Climate Smart Agriculture : Building Resilience to Climate Change

629 Pages·2018·1.7 MB·English

by  Leslie Lipper et al. (eds.)

Natural Resource Management and Policy
Series Editors: David Zilberman · Renan Goetz · Alberto Garrido
Leslie Lipper
Nancy McCarthy
David Zilberman
Solomon Asfaw
Giacomo Branca Editors
Climate Smart
Agriculture
Building Resilience to Climate Change
Natural Resource Management and Policy
Volume 52
Series Editors
David Zilberman, California, CA, USA
Renan Goetz, Girona, Spain
Alberto Garrido, Madrid, Spain
There is a growing awareness to the role that natural resources, such as water, land,
forests and environmental amenities, play in our lives. There are many competing
uses for natural resources, and society is challenged to manage them for improving
social well-being. Furthermore, there may be dire consequences to natural resources
mismanagement. Renewable resources, such as water, land and the environment are
linked, and decisions made with regard to one may affect the others. Policy and
management of natural resources now require interdisciplinary approaches including
natural and social sciences to correctly address our society preferences.
This series provides a collection of works containing most recent findings on
economics, management and policy of renewable biological resources, such as
water, land, crop protection, sustainable agriculture, technology, and environmental
health. It incorporates modern thinking and techniques of economics and
management. Books in this series will incorporate knowledge and models of natural
phenomena with economics and managerial decision frameworks to assess
alternative options for managing natural resources and environment.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/6360
Leslie Lipper • Nancy McCarthy
David Zilberman • Solomon Asfaw
Giacomo Branca
Editors
Climate Smart Agriculture
Building Resilience to Climate Change
Editors
Leslie Lipper Nancy McCarthy
ISPC-CGIAR Lead Analytics Inc.
Roma, Italy Washington, DC, USA
David Zilberman Solomon Asfaw
Department of Agriculture and Resource FAO of the UN
Economics Roma, Italy
University of California Berkeley
Berkeley, CA, USA
Giacomo Branca
Department of Economics
University of Tuscia
Viterbo, Italy
ISSN 0929-127X ISSN 2511-8560 (electronic)
Natural Resource Management and Policy
ISBN 978-3-319-61193-8 ISBN 978-3-319-61194-5 (eBook)
ISBN 978-92-5-109966-7 (FAO)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-61194-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017953417
© FAO 2018
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Foreword
Eradicating poverty, ending hunger, and taking urgent action to combat climate
change and its impacts are three objectives the global community has committed to
achieving by 2030 by adopting the sustainable development goals. Agriculture, and
the way we manage it in the years leading up to 2030, will be a key determinant of
whether or not these objectives are met. Agriculture has been, and can be further,
used as an important instrument in eradicating hunger, poverty, and all forms of
malnutrition. Climate change however is expected to act as an effective barrier to
agricultural growth in many regions, especially in developing country contexts
heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture.
Climate change impacts agriculture through a number of pathways. According to
the 2013 IPCC report, all four dimensions of food security are potentially affected
by climate change through their effects on agricultural production and the incomes
of rural households, food prices and markets, and in many other parts of the food
system (e.g., storage, food quality, and safety) (IPCC WGII AR5 Ch 7). Reducing
the vulnerability of agricultural systems to climate change – including the increased
incidence of extreme weather events – and strengthening its adaptive capacity are
therefore important priorities to protect and improve the livelihoods of the poor and
allow agriculture to fully play its role in ensuring food security. Reducing emissions
that contribute to global warming is crucial to securing global wellbeing, and the
agricultural sector has considerable potential for emissions reductions while at the
same time playing its important role in poverty reduction and food security. In short,
agriculture lies at the nexus of resolving urgent global priorities.
FAO is actively working to support countries in grappling with the challenge of
managing agriculture to reduce hunger and poverty in an increasingly climate-
constrained world. FAO launched the concept of climate smart agriculture (CSA) in
2009 to draw attention to linkages between achieving food security and combating
climate change through agricultural development, and the opportunities for attain-
ing large synergies in doing so. In practice, the CSA approach involves integrating
the need for adaptation and the potential for mitigation into the planning and imple-
mentation of agricultural policies, planning, and investments. The point of depar-
ture for the CSA approach is the emphasis on food security and poverty reduction
v
vi Foreword
as the priority in developing countries through enhanced capacity of their agri-food
sectors and institutional and technological innovations. This capacity cannot be
attained without adaptation to changing conditions. At the same time, reducing the
emissions associated with conventional agricultural growth models is one of the
largest and most cost-effective means of reducing GHG emissions, and thus the
CSA approach integrates the potential for obtaining mitigation co-benefits from
agricultural growth strategies.
The CSA concept has gained considerable traction at the international and
national levels; however, there is still a fair amount of confusion regarding the con-
cept and its theoretical underpinning. In addition, the empirical evidence base to
support country implementation strategies is lacking. In particular, there is a need
for defining and operationalizing the concept of resilience and adaptive capacity in
the context of agricultural growth for food security. For these reasons, the Economic
and Social Development Department of FAO has supported the development of this
