News

Media coverage

Climate change: Re-adapting agriculture by James Kinyangi: 8 December 2014. The Africa Report 

As Latin America embraces climate-smart agriculture, negotiators should do the same. By Ana Maria Loboguerrero Rodriguez: 5 December 2014. Originally published in Spanish in Efe Verde: Mientras América Latina adopta la agricultura sostenible adaptada al clima, urge que los negociadores climáticos, en Perú, hagan lo mismo

How Shifting to the Cloud Can Unlock Innovation for Food and Farming. By Andy Jarvis. 13 December 2014. Inter Press Service.

Agriculture was not on the official agenda at the United Nations Climate Change conference (COP20) which just wrapped up in Lima, Peru (read our full analysis here), but it was still a hot topic. CCAFS and partners were in Lima to share experiences and insights on agriculture and food security. Activities ranged from a Hackathon, official UNFCCC side events including one with the Government of Kenya, sessions at the Global Landscapes Forum, and half a dozen seminars with farmers, youth, civil society and policy makers.

Despite agriculture being sidelined in global policy discussions, it’s clear that plenty of progress is being made on the ground including policy development, community-oriented approaches, and new climate-smart technologies and innovations.

Hackers design innovative solutions to feed the world in a changing climate

The Hackathon was organized by CCAFS, with the support of the CGIAR Consortium, and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA). Winning teams used open data to design practical tools. Read report back.

Watch video:

Delivering action on food and nutrition security in an age of global climate disruption

On the sidelines of UNFCCC COP20, CCAFS, CARE International and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) hosted a half-day Seminar on Food and Nutrition Security, Agriculture and Climate Change to raise awareness and showcase actions on approaches to address the food and nutrition security and climate change challenges. Participants generated key points for action that were captured in an updated Issues Paper. Read report back.

Watch video: Actions to address food and nutrition security under climate change

The elephant in the room: Agriculture at the UNFCCC negotiations

Farmers and youth are key players in putting agriculture on the agenda in the UN Climate Talks. To this end, CCAFS hosted a half-day event to raise awareness among farmers representatives and youth representatives on the status of agriculture in the negotiations, provide a networking space for farmers, and also exchange ideas on influencing agriculture in the UNFCCC going forward to the post-2015 agreement and beyond. Read report back.

Watch video: What Is the Future of Food for the World? Perspectives from Farmers 

Official UNFCCC Side Event: Climate-smart agriculture innovations to increase food security and rural incomes under climate change

Growing climate risks require transformations to climate smart agriculture innovations by farmers, private sector and public services that can provide widely shared livelihood benefits. Presenters, panelists and participants shared recent and emerging progress. The event was jointly organised by the University of Copenhagen, Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), and the Government of Kenya. Read report back.

Increasing the Resilience of Farming Communities to Climate Change through Shared Learning and Adaptation Decision-Making with a Focus on Gender

How can more inclusive adaptation programs be developed in order to support the resilience of indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers and their communities? Experts from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPR), CCAFS, and partners shared insights on the barriers for adoption of climate-smart technologies and how we must improve our understanding of smallholder farmers’ priorities and needs for adaptation. Read report back.

Sharing stories, experiences, problems and solutions

Global Landscapes Forum 2014

A number of sessions featured work from CCAFS and partners including:

• The Africa Climate-Smart Agriculture Alliance – a unique partnership and systemic approach to food insecurity and climate change in Africa [Read report back]
• The role of genetic diversity, traditional knowledge and restoration of native plants in climate adaptation and resilience [Read report back]
• Gender and resilience across the landscape: Lessons from Latin America, Africa and Asia [Read report back]
• Factoring climate change into local development strategies: Lessons from CATIE’s concept of Climate Smart Territories in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa
• Using climate-smart technologies to scale up climate-smart agriculture practices [Read report back]

Looking to COP21 in Paris

While the Lima conference produced what some call a 'modest' agreement, including a reconfidugration of the historic 'north-south' split, agriculture is set to be discussed at the 2015 meeting of the UNFCCC subsidiary bodies in Bonn 2015. Read our full analysis of the current state of agriculture in the UNFCCC for all the details. 

We look forward to 2015, which is probably one of the most important in the decade for global climate change policy. Lets make agriculture, fish, livestock forests, diets, and food waste highly visible in the debates leading to the UN Climate Talks in Paris in 2015!