Project Transition 1

Support Transition Towards Climate-Smart Agriculture Food Systems:

GCP/RAF/496/NOR

An Overview

25th August 2015

Brahene Sebastian (Sebastian.Brahene@fao.org)

Outline

• Overview of CSA Introduction Definition of Concept

• Project GCP/RAF/496/NOR

Background

• Conclusion

CSA OverviewIntroduction

• Between now and 2050, the world’s population will increase by one-third.

• More people will be living in cities with higher incomes especially in developing countries.

• FAO estimates that agricultural production will have to increase by 60 percent by 2050 to satisfy the expected demands for food and feed.

CSA OverviewIntro Cont’d

• Agricultural transformation needed to feed a growing global population and provide the basis for economic growth and poverty reduction.

• Developing countries and smallholder farmers to be more affected.

• Climate change will make this task more difficult

CSA OverviewIntro Cont’d

Any transformation must

Enhance food

security

Mitigate climate change

be accomplished without depletion of the natural resource base.Transition to agricultural production systems

More productive Use inputs more efficiently

Less variability and more stability in outputs

More resilient to risks, shocks and long-term

climate variability

CSA OverviewDefining the Concept

• An integration of three dimensions of sustainable development i.e. economic, social and environmental by jointly addressing food security and climate challenges.

• Three main pillars:1. sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes;2. adapting and building resilience to climate change;3. reducing and/or removing greenhouse gases emissions,

where possible.

CSA OverviewDefining the Concept Cont’d

Addresses the complex interrelated challenges of food security, development and climate change, and identifies integrated options that create synergies and reduce trade-offs

Recognizes that these options will be shaped by specific country contexts and capacities as well as socio- economic and environmental situations

Assesses the interactions between sectors and the needs of different stakeholders

Identifies barriers to adoption (esp. for farmers), and provides appropriate solutions in terms of policies, strategies, actions and incentives

CSA OverviewDefining the Concept Cont’d

Seeks to create enabling environments through a better alignment of policies, investments and institutions

Strives to achieve multiple objectives with the understanding that priorities need to be set and collective decisions made on different benefits and trade-offs

Prioritizes the strengthening of livelihoods (esp. those of smallholders) by improving access to services, knowledge, resources (including genetic resources), financial products and markets

Addresses adaptation and builds resilience to shocks, especially those related to climate change

CSA OverviewDefining the Concept Cont’d

Considers climate change mitigation as a potential secondary co-benefit, especially in low-income, agricultural-based populations

Seeks to identify opportunities to access climate-related financing and integrate it with traditional sources of agricultural investment finance

CSA OverviewDefining the Concept Cont’d

• Achieving all the CSA objectives at once not possible.

• Context-specific priorities need to be determined, and benefits and tradeoffs evaluated.

• CSA is NOT a single specific agricultural technology or practice that can be universally applied.

• It is AN APPROACH that requires site-specific assessments to identify suitable agricultural production technologies and practices.

Project GCP/RAF/496/NORBackground

• The Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2013)

• Climate change threatens to undermine the progress African countries have made in tackling malnutrition, diseases, and gains in agricultural productivity.

• Africa’s economic transformation is highly vulnerable

• The African Union (AU) has identified environmental and ecosystems resilience, and enhanced sustainable agriculture productivity as key impact areas in driving implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) over the next decade and beyond.

• AU-NEPAD Agriculture Climate Change Programme is being elaborated to guide identification of priority programme issues determining and designing programme interventions.

Background Cont’d

Background Cont’d• The implementation of ECOWAS/CAADP is based

on the implementation of national agriculture investment programmes (NAIPs) as well as at the regional level.

• Within the whole CAADP and NAIP/RAIP process, the climate change dimension has been very little considered as it gained international momentum through the UNFCCC process from 2009 onwards.

Problem statement• West African agriculture depends heavily on rain-fed

crops– provides 29% of region’s GDP– employs 66% active population (IUCN, 2004)

• With climate change in West Africa, the area suitable for agriculture, the length of the growing season and potential yield, particularly along the margins of semi-arid and arid areas, are expected to decrease.

Justification

There is the need to intervene with appropriate strategies that ensure continuous food

production and at the same time build the resilience of smallholder farmers against internal

and external shocks.