book, which represents a significant step forward in shedding light to the issues
raised above. This volume brings together research, analysis, and opinions of lead-
ing agricultural and resource economists and policy experts to develop the concep-
tual, empirical, and policy basis for a better understanding of CSA and enhanced
potential for achieving it on the ground.
The first section of this book provides conceptual frameworks as well as method-
ological approaches for operationalizing CSA at the country level. Its main focus is
comparing and contrasting the conceptual approaches to risk management and resil-
ience used in the agricultural development context with that used in the context of
climate change and proposing a consistent approach. It also provides an overview of
the development of the CSA concept, the controversies it has sparked, and how they
relate to the broader debate of sustainable development.
The second section consists of 19 case study chapters focusing on issues of vul-
nerability measurement and assessment, as well as ways of improving the adaptive
capacity at farm and system level and what could be some of the policy responses to
achieve them. These empirical studies showcase a wide range of options (policy
instruments) that contribute to building resilience to climate risk. They include pol-
icy instruments aimed at changing agricultural practices but also policy instruments
in other sectors. Examples include social protection, micro-finance, input subsidies,
micro-insurance, and agricultural knowledge and information systems. The case
studies cover a wide geographic range and scale, from Asia to Africa and the USA
and from households to markets and institutions and the national and global econ-
omy. They draw upon the CSA project work of FAO, as well as that of other agen-
cies applying the CSA approach. The breadth of the case studies provides a basis for
lessons learned in which contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of
policy options to improve the resilience of livelihoods of the rural poor to climate
change. They indicate that we do have considerable tools available to measure,
reduce, and effectively react to climate change–related vulnerability in the agricul-
tural sector, and that it is essential to utilize these instruments in seeking to improve
the agriculture sector’s capacity to support hunger, poverty eradication, and sustain-
able development.
Foreword vii
The third and final section of this book presents the results of a consultation with
a panel of leading thinkers and practitioners on agricultural and climate change
policy. This section is comprised of the responses of these experts to a set of ques-
tions based on the main findings, conclusions, insights, and questions that emerged
from the set of case studies and conceptual papers. Their varied responses to the
issues provide considerable insights into the different approaches and policy priori-
ties for CSA across varying contexts, as well as practical ideas on how to operation-
alize them.
The FAO is committed to providing support to agricultural and climate change
policy-makers and the agricultural producers they serve in their ongoing efforts to
end hunger and poverty and effectively combat climate change effects now and in
the future. This book offers tools and insights for a range of stakeholders to help
meet these challenges in the many forms they are manifested.
Rome, Italy Kostas Stamoulis
Acknowledgments
This book is the outcome of a cooperation between Economic and Policy Innovation
of Climate-Smart Agriculture (EPIC) team of FAO, Department of Agricultural and
Resource Economics of University of California (Berkeley) and the Department of
Economics and Business (DEIM) of Tuscia University (Viterbo, Italy). We express
sincere gratitude to Professors Alessandro Mechelli and Alessandro Sorrentino
(Departmental Faculty) for their continuous support. This publication would not
have been possible without the administrative and organizational help of Laura Gori,
Cristina Mastrogregori, and Giuseppe Rapiti (Departmental Staff). We would also
like to thank the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) which
hosted the Book Authors’ Workshop “Climate Smart Agriculture: Building Resilience
to Climate Change” held in Palazzo Clerici, Milan (Italy) on August 6, 2015.
We would also like to sincerely thank FAO-HQ staff particularly Jessica
Mathewson, Liliana Maldonado, Paola DiSanto, and Alessandro Spairani for their
administrative and organizational support throughout the whole publication pro-
cess. We finally would like to acknowledge the financial support of FAO.
ix
Contents
Part I Overview and Conceptual Framework
Introduction and Overview ........................................................................... 3
Solomon Asfaw and Giacomo Branca
A Short History of the Evolution of the Climate Smart
Agriculture Approach and Its Links to Climate Change
and Sustainable Agriculture Debates ........................................................... 13
Leslie Lipper and David Zilberman
Economics of Climate Smart Agriculture: An Overview ........................... 31
Nancy McCarthy, Leslie Lipper, and David Zilberman
Innovation in Response to Climate Change ................................................. 49
David Zilberman, Leslie Lipper, Nancy McCarthy, and Ben Gordon
Part II Case Studies: Vulnerability Measurements and Assessment
Use of Satellite Information on Wetness and Temperature
for Crop Yield Prediction and River Resource Planning ........................... 77
Alan Basist, Ariel Dinar, Brian Blankespoor, David Bachiochi, and
Harold Houba
Early Warning Techniques for Local Climate Resilience:
Smallholder Rice in Lao PDR ....................................................................... 105
Drew Behnke, Sam Heft-Neal, and David Roland-Holst
Farmers’ Perceptions of and Adaptations to Climate Change
in Southeast Asia: The Case Study from Thailand and Vietnam .............. 137
Hermann Waibel, Thi Hoa Pahlisch, and Marc Völker
U.S. Maize Yield Growth and Countervailing Climate
Change Impacts .............................................................................................. 161
Ariel Ortiz-Bobea
xi