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Agriculture and climate change are connected in two ways.
On the one hand, climate change is posing a great threat to agriculture. Water scarcity, extreme rains and changing climatic conditions have a negative impact on plant growth, contribute to soil erosion and lead to lower yields and a decrease in the diversity of plant species. Because of climate change, it will be a great challenge to ensure food security for the world's population, which will grow from about 7.5 billion to approximately ten billion people by the middle of this century.
But agriculture is also a major contributor to global warming. Growing demand for agro-industrial products such as palm oil, soya (for animal feed), beef and rubber has made agriculture the number one driver of deforestation. Wetlands, too (such as marshes, floodplains and bogs, all of which are significant carbon sinks), often have to make way for agricultural land use. "No more land conversion" must be the top principle when it comes to climate change mitigation in agriculture.
In addition, agricultural production must be made more sustainable. For example, livestock farming and certain production methods such as paddy cultivation of rice release the greenhouse gas methane, which is about 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere. Excessive use of fertilisers and certain forms of tillage are also detrimental to the climate. What is needed is diversified, site-appropriate production systems that take account of nutrient cycles.
Global eating habits and consumption patterns also have an impact on the level of emissions from agriculture. About one-third of all food that is produced globally spoils along the supply chain or is thrown away. Meat production is a leading cause of deforestation in South America's rainforests. More and more natural vegetated areas are converted into agricultural land to grow feedstuffs such as soya and to raise cattle.
However, agriculture also has a great deal of potential for climate change mitigation. Greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced significantly through sustainable farming and good agro-ecological practices such as the use of organic fertiliser and site-specific crop rotation, and through conservation agriculture and improved feed for livestock. Moreover, healthy soils are able to store large quantities of atmospheric carbon that has been absorbed through plants. Worldwide, soils store about five times as much carbon as above-ground biomass.
Thus, climate change mitigation in agriculture must include the following actions:
- Stop land conversion
- Move to site-specific, diversified production system and close nutrient cycles
- Reduce post-harvest losses and food waste
- Change people's eating habits and consumption patterns
Rising temperatures lead to lower productivity
The rise in global temperatures will have a serious impact on agricultural production, and it will have considerable negative effects on food security in many developing countries. For example, it is expected that productivity per unit of area in sub-Saharan Africa will decline by up to 27 per cent by 2080 as a result of climate change.
This means that there is a need for ambitious action for adaptation to climate change in the agricultural sector. The type of action will have to be defined in line with the specific context. At the level of small farms, this can mean building organic matter in the soil through mulching and composting; planting local, adapted varieties; using water resources more efficiently; and planting several kinds of plants in one field instead of monocultures. But it can also mean adjusting livestock density to feed production or rotating livestock between pastures in a different way. Agricultural practices that are based on agro-ecological principles have proven particularly successful with a view to enhancing small farmers' resilience to climate change. However, agriculture must not be viewed in isolation. It is part of food systems, has to preserve the natural environment and must not break down when there are extreme weather events or sudden price fluctuations.
Many actions in the agricultural sector enhance resilience to climate change while simultaneously reducing emissions. For example, efforts to increase terrestrial carbon sequestration improve the capacity of the soil to take up humidity, and the land becomes less prone to erosion. Improving the level of energy efficiency in the agricultural and food industry has the same kind of multiple benefits.
The path-breaking decision on agriculture taken at the 2017 climate conference in Bonn (Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture) paved the way for a stronger focus on agriculture and food security in international climate negotiations. The decision is intended to bring about practical progress, through workshops, on particularly important topics such as climate change adaptation and resilience and socioeconomic aspects of food security. The 2018 climate conference at Katowice saw the founding of the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA), to which the BMZ is making active contributions, especially in the field of agriculture, food security and rural livelihoods. The GCA is preparing the ground for bold, transformative action to improve farmers' living conditions and make global food systems more resilient. Achieving these goals is a challenging task.
Fostering a climate-resilient, low-emission agricultural sector
In order to ensure food security in times of climate change, higher agricultural productivity will not be enough. There is also a need to enhance farmers' capacity to better adapt to the consequences of climate change.
Using organic fertiliser and introducing site-specific crop rotation and agroforestry systems are just a few ways in which smallholder farms can become more resilient to climate change.
In the agricultural sector in particular, it is important to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, for instance by preventing agriculture-related deforestation, the conversion of wetlands into agricultural land, and the burning of crop residue.
All this goes far beyond new technologies and practices. In order to achieve higher productivity and food security while simultaneously enhancing farmers' resilience and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there is a need for a holistic view of landscapes, ecosystems, markets and food systems.
Agro-ecological approaches – one answer to climate change
In many places, food production that is based on detrimental farming methods, the expansion of agricultural land and intensive farming are the leading cause of the destruction of ecosystems and are a source of emissions that contribute to climate change. These developments can be halted through an acro-ecological approach based on agricultural practices that preserve ecosystems and reduce emissions.
