September 2011
Vacancy: Research Facilitator (Science Officer) Pro-Poor Climate Change Mitigation
Deadline: 15 October, 2011 (but open until filled). CCAFS’ Research Facilitator (“Science Officer”) will support and coordinate research activities of the CCAFS theme on Pro-Poor Climate Change Mitigation. CCAFS’ research on mitigation aims to improve farmers’ livelihoods and meet future food needs in ways that also reduce the impact of agriculture on the climate and are environmentally sustainable. The Science Officer will work closely with the Theme Leader and other members of the CCAFS management team. Read more »
African ministers support climate smart agriculture for improved food security
The world will suffer dire consequences if food security was not placed on the agenda at November's COP17 climate-change meeting in Durban according to South Africa’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Tina Joemat-Pettersson, a strong advocate for confronting the climate change threats to agricultural development. With a backdrop of continued famine in the Horn of Africa and impending climate change challenges to agricultural productivity in Africa, Ms. Joemat-Pettersson invited Africa’s agricultural ministers to the "African Ministerial Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture” held in mid-September, on the theme “Climate-Smart Agriculture: Africa - A Call to Action”. Read more »
Climate Change Emissions and Livelihoods at the Forest-Farm Frontier
Managing emissions that lead to climate change and doing so in a way that allows improvements in incomes and enables sustainable development to continue are among the greatest challenges of the coming century. Better scientific knowledge about the relationship between carbon emissions and livelihoods is becoming available, but it is limited, patchy, and based on limited empirical evidence.
Research sponsored by the Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) program of the CGIAR, in collaboration with the University of Michigan’s International Forestry Resources and Institutions Program is showing how new institutions, property rights arrangements, and agricultural technologies can enable synergistic improvements in livelihoods and reductions in emissions. Read more »
Vacancy: Senior Scientist and Coordinator - Climate Change
Deadline: 30 September, 2011 (but open until filled). The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) seeks a highly qualified scientist to join our international team of scientists working on improving the livelihoods of maize and wheat farmers in the developing world. As a member of the CIMMYT Socioeconomics Program and in collaboration with national and international partners, you will lead and coordinate the project on climate change, agriculture and food security and undertake strategic research on adaptation options, mitigation strategies and impacts of climate change in maize and wheat based systems at the global level. This is supported by the CGIAR Research Program (CRP7-CCAFS) and other donors. Read more »
Call for Proposal: Discussion Paper on Institutions and Climate Change Adaptation
Deadline: 30 September 2011. Call for proposal for a discussion paper on Role of Rural Institutions in enabling Adaptation to Climate Change, which will analyze the role of rural institutions in enabling adaptation to climate change in the agricultural sector. The paper is intended to contribute to a more profound understanding of how local rural institutional actors respond to the upheavals in livelihood systems that are being triggered by climate change. Read more »
Call for Abstracts: Planet under Pressure conference
Due 19 August 2011. Due 16 September 2011. Abstract submission is now open for Planet Under Pressure 2012: New Knowledge Towards Solutions. This major international science conference focusing on solutions to the global sustainability challenge. This is an open call for participants and for abstracts for presentations and posters to be submitted against a variety of session topics. Read more »
Profitability in carbon projects for smallholder farmers usually too low
The newly released CCAFS working paper number six ‘Financing mitigation in smallholder agricultural systems: Issues and opportunities’ investigates obstacles to financing mitigation in smallholder agricultural systems and gives recommendations on how to overcome these. It emphasizes how smallholder agricultural finances overlaps with carbon finance. The working paper concludes that existing carbon finance approaches, with their complex procedures, unpredictable and often long payback periods are worsened by existing agricultural finance barriers such as lack of investments and resources. Many of the barriers to smallholder carbon credit mitigation projects are general issues associated with investing in smallholder agriculture, rather than carbon finance per se. The working paper also concludes that existing agricultural investment barriers are fundamental to the livelihoods of many, and go far beyond carbon finance issues, although significant overlap is acknowledged. By tackling these barriers, it may be possible to release some of the potential mitigation from agriculture. Read more »
Save the Date for Agriculture & Rural Development Day 2011
Now it's time to mark your calendars for CCAFS Agricultural and Rural Development Day (ARDD) on 3 December 2011 in South Africa. ARDD will be held parallel with the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). The event aims to inspire both high-level commitment and grassroots action.
This is the third Agriculture and Rural Development Day that CCAFS will organize. Agriculture possesses huge untapped potential to reduce poverty, bolster food security, adapt to climate change, reduce pressure on natural resources and in many places lower greenhouse gas emissions. To realize these potential, farmers, fishers and pastoralists must urgently become 'climate-smart', especially in the developing world, which will be hit hardest by climate change impacts. Africa is a hotbed of climate-smart innovation, providing an ideal setting for this year ARDD.
Climate services in East Africa fail to effectively adress farmer's demands
Countries in the East African region still struggle to receive and disperse climate information which would enable them to more effectively adapt to climate change effects. They also face unforeseen fluctuations in food production and market prices due to increasing climate variability and change, which seriously affects their food security. Climate information products and services, supported by applied research, could contribute greatly to the development of appropriate adaptation strategies to climate change states the newly released working paper from CCAFS ‘The State of Climate Information Services for Agriculture and Food Security in East African Countries’. Read more »
Climate information services still poorly utilized in West Africa
Timely provided climate information can assist farmers in developing countries to prepare for climate change effects. The main challenges with the current climate information services in West Africa are the lack of adaptation to local conditions, accessibility and the format that is used, which can be difficult for farmers to understand. The result is that even though relatively reliable climate information and products have been available since late 1990s, farmers seldom use the products for farm-level decision-making. This was reported in CCAFS newly released working paper ‘The State of Climate Information Services for Agriculture and Food Security in West African Countries’. It is essential that climate services and information are made locally accessible to the neediest communities, with full ownership by the relevant communities, so that they can successfully manage climate risks and improve their livelihoods. Read more »
CCAFS Coordinating Unit - University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Science, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Rolighedsvej 21, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark, phone +45 35331046; Email ccafs [at] cgiar [dot] org, EAN 5790000279012
Lead Center - International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)