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Patrick Worms
Senior Science Policy Adviser
33 rue du Progrès
1410 Waterloo, Belgium
Phone: +32 495 24 46 11
Email: [email protected]
Address
Waterloo, 23 June 2017
Food security and climate change –0 draft consultation paper
Page 9, paragraph 2: “Small-scale farming operations play several critical roles in addressing
the needs of vulnerable populations. They “feed poor communities – including themselves”
along with the majority of the world population (IAASTD. 2008: 22). They manage a sizeable
share of the agricultural land, employ a large share of the poorer working community, provide
access to food at the local and the regional level, and have less harmful environmental
impacts when using appropriate agricultural systems. Thus small-scale farming must play a
major role today in addressing the challenges of climate change.”
Page 9, paragraph 3: “We know too little about how crops and livestock growth and
management practices change with scale to identify global patterns consistently, but the
evidence shows that small-scale farms are more likely to engage in mixed crop and livestock
agriculture that includes trees, which are likely to be more resilient to climate change. On the
other hand, small-scale operations are less likely to have access to extension services, markets
for new inputs and seeds, and loans to finance operations. Gaining a better understanding of
the differences in farm activities, and vulnerability to climate change is critical, both to
finding ways to improve food security and to deal with the climate change challenges to
agricultural productivity and stability.”
Page 11, paragraph 3: “1.4.3 Availability -- Food availability begins on millions of farms
around the world. Farmers use land, their family labor and possibly that of others, and various
kinds of annuals, livestock, trees, and tools to manage the process of producing food. They
choose what to produce based on the natural resources at their disposal (including soil quality
and weather), the inputs they have access to (both previous investments such as irrigation
systems and current inputs such as seed and animal varieties), and the market situation they
face. Some portion of what they produce is transported off the farm, either by farmers
themselves or traders transporting it to processors or to intermediate or final markets.
According to FAO (FAOSTAT, 2010), the number of people working in agriculture grew
from 2.5 billion in 2000 to 2.6 billion in 2010 with the share of total population in agriculture
declining from 42 percent to 28 percent. Global averages conceal great differences across
countries. As a general rule, the share of the population working”
Page 12, paragraph 2: “1.4.3.1 Biological effects of climate change on crops, livestock, and
agricultural systems -- Systematic studies of the effects of changes in temperature and
precipitation across the range of crops, trees, livestock, and fish are in their infancy and more
research is needed to understand the consequences and identify promising avenues for
productivity and resiliency enhancing investments. Crops respond most favourably to
environments similar to those they evolved in – maize in Central America, potatoes in the
Andes, wheat in the Middle East, rice in South Asia – and for the climate conditions in which
they evolved. Breeding efforts extend the range of environmental possibilities, and that is
especially true for crops that have substantial genetic diversity or the greatest commercial
demand. In relation to climate change, considerably more research has been done on its
effects on grains than on roots, tubers or trees, horticultural crops and feed crops, and there is
much more information available on its impacts in temperate climes than in the tropics, and in
land-based systems than in marine-based systems.”
Page 18 – “1.5 Policy messages -- This section summarizes the policy messages from chapter
1.
Programs and policies to deal with climate change must be part of efforts to reduce poverty
and enhance food security. Attempts to address climate change vulnerability that are
undertaken independently risk using resources inefficiently and losing opportunities for
synergies. At the same time, climate change brings unique challenges that require
modifications to existing food security programs.
Improvements in productivity are essential to deal with food security challenges. Climate
change necessitates research into crops, trees, livestock and systems that are resilient to
extreme events. To address nutritional security in the face of climate change, more research is
needed on fruit and vegetable productivity as climate changes.
Food production systems are extremely diverse, both within individual countries and across
national boundaries. Climate change will not affect all systems the same, hence the need to
adopt a range of policy and program approaches. Small-scale farms account for a large share
of global agricultural land use, rural employment, and often are operated by women. They are
more likely to engage in mixed crop and livestock agriculture that includes trees, which are
likely to be more resilient to climate change. On the other hand, small-scale operations are
less likely to have access to extension services, markets for new inputs and seeds, and loans to
finance operations. Policies that address the limits facing small-scale farmers, and that ensure
women have opportunities for equal access to information and resources will have important
productivity, resiliency and poverty-reducing benefits for food security generally and for
dealing with climate change.
Vulnerable communities face negative shocks (droughts, floods, crop failure) from climate
change, the burden of food insecurity is likely to be borne disproportionately by women and
girls and there are both efficiency and welfare reasons for targeting food security programs
generally and climate-change-specific activities to women.
The report of the HLPE on price volatility and food security (2011) has recommendations on
how to manage food price volatility that will become ever more relevant as climate change
effects become more pronounced.
Inadequate information is available to deal effectively with many aspects of the food security
challenges from climate change. We highlight two.
-
The biophysical effects of climate change on plant and animal productivity and
stability of production, including the effects on pests and diseases that affect food
production and post-harvest marketing system. Most information is available on the
large staple crops, less on livestock (including fish), and even less on fruits ,
vegetables and trees.
-
How crops and livestock grown and management practices differ with scale and
gender and will be affected by climate change.”
-
Page 22 paragraph 1: “The scenario uncertainties at global level are magnified at
regional and local scales where individual adaptation decisions have the most impact.
This represents a serious challenge to informed policy and decision making
everywhere but especially for the world’s vast dryland regions where production
systems are dependent on rainfall and which are home to many of the world’s most
vulnerable. Appropriate adaptation strategies would differ significantly depending
whether one needs to deal with likely more drought or flooding climate episodes.
Page 25 – insert new paragraph after paragraph one: “(…) as partial adaptation to climate
change.
Evidence (INSERT STUDY TITLE) is mounting that significant additional climate resiliency
is built into smallholder agrocultural systems that combine a number of crops with trees and,
if available, livestock. These systems show a greater ability to buffer extreme weather events
such as strong rainfall or unusual aridity, and multiply the number of income streams
available to the farmer. Such systems are typically very information-rich but require fewer
external inputs. Hence, the final policy message is the importance of both boosting research
into these systems and of enhancing rural outreach services to relay best practices.
None of these global scenario efforts attempt to address distributional issues within countries
and the possibility that climate change might affect the vulnerable disproportionately although
this is a plausible effect.”
Page 26, paragraph 2; “Climate change effects on the vulnerable are significant but are by no
means the only threats to sustainable food security. Sustainable development efforts that lead
to broad-based economic growth are essential to addressing the needs of vulnerable people
and regions. Given the uncertainties in local and regional outcomes of climate change,
policies and programs that are based on specific climate scenarios could potentially be
counterproductive. Rather, policies and efforts that provide both sustainable economic growth
and increase the resiliency of commercial and smallholder farms to a wide range of potential
climate change threats are needed. This combination of policy goals has sometimes been
referred to as climate-smart agriculture. An added element, discussed in the next chapter, is to
develop and disseminate practices that reduce the growth in emissions from agriculture, lowemissions development strategies.
Page 27, paragraph 3 and following:
- “Autonomous versus planned, and reactive versus anticipatory, adaptation In the
poorest populations, much of the necessary adaptation is likely to arise from people’s
autonomous effort to ‘make do’. Without the spread of best practice knowledge based
on a solid evidence base, such reactive adaptations are likely to be suboptimal.
-
Adaptation to climate change involves general measures that increase the resilience of
the food system (interpreted broadly to mean production, processing, distribution and
retail) to any perturbation, as well as specific measures to cope with the particular
stresses caused by the changing climate.
-
Successful adaptation will require new practices and alterations in livelihood
strategies. It will also require changes of behaviour by all elements of the private
sector, retailers and intermediaries in the food chain, agri-business and the financial
sector. It will require action by governments and international organisations, and also
by civil society, in particular those concerned with food security, hunger and
development.
-
Successful adaptation will depend to a large degree on steps taken to enable poor
smallholder farming families to optimize the production of their land and multiply
their sources of income by moving towards mixed agricultural systems of crops,
livestock and trees.”
Page 28: “3.3 Anticipatory strategies and options for adapting to climate change
Because of their poverty, many successful agricultural strategies, such as the regular purchase
of fertilizer or the digging of irrigation infrastructure, are not open to smallholder farmers in
the LDCs. For such farmers, the best route towards resilience is likely to lie in mixed
agricultural systems adapted to local growing conditions.
Page 28, “3.3.1 Availability”
-
Altering agronomic practices (for example reduced tillage to reduce water loss,
incorporation of manures and compost, the use of fertilizer trees, windbreaks and
distributed shade, and other land use techniques such as tree planting and cover
cropping that increase soil organic matter and hence water retention of value both in
times of drought and flood).
Page 29, first paragraph: “Response to hurricanes and typhoons. In Nicaragua, after the
passage of Hurricane Mitch in 1998, a study showed how agroecological practices such as
crop rotation, green manure, fertilizer trees, and other natural fertilizers, cover ditches, crop
diversification, burning renunciation, etc. preserved an average of 40% more topsoil, had
greater moisture retention, and lost 18% less arable land (Holt-Gimenéz cited in de Schutter,
2010)
Page 30, paragraph 3 and following:
- “More food can be produced on existing farmland using existing knowledge if food
producers have access to that knowledge; are provided with the resources to respond
to price signals; and if appropriate investments are undertaken in economic and
physical infrastructure (market reform and access to markets). Special attention should
be paid to encouraging that women are not disadvantaged, both for efficiency and
equity reasons
-
Investment in research is needed into producing crops, trees, animals, and fish with
higher yields, higher input efficiencies, and ability to withstand more frequent extreme
events. This will require more funding of often neglected subjects such as agronomy
and soil science that can improve productivity, resilience and efficiency”
Page 32, 3.4.2 third bullet point: “Foster types of agriculture that are more resilient to climate
variability through land-use planning and, where feasible, invest in cost-effective civil
engineering projects that increase the protection of agricultural lands from extreme events.
Ensure infrastructure investment for agriculture and agricultural markets is resilient to climate
change.”
Page 32, bullet point 6: “Invest in the fundamental and applied research base to improve
climate change adaptation (including through animal and plant breeding, agricultural
engineering, agronomy, agroforestry and husbandry, soil science, aquiculture, agricultural
economics and the relevant social sciences).”
Page 33, 3.4.3, NEW bullet point between existing points 2 and 3: “Research is needed to
develop mixed cropping systems that may involve any number of different crops, trees for
fruit, wood and fooder and fertilizer effects, and livestock and are tailored for different
geophysical, social and cultural environments.
Page 34, last paragraph: “Successfully adaptation of global agriculture and the food system to
expected climate change will require mobilisation of the most effective practices from all
modes of agriculture, realising that no signal solution or set of solutions will be appropriate
everywhere. Techniques drawn from conventional, agroecological, agroforestry, organic and
high-technology food production will all need to be deployed. A pluralistic, evidence-based
approach, sensitive to environmental and social context, and to different value systems, is
essential.
Page 38, paragraph 5: “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
(REDD) strategies needs to take into account two issues. It is estimated that globally, more
than 1.6 billion people depend upon the products that forests provide – food, fuel, timber, and
fodder - as their main source of livelihood (World Bank, 2008). To meet this huge need
without further degrading remaining forest resources, skilful forestry is not likely to be
enough. Trees, and the products and services they deliver, must grow on the farm.
Second, REDD must account for men and women’s differentiated dependence on forest
resources. Women are more dependent than men are on forests and natural resources but at
the same time suffer from a lack of secure property rights and from systematic discrimination
in access to services. In several regions of the world, women’s roles include conservation and
maintenance of forest resources which provides an opportunity through the REDD
mechanism to compensate and provide support to their efforts. There may also be
employment opportunities for women within the REDD framework (A concern, however, is
that women may not be a position to take full advantage of the benefits offered by REDD due
to their lower literacy and formal education skills (UNDP 2009).
Page 29, NEW penultimate paragraph after “Since demand for livestock products (meat, milk,
and eggs) will likely grow, policies and programs that directly or indirectly contribute to
reduced emissions of both CH4 and N2O per unit of output are especially important.
To meet the currently unsustainable demand for forest products without further degrading
remaining forest resources will demand, skilful forestry skilful forestry is not likely to be
enough. Trees, and the products and services they deliver, will increasingly need to be grown
on agricultural land using cropyield-optimising agoforestry techniques.
Page 40, paragraph 3: “To make sure that productivity and resilience enhancing technologies
are adopted, extension programs should target those who are making the management
decisions, which in many cases are women. This is important for enhancing food security
generally but becomes more important in the case of climate change as women’s activities
and livelihoods are likely to be disproportionately affected. Small-scale farms account for a
large share of global agricultural land use, and rural employment today, and often are
operated by women. They are more likely to engage in mixed crop, tree and livestock
agriculture, which are likely to be more resilient to climate change. Private sector research is
more likely to benefit large-scale farms. Policies and public investments that address the
limits facing small-scale farmers, and that ensure women have opportunities for equal access
to information and resources will have important productivity, resiliency and povertyreducing benefits for food security generally and for dealing with climate change. The
differential effects of climate change on crops will likely alter the optimal design of extension
systems.
Page 41, paragraph 4: “Successful adaptation of global agriculture and the food system to
climate change will require mobilisation of the most effective practices from all modes of
agriculture, realising that no single solution or set of solutions will be appropriate everywhere.
Techniques drawn from conventional, agro-ecological, agroforestry, organic and hightechnology food production will all need to be evaluated for their location-specific
appropriateness. A pluralistic, evidence-based approach, sensitive to environmental and social
context, and to different value systems, is essential.”
Yours sincerely,
Patrick Worms
Senior Science Policy Adviser