A Vision for Climate Smart

Agriculture

Bruce Campbell, Director

CGIAR Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security

(CCAFS)

1. What is CSA?

2. Mitigation options

3. Adaptation options

4. Which way forward for CSA?

Outline

Grand Challenges of the 21st Century

Adaptation

Food security

Ecological footprint

Rockström et al. (2009); Bennett et al. (in prep.)

Global

freshwater

use Change in land

use

Biodiversity

loss

Phosphorous

cycle

Nitrogen

cycle

Ocean

acidification

Climate

change

Safe

operating

space

Current

status

Role of

Agriculture

Food

Security

Adaptation Ecological

footprint

Climate-Smart Agriculture

0

5

10

15

20

25

US Malawi

GHG CO2-eq tonne per capita

Agriculture and Rural Development

Day 2011

• Positive on CSA: national governments,

regional organisations, regional farmer’s

organisations

• Informal feedback: More clarity needed on

CSA

A multitude of trade-offs……..

• Across sub-sectors (e.g. residues to soils or

livestock?)

• Across spatial scales (e.g. more productive

agriculture can result in forest clearance)

• Different kinds of households (e.g. some risk

insurance exclude female-headed households)

• Short-term vs. long term benefits (e.g.

livestock risk insurance can promote land

degradation)

CSA will differ significantly…

Direct emissions

Indirect emissions

Impact of

climate change

on child

malnutrition

Costs of

adaptation

2) Mitigation

options

Where to invest?

GHG reduction

Cropland management

Land cover change

Manure-biosolid

management

Bioeenergy

Livestock management

Restoration of degraded lands

Management of organic

soils

Grazing land management

• Agronomy

• Nutrient management

• Tillage/residue management

• Water management

• Rice management

• Agro-forestry

• Set-aside, land use change

Five areas for investment

1. Sustainable intensification &

forest governance

2. Sustainable land management

(SLM) practices

3. Alternate wetting and drying

systems in irrigated rice

4. Improved nitrogen use

efficiency

5. Increased intensity of ruminant

production in Africa to reduce

GHG++ per unit of product

Food

Security

Adaptation Ecological

footprint

“Climate smart means landscape

and policy smart”

Alternate-Wetting-

and-Drying

(AWD)

30% water

25-50% GHG

Yield not compromised

3) Adaptation options

Adaptive capacity

Technology

Knowledge &

skills Governance

&

institutions

Income & assets

Access

to

information

Infrastructure

Social capital

Key adaptation strategies Incremental adaptation to progressive

climate change

• Closing the yield gaps

• Raising the bar – breeding for 2030s

Climate risk management

• Technologies (e.g. flood-resistant varieties)

• Institutions (e.g. index-based insurance)

• Climate information systems (e.g. seasonal forecasts)

Transformative adaptation

• Changing production systems

• Changing livelihood portfolios

Mali farmer climate advisories

• Climate information to farmers for decision

making

• National Met Service, WMO, ACMAD

• Forecasts provided for three‐days, ten‐days,

and seasonal (inc. crop health...)

• Major increases in yields for participating

farmers

• Lessons learning and scaling up across Sahel?

EA Regional Learning

partnership • Information exchange, capacity strengthening, building

consensus around issues and priorities

• =

• National and regional

agencies

• Research providers

• NGOs & policy think tanks

• Regional economic

community

• Advisory services

• Farmer organisations

Activities

• Common messages

to UNFCCC COP17

• Communities of

practice

– Synergies across

diverse projects

– Carbon markets for

agriculture

Parks et al CSIRO

Transformative adaptation

Relocation of grape

production or wineries to

cooler regions

Shifts to other crops

Diversification

Coffee areas

shrink (in

Nicaragua)

4) Which way forward for CSA?

CSA, in summary:

• Takes into account: food security, adaptation and

ecological footprint

• foremost about development itself and address

smallholder concerns

• Crucial to deal with trade-offs

• Context matters: CSA differs widely

• Development & ecological footprint → green economy

What is needed?

• Analytics and tools – choices, options,

investments

• What kinds of knowledge products are

needed to advance action

– especially at farmer, district and national

levels?

– but also for coherent messaging and

dialogue?

More analytics on resource

efficiency? E.g.

X Soybean

X Cotton

X Tomatoes

X Maize

X Rice

Water use per output

$ return per

water use

X

X

X X

X X

X

X X X

X

Grains use much more water than fruits/vegetables and

yield lower economic returns Lele et al. (2011)

Integrated decision support

tools?

Options Food

security

Adaptation Environmental

impact

Crop x

Crop z

Livestock

Agroforestry

Example:

Questions

• What kinds of knowledge products are

needed to maintain momentum?

• Is it time to give more formalisation to the

partnership between the CGIAR and WB?