for people and the planet, provide prosperity, reduce poverty and provide a legacy and model for the generations to come?
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) – an integrated approach to managing food systems that delivers increased productivity, enhanced resilience, and a lower carbon footprint—will be a critical part of the solution. Besides delivering those three outcomes, CSA also helps reduce post-harvest losses, biodiversity losses and environmental pollution.
Since the Hague Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change—one of the first ever to make a link between these three critical outcomes and which launched CSA into the global conversation--we have come a long way.
Farmers, governments, the private sector and scientists have been taking action to make a climate-smart global food system a reality. At COP 21 in Paris, 113 countries pledged to reduce agriculture sector emissions as part of their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). In 2014, UNGA saw the launch of the Global Alliance for CSA, which already has over 144 members, including 24 countries and representatives from across the global food system. There are an increasing number of private sector commitments to take decisive action in supply chains and deliver CSA outcomes.
At the World Bank, we are partnering with countries, as well as stakeholders across the food system, in advancing CSA. Earlier this year, the Bank approved the Niger Climate-Smart Agriculture Support project, which is the first Bank project in Africa designed specifically to deliver CSA. We are optimistic that this project will pave the way for a more climate-smart food system in Niger, as well as in the rest of Africa.
Our work to advance CSA continues in every region of the world. Last year, 50% of the Bank’s agricultural projects delivered on all 3 CSA outcomes. Currently, 100% of the Bank’s projects are being screened for climate risk and undertaking greenhouse gas accounting to make them more ‘climate-smart’. We are confident that these steps will ultimately help improve food security, create better livelihoods for farmers, and contribute to efforts to lower the carbon footprint.
CSA has already made an impact in many of our partner countries. In Ghana, Senegal and other West African countries, the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP) has delivered 160 new crop varieties that have helped 5.7 million farmers boost productivity by at least 30%, be more resilient to climate change, and use less fertilizer and inputs, resulting in lower emissions. Alternate wetting and drying rice production techniques in Vietnam helped over 33,000 farmers boost crop productivity by up to 10% while using less fertilizer, resulting in the reduction of methane and nitrous oxide emissions from their rice fields. In Uruguay, the establishment of a national Agricultural Information and Decision Support System (SNIA) and other initiatives are helping both farmers and authorities improve productivity and resilience. With Bank support, 1.7 million dairy farming households across 18 Indian states are adopting better feeding and fodder practices for their cows. Use of local and seasonal green fodder and grain has boosted milk yields, reduced production costs and decreased methane emissions by about 12%, while increasing net daily incomes by nearly 25 rupees per cow.
We recognize that the path to CSA will be different in every country and that it is made even more challenging by limited resources. To enable better decision making, the Bank has developed tools and analytical work to help countries assess opportunities, balance trade-offs, prioritize investments and identify entry points for climate-smart agriculture. Working with partners, we’re producing a series of country profiles that recommend the policies, institutions and best practices for climate-smart agriculture. A global database drawing on data on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and land use change not only provides policymakers with actionable data, it also looks at mitigation opportunities and suggests steps for implementing INDCs. Meanwhile, our ‘Climate Smart Agriculture Indicators’ is a tool for policymakers and CSA project teams to monitor CSA results and identify opportunities in the realms of policy and technology. Our ambition is to help each country identify their unique path to increased agricultural productivity, enhanced resilience for their agriculture sector, as well as a lower carbon footprint.
Efforts to transition to a more sustainable and climate-smart global food system are gaining momentum. There’s no question that we’ve already made big strides. Let’s commit to going even further and transforming the energy and ambition around climate-smart agriculture into even more action.
Editor’s Note: The feature was originally published in the 2016 Global Action Report, produced by Diplomatic Courier for the Global Action Platform. To read the full report visit: http://www.mazdigital.com/webreader/42981. Republished here with permission.
About the author: Juergen Voegele, Ph. D., was appointed Senior Director of the World Bank's Agriculture Global Practice on July 1, 2014. Prior to this appointment, he was the Director of the World Bank's Agriculture and Environmental Services Department. In this role, he provided leadership on the Bank’s activities across sustainable landscapes and oceanscapes, agriculture and environmental economic policy, and risk management and markets. Since joining the World Bank in 1991, Dr. Voegele has held a number of assignments, chairing the Agriculture and Rural Development Sector Board as well as the Environment Sector Board, leading the Agriculture Unit in China and the Agriculture and Rural Development Unit of the Europe and Central Asia Region.
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
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Transforming Our Climate-Smart Agriculture Ambitions into Sustained Action
rice terraces of yuanyang, yunnan, china
September 19, 2016
It’s known that the world will need to feed 9 billion people by 2050. But that is just one part of what is both an immense and complex challenge. There are other factors that need to be considered: Consumption patterns are changing, natural resources are being increasingly depleted, and climate change is impacting farmers, consumers and especially the poor like never before. Let’s not forget, agriculture and land use change are responsible for around 25% of greenhouse gas emissions and are a big part of the climate problem – but also have the potential to be a big part of the solution.
So how can we meet one of our generation’s biggest challenges and build the food system of the future—one that can sustainably feed everyone, in every country, every day? How do we make food systems deliver for people and the planet, provide prosperity, reduce poverty and provide a legacy and model for the generations to come?
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) – an integrated approach to managing food systems that delivers increased productivity, enhanced resilience, and a lower carbon footprint—will be a critical part of the solution. Besides delivering those three outcomes, CSA also helps reduce post-harvest losses, biodiversity losses and environmental pollution.
Since the Hague Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change—one of the first ever to make a link between these three critical outcomes and which launched CSA into the global conversation--we have come a long way.
Farmers, governments, the private sector and scientists have been taking action to make a climate-smart global food system a reality. At COP 21 in Paris, 113 countries pledged to reduce agriculture sector emissions as part of their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). In 2014, UNGA saw the launch of the Global Alliance for CSA, which already has over 144 members, including 24 countries and representatives from across the global food system. There are an increasing number of private sector commitments to take decisive action in supply chains and deliver CSA outcomes.
At the World Bank, we are partnering with countries, as well as stakeholders across the food system, in advancing CSA. Earlier this year, the Bank approved the Niger Climate-Smart Agriculture Support project, which is the first Bank project in Africa designed specifically to deliver CSA. We are optimistic that this project will pave the way for a more climate-smart food system in Niger, as well as in the rest of Africa.
Our work to advance CSA continues in every region of the world. Last year, 50% of the Bank’s agricultural projects delivered on all 3 CSA outcomes. Currently, 100% of the Bank’s projects are being screened for climate risk and undertaking greenhouse gas accounting to make them more ‘climate-smart’. We are confident that these steps will ultimately help improve food security, create better livelihoods for farmers, and contribute to efforts to lower the carbon footprint.
CSA has already made an impact in many of our partner countries. In Ghana, Senegal and other West African countries, the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP) has delivered 160 new crop varieties that have helped 5.7 million farmers boost productivity by at least 30%, be more resilient to climate change, and use less fertilizer and inputs, resulting in lower emissions. Alternate wetting and drying rice production techniques in Vietnam helped over 33,000 farmers boost crop productivity by up to 10% while using less fertilizer, resulting in the reduction of methane and nitrous oxide emissions from their rice fields. In Uruguay, the establishment of a national Agricultural Information and Decision Support System (SNIA) and other initiatives are helping both farmers and authorities improve productivity and resilience. With Bank support, 1.7 million dairy farming households across 18 Indian states are adopting better feeding and fodder practices for their cows. Use of local and seasonal green fodder and grain has boosted milk yields, reduced production costs and decreased methane emissions by about 12%, while increasing net daily incomes by nearly 25 rupees per cow.
We recognize that the path to CSA will be different in every country and that it is made even more challenging by limited resources. To enable better decision making, the Bank has developed tools and analytical work to help countries assess opportunities, balance trade-offs, prioritize investments and identify entry points for climate-smart agriculture. Working with partners, we’re producing a series of country profiles that recommend the policies, institutions and best practices for climate-smart agriculture. A global database drawing on data on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and land use change not only provides policymakers with actionable data, it also looks at mitigation opportunities and suggests steps for implementing INDCs. Meanwhile, our ‘Climate Smart Agriculture Indicators’ is a tool for policymakers and CSA project teams to monitor CSA results and identify opportunities in the realms of policy and technology. Our ambition is to help each country identify their unique path to increased agricultural productivity, enhanced resilience for their agriculture sector, as well as a lower carbon footprint.
Efforts to transition to a more sustainable and climate-smart global food system are gaining momentum. There’s no question that we’ve already made big strides. Let’s commit to going even further and transforming the energy and ambition around climate-smart agriculture into even more action.
Editor’s Note: The feature was originally published in the 2016 Global Action Report, produced by Diplomatic Courier for the Global Action Platform. To read the full report visit: http://www.mazdigital.com/webreader/42981. Republished here with permission.
About the author: Juergen Voegele, Ph. D., was appointed Senior Director of the World Bank's Agriculture Global Practice on July 1, 2014. Prior to this appointment, he was the Director of the World Bank's Agriculture and Environmental Services Department. In this role, he provided leadership on the Bank’s activities across sustainable landscapes and oceanscapes, agriculture and environmental economic policy, and risk management and markets. Since joining the World Bank in 1991, Dr. Voegele has held a number of assignments, chairing the Agriculture and Rural Development Sector Board as well as the Environment Sector Board, leading the Agriculture Unit in China and the Agriculture and Rural Development Unit of the Europe and Central Asia Region.
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
