August 19, 2022 articles
COP27: Agriculture's Role
If you have ever seen a David Attenborough documentary, then you are probably aware that our planet and the habitats and wildlife that comprise its ecosystem live in a delicate balance, one which has been under increasing strain over the last few centuries as a direct result of human progress and development. The technological and industrial advancements that have propelled our species forward over generations, while vital to our growth and evolution, have had a cost on the environment we live in, and this cost is catching up with us at an alarming rate.
The agricultural revolution ushered in an age of large-scale food production that eased the burden on society in terms of acquring a steady and ongoing supply of nutritional food sources. A pivotal moment in human history, agricultural practices catapulted our progress forwards in leaps and bounds and allowed us to form the basis for the earliest complex civilizations.
More than 12,000 years later, and we find ourselves in a situation where global food supply systems are both intricately interwoven and highly susceptible to market volatility. A person cooking a meal in Malaysia might use poultry from a local rural village, herbs grown in India, rice from paddy field crops in Thailand, and tomatoes imported from China. Our global food supply chains are interlinked and interdependent to very large degree, making disruptions in one part of the world significantly felt in others.
However, even with such an advanced food supply network at our disposal, many communities around the world still struggle to gain access to consistent supplies of healthy and nutritious food sources. African nations such as Haiti, Madagascar and Niger have been notoriously associated with food shortage issues for years now despite being such a major producer of agricultural goods themselves.
To exacerbate these issues are the growing concerns surrounding the impact that modern agricultural practices and associated food systems have had on climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions from the entire food production system account for about a quarter of global emissions, largely associated with methane escaping from cows, chemical runoffs from fertilizer and pesticide, as well as land use change activities and deforestation which release carbon into the atmosphere.
Then there is the issue of creating climate resilience within agricultural systems. Crop failures and production shortfalls are becoming increasingly prevalent due to climate related issues, with drastically shifting weather conditions and temperature fluctuations having a significantly pronounced effect on the ability of agricultural operations and food supply systems to meet rising global demand.
What are we to do in the face of these challenges that threaten to undermine the very means for our continued subsistence? Here, we will consider the issue of climate change within agricultural systems more closely and look at how cooperative global initiatives like the “Conference of the Parties” can be leveraged to improve international efforts aimed at addressing the agricultural sector’s role in promoting better climate change responsiveness.
As mentioned above, the agricultural industry is responsible for a significant portion of emissions which contribute to climate change. Collectively, the emissions from agriculture, forestry and land use constitute about 18% of global emissions, which affect all planetary boundaries and impact all 17 of the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals.
Emissions from the agricultural sector can be traced to several key areas. Land use and land use change (LULUC) account for a significant portion as half of all global land is used for agricultural purposes. When plantations and farmlands are set up, there is a resulting loss of carbon into the atmosphere from LULUC activities. These are linked to both the deforestation that takes place with the clearing of the land in question as well as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions which are released from the soil during subsequent cultivation activities.
Crop burning and rice cultivation are also associated with emissions from the agriculture sector. When crops are harvested, they often leave behind residues which farmers will burn to prepare the field for the resowing of crops, releasing carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane into the atmosphere. Methane emissions are also associated with rice cultivation, as paddy fields produce the gas through a process of anaerobic digestion which occurs due to the low oxygen content in water-logged rice fields. Nitrous oxide is also released from agricultural soil when synthetic nitrogen fertilisers are applied to them, including soils used for food production, animal feed, biofuels and non-food crops like tobacco and cotton.
Another major source of emissions from the agricultural sector are those which come from livestock and manure. Ruminant animals such as cattle and sheep produce methane when microbes in their digestive system break down food. Both nitrous oxide and methane are released in the decomposition of manure in low oxygen environments, which generally occurs in confined animal management areas such as dairy farms, beef feedlots and poultry farms.
Grassland degradation is another agricultural contributor to climate change. When an area of grassland begins to degrade, usually due to the overgrazing of livestock or human related activities in the area, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, contributing to emissions.
In addition to the above, there are also emissions which can be linked to the supply chain side of food production and distribution systems. Food processing, for instance, in which produce is converted from farming sources into final products, as well as the transportation, packaging and retail of food items, all require significant inputs of energy and resources to operate, and amount to about 18% of the emissions associated with global food production .
Major agricultural emissions are also linked to food waste, constituting about one third of total emissions associated with food systems. In 2018, the emissions produced from food waste alone recorded as much as 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2eq output for that year.
The yearly Conference of Parties (COP) meetings held as part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have been where the nations of the world have gathered to discuss the ways and means for addressing climate change since the first COP meeting was held in Germany in 1995. A significant breakthrough was reached at the COP21 gathering in Paris, in which all participating nations agreed to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to limit global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius within this century, with significant efforts being pursued to achieve a lower increment of 1.5 degrees Celsius where possible. Participating nations agreed to review their commitment every five years and provide financial assistance to developing countries to mitigate climate change, strengthen resilience and enhance their abilities to adapt to climate impacts.
Until relatively recently, the agriculture and food sectors had not featured as a prominent part of discussions at COP meetings. However, during the COP 23 gathering in Bohn, Germany, a special task force was put together called the Koronovia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA), to look specifically into the relationship between agriculture and climate change.
The KJWA was established as a new process for advancing discussions on agriculture within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and would function under the leadership of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technology Advice (SBSTA) and Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI).
The KJWA has held a series of workshops and discussions to discuss strategies for climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience in the agricultural sector, establishing a roadmap for covering relevant topics such as Soil, Water Management and Irrigation Systems, Nutrient Use and Manure Management, Livestock Management, as well as Socieconomic and Food Security Dimensions. The findings from these workshops and discussion were to be presented at the COP26 gathering for review and discussion.
The last three workshops of the KJWA were discussed at COP26 and significant agreement was reached on the topics presented. For instance, topic 2(b) concerned the methods and approaches for assessing climate adaptation, adaptation co-benefits, and resilience within agricultural systems. Here, the SBSTA and SBI noted that various tools for assessing and monitoring adaptation and its co-benefits were indeed available, however existing tools could benefit from further adjustment and new tools could be developed for country specific circumstances.
Topic 2(d) of the KJWA workshop discussions revolved around how improved nutrient use and manure management practices could support more sustainable and resilient agricultural systems. SBSTA and SBI recognised in this instance that “soil and nutrient management practices and the optimal use of nutrients, including organic fertiliser and enhanced manure management, lie at the core of climate-resilient, sustainable food production systems, and can contribute to global food security." For detailed insights into the most recent developments of the KJWA, you can visit their official FAO page here.
Thus, the KJWA has been working towards improving the understanding of how agricultural practices can be adjusted to allow for better responsiveness towards climate change through appropriate methods of adaptation and mitigation.
While COP 26 was able to receive the findings of the KJWA and bring to table relevant discussions for improving climate resilience, effective means for implementing these findings and applying the necessary measures at scale still requires the active attention of the world’s nations.
The theme for COP 27 was “Together for Implementation” and a major area of focus surrounded climate change in African countries. Although this was the central agenda, the topic of Agriculture and Food Systems was also prominently featured at COP 27 with a full day dedicated to covering the area in detail.
In moving beyond COP 27, two key areas with vast potential for improve agricultures relationship with climate change are in that of regenerative agriculture and nature-based solutions. Regenerative agriculture is essentially the practice of making use of conservation and rehabilitation methods to improve food production and farming practices. There are multiple techniques that can be applied in regenerative agriculture which are aimed at minimising the release of carbon and greenhouse gas emissions normally associated with modern, industrial farming activities.
One of the methods used in regenerative agricultural practices involves focusing on topsoil regeneration, whereby soil degradation is avoided by applying a no-till approach, as well as incorporating soil management techniques such as crop rotation. Other approaches include increasing the surrounding biodiversity, improving farmland water systems, as well as making use of bio sequestration techniques which essentially capture carbon and recycle it for use in crop cultivation. To learn more about approaches to regenerative agriculture, you can read about sustainable carbon farming in an article produced by our affiliated company here.
The other area which would benefit from greater attention at COP 27 is in that of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). Nature based solutions refer to efforts made to work in cooperation with nature to deliver benefits to people and biodiversity. These include the protection, restoration or management of natural and semi-natural ecosystems, the sustainable management of productive land or seascapes or the creation of novel ecosystems such as urban ‘green infrastructure’.
When applied to agricultural practices, NBS offers benefits from a threefold perspective. They improve the livelihood of farmers and the resilience of agriculture to climate change, enable the mitigation and adaptation to climate change through soil, wetland and forests carbon sequestration, and enhance nature and biodiversity.
Agricultural Nature Based Solutions (Ag-NBS), such as integrating native flora into cattle pastures or restoring habitats crucial to watershed health, offer vast potential to the agricultural sector for improving practices and achieving greater levels of sustainability. However, many smallholding farm operations lack the resources to make the transition over to these practices, which is why there is a need for institutional support to enable these changes to take place.
The introduction of policy instruments which reduce the associated risks and liquidity constraints involved in adopting these kinds of practices are necessary to allow the transition to occur. Sustained collaboration between NGO’s, policymakers, corporations, and public bodies is needed to ensure that transitionary mechanisms are as fluid and accommodating as possible. Investment opportunities which recognize the role of smallholders, rural communities and indigenous peoples should also be set up and funneled appropriately to reach resource poor farmers and support them in adopting Ag-NBS methods into their operations.
An associated area that is promising with regards to climate adaptation practices lies in that of Climate Information Services (CIS) and Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA). Climate Information Services essentially involves getting relevant climate information to users which can be leveraged to improved agricultural practices.
This can be achieved through various technological innovations and data gathering services dedicated towards relaying climate data such as temperature, rainfall, wind, and soil moisture to farmers and plantations owners, allowing them to augment their operations responsively to changes in climate conditions.
Climate Smart Agriculture, on