Acro-ecological farming offers solutions with regard to both adaptation and mitigation. It facilitates the efficient and sustainable use of resources and is often less vulnerable to water shortages and difficult weather conditions. This means that compared with conventional farming, it enhances climate resilience. And it opens up opportunities for reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. For instance, green manure and the use of compost improve soil fertility and simultaneously reduce land degradation, which also improves soil resilience against extreme weather events. As a result, inputs such as mineral fertiliser can be reduced, which in turn leads to lower emissions and less pressure on stressed ecosystems.
But an agro-ecological approach goes even further. With regard to our food system, political reforms are needed that are based on an agro-ecological perspective. This includes participatory land use planning and spatial planning, so that agricultural regions will offer good living conditions and provide good and sufficient food for all.
Climate change affects all sectors
Agriculture is directly affected by climate change and must find further answers to this challenge. That is why many agricultural projects under German development cooperation focus on related challenges, for instance the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), to which the BMZ has contributed 33 million euros.
The Programme is geared towards strengthening the resilience of eight million smallholder farmers in more than 40 countries. One key factor for the success of the Programme is the close attention which IFAD is giving, throughout all its investment projects and country strategies, to both the risks and the opportunities involved in climate change.
Agricultural sector is key to partner countries' climate targets
The BMZ supports the climate policies of its partner countries, especially their efforts to implement their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). In nearly all cases, country NDCs include priority actions that are related to agriculture. Adaptation to climate change plays an especially big role in this context, but countries have also adopted NDCs for climate change mitigation in agriculture.
The BMZ supports, among other things, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) run by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), which seeks to support African countries in achieving their Nationally Determined Contributions in agriculture, and the BMZ supports the work on climate change and agriculture pursued in the NDC Partnership.
Research and (digital) information systems
Especially with regard to rural regions, developing countries often lack reliable weather and climate data that would enable them to recognise changes at an early point. They also often lack site-specific data on soils and information on functional processes in plants, and they lack institutional capacity. However, such data is necessary in order to create models of the impact of climate change on agricultural production. In places where such data exists, small farmers and other stakeholders often have no access to it or do not even know about it, and too little use is made of the data for the planning of agricultural activities.
The BMZ is helping its partner countries to close these knowledge gaps, for example through a programme for climate-smart livestock farming, which assists partners in East Africa in related efforts, for instance their efforts to improve their procedures for measuring greenhouse gas emissions from livestock farming. This can help them to show whether their mitigation activities are really effective.
Better protection against climate risks and harvest loss
Poor smallholders are particularly affected when crops are destroyed by droughts, storms or floods. The BMZ therefore supports the development of climate risk insurance schemes in the agricultural sector under the InsuResilience initiative, including through the insurance programmes of the African Risk Capacity (ARC).
The BMZ also supports efforts for better food storage and transport so as to reduce post-harvest losses, and efforts to improve market access so as to increase farmers' incomes and enhance their resilience. Innovations based on renewable energy such as solar-powered irrigation and cooling systems are not only good for the climate, they are also particularly suitable for remote regions with limited access to energy.
Videos on the topic of "Agriculture and climate change"
- Drought resilience: Immediate measures and long-term solutions
- Innovative cultivation methods in Bolivia
- Climate change and the apple harvest in Bolivia
- Ethiopia: Food security through irrigation
- Ethiopia: Making fields fertile again
Immediate measures and long-term solutions
Droughts are devastating natural disasters. They have caused the death of millions, destroying livelihoods across all continents. They are often linked with local conflicts, triggering forced migration of the poorest. And with global climate change progressing rapidly, droughts are predicted to increase in frequency, duration and severity.
This film not only highlights these problems but also puts forward possible solutions aimed at establishing greater drought resilience in the affected regions.
The film was produced under the auspices of the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), with funding from German development cooperation.
Innovative farming methods
Farmers in Bolivia grow apples and other fruit, including strawberries. In that region, this is only possible thanks to innovative, modern farming methods that use water sparingly. (Video in German)
Climate change and the apple harvest
As a result of climate change, apples in Bolivia's highlands ripen too quickly and farmers cannot ship them at the right time. Then again, a cold spell may hit all of a sudden and destroy the entire crop. (Video in German)
From pastoralism to farming
In an interview with Tom Wlahischa, former livestock herder Fatouma shows her fields and banana plants and talks about how difficult it had become for her to make a living by keeping livestock, as the animals were suffering under the frequent droughts. Over several years, she learned how to use specific irrigation techniques. Now she is able to feed her family and even further relatives thanks to her farming.
From dependency to self-sufficiency
In an interview with Tom Wlahischa, Woda explains how his village managed to overcome its dependency on food shipments. People from the community worked together to create terraced slopes, start plantations and set up irrigation systems. The village, which 20 years ago was going to be relocated due to excessive drought, now is able to harvest three crops a year.