If climate-change mitigation and adaptation goals are to be met, international climate talks must include agriculture, argued the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in a policy paper published last month.
Agriculture is "the missing word" in the UN climate talks, said Gerald Nelson, a senior research fellow at IFPRI, adding that while the agricultural sector emits 14% of total greenhouse gas emissions, it also has a "unique role" in absorbing carbon emitted from other sectors.
Therefore, "any funds set aside in the UN talks to help adaptation need to include agriculture. We need to think about new crop varities, new physical infrastructure to make farming more resilient as well as new institutions both domestically and internationally that support resilience," said Nelson.
According to IFPRI, agriculture can mitigate emissions through "changes in agricultural technologies and management practices," and new crop mixes that include more perennial plants or have deeper root systems. Such plants allow more carbon to be stored in the soil.
Reduced tillage and changes in crop genetics, irrigation, fertiliser use, livestock species and feeding practices can also reduce emissions, the paper continues, asserting that changes to make the agricultural system more resilient to climate change will also increase carbon sequestration.
As the total share of emissions from agriculture is larger in the developing world, "cost-effective ways must be found to help poor people" to both mitigate and adapt to climate change, underlined Nelson. IFPRI also calls for more investment and funding to support agricultural research, rural infrastructure, and access to markets for small farmers in developing countries.
"European agriculture will feel the full force of climate change," said EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel after the EU executive had adopted its White Paper on adapting to climate change earlier this month.
The paper notes that climate change will affect water resources, soils, pests and diseases, thus leading to significant changes in the conditions for agriculture and livestock production, with "both negative and positive consequences in different EU regions".
An accompanying working document on agriculture acknowledges the contribution of the sector to total emissions, as well as its mitigation potential, and underlines the importance of developing synergies between them.
It also highlights that both sector-wide structural and technological changes and autonomous farm-level adaptation measures are need to protect the agriculture industry in the long term.
