How to navigate key issues for food and farming at the Paris climate talks.

To secure the future of food and farming, a 2015 climate agreement should reference food security and provide the financial, technical and capacity building support for countries to devise ambitious actions for the agricultural sector. This is according to experts from across CGIAR in a new analysis, Progress on Agriculture in the UN Climate Talks: how COP21 can ensure a food secure future.

But how likely is this outcome, and what is the situation going into the next two weeks of climate negotiations in Paris? Here are 8 key things you need to know if you’re a food or farming advocate:

Agriculture does not appear in the draft negotiating text, though food security is mentioned. Yet a new agreement can open the door to action on food security and agriculture. But there is reason to be optimistic about progress after Paris, because…
Countries are leading the way by including action on agriculture in their Intended Nationally Determined Commitments (INDCs). Countries were asked to submit ‘blueprints’ for national action before the conference. Our recent analysis finds a vast majority of country-level climate plans prioritise agriculture: 80% have included agriculture in climate change mitigation targets or actions and 64% have noted agriculture’s importance in climate adaptation strategies. This offers opportunities for progress at the national level on mitigation and adaptation, despite the sector’s slow progress in the UN negotiations.

Will these pledges be enough to deliver food security for billions of people and reduce agriculture’s climate change footprint? Join CCAFS and partners at the Global Landscapes Forum for an in-depth discussion on this topic 6 December 2015, 09:00-13:15: From farmer’s fields to landscapes: Food security in a new climate regime?

Climate finance should include agriculture as a key sector for INDC implementation support. The prominence of agriculture in the INDCs reveals a huge appetite for technical assistance and climate finance for adaptation and mitigation strategies related to agriculture. But funding for implementing INDCs, and particularly for implementing climate-smart agriculture, is far from secure. “This should serve as a wake-up call for climate negotiators, to make sure sufficient financing is released to support agriculture initiatives,” commented Meryl Richards, who led the CCAFS analysis of country plans.
Business and civil society must also take action on agriculture: last year at COP20 in Lima, the French government challenged businesses, civil society and other non-state actors to launch new initiatives that could showcase climate solutions and ‘inspire and motivate political leaders to be more ambitious’. Several large-scale initiatives that address agriculture will be launched at “Agriculture Action Day” on 1 December under the Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA). CGIAR will help implement and support initiatives that ensure agriculture plays its part in climate change adaptation and mitigation under the UNFCCC process.

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