Large-scale implementation of adaptation and mitigation actions in agriculture
This paper identifies sixteen cases of large-scale actions in the agriculture and forestry sectors that have adaptation and/or mitigation outcomes, and distils lessons from the cases. The cases cover policy and strategy development (including where climate-smart objectives were not the initial aim), climate risk management through insurance, weather information services and social protection, and agricultural initiatives that have a strong link to climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Key lessons learned include:
- Trade-offs can be avoided, at least in the near-term and over limited spatial scale
- We need cost-effective and comparable indices for measuring GHG fluxes and for
monitoring adaptive capacity
- Strong government support is crucial to enable large-scale successes
- Upfront costs may be substantial and can be met from multiple sources
- An iterative and participatory learning approach with investment in capacity
strengthening is critical.
Citation
Cooper PJM, Cappiello S, Vermeulen SJ, Campbell BM, Zougmoré R, Kinyangi J. 2013. Large-scale implementation of adaptation and mitigation actions in agriculture. CCAFS Working Paper No. 50. CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).