Project RationaleKey Objectives1

• The proposed project is to support the facilitation of the enabling environment for the scaling-up of CSA

How?• Capacity building needed across the different

institutions across all levels.Why?

• Overall coherence and unified understanding of CSA is lacking

Project Rationale Cont’d

2• Assist the emergence of agricultural food systems

that are more climate-smartHow?

• Through improved coordination and alignment of policies, strategies and investment frameworks.

• The capitalization and dissemination of success stories and best approaches, as well as failures from the COMESA-EAC-SADC region

FAO’s Comparative Advantage

• FAO main international organization with expertise in all aspects related to the agricultural sectors; including production systems, management of natural resources and policy environment.

• FAO developed CSA Approach, therefore has extensive knowledge and experience in many of the concepts.

Linkages

• CSA identified as a major area of work (MAW) under FAO’s new Strategic Objectives (SOs)

• Project falls under Strategic Objective 2, “Increase and improve provision of goods and services from agriculture, forestry and fisheries in a sustainable manner”.

Linkages• Organizational Outcome 1 “Producers and natural

resource managers adopt practices that increase and improve agricultural sector production in a sustainable manner”

• Organizational Outcome 2 “Stakeholders in member countries strengthen governance – the policies, laws, management frameworks and institutions that are needed to support producers and resource managers – in the transition to sustainable agricultural sector production systems”

LinkagesProject closely linked to

SO1 (policy and investment outputs) SO3 (enabling environment and extension) SO4 (food value chains) SO5 (climate change resilience)

Directly linked to Regional Initiative I“Integrated Management of Agricultural Landscapes -

Sustainable production intensification and value addition”

Falls under Priority 2 of Country Programming Frameworks (CPF) for Ghana - “Environment and sustainable Natural Resource Management”

Linkages• Two areas of intervention identified for Ghana

Ensure that the agricultural sector and the CSA approach are included in the mid- to long-term development planning process, including National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and National Agriculture Investment Plans (NAIP).

Support Ghana in creating the required policy, financial and enabling environment (including the National Climate Change policies) which provides farmers, foresters and fisher folk (especially women) the knowledge and access to resources and services to transition to sustainable, productive, resilient and economically viable production systems.

Stakeholders and Beneficiaries

• Ultimate beneficiaries smallholder male and female farmers, who will be

supported in their use of various CSA technologies.

How? Ability of farmers to increase productivity, profitability,

sustainability and resilience of their farming systems through the adoption of appropriate CSA practices that include crop, agroforestry and livestock based production systems.

Project Results Matrix Cont’d

Project Results Matrix Cont’d

Project Results Matrix Cont’d

Efforts• Work planDeveloped in line with the two outputs showing

various activities. (yet to adopted)

• Concept notePrepared and accepted for inception workshop

• Implementation and management arrangementDrafted (to be finalised and sent to LTU and LTO)

Management• Project duration 2 years

• Budget and inputs of partners $ 150 000 provided by Norway Government

• Procurement No large-scale procurement is planned. LoAs may be used if this is considered more cost effective and

beneficial for knowledge exchange and capacity building, as compared to national consultancies.

ConclusionCSA Sourcebook

• Book is available to further elaborate the concept of CSA and demonstrate its potential, as well as limitations.

• Designed to help decision makers at a number of levels to understand the different options that are available for planning, policies and investments and the practices that are suitable for making different agricultural sectors, landscapes and food systems more climate-smart.

• Indicates some of the necessary ingredients required to achieve a climate-smart approach to the agricultural sectors, including existing options and barriers.

• Available at: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i3325e.pdf

Conclusions• Climate-smart agriculture is not a new agricultural system,

nor a set of practices.

• It is a new approach, a way to guide the needed changes of agricultural systems, given the necessity to jointly address food security and climate change.

• CSA brings together practices, policies and institutions that are not necessarily new but are used in the context of climatic changes.

• Addresses multiple challenges faced by agriculture and food systems simultaneously and holistically, which helps avoid counterproductive policies, legislation or financing.

ConclusionProject GCP/RAF/496/NOR

• Creating an enabling environment• Enhancing climate-smart food

systems• Developing an investment

framework• Promoting green climate activities

Thank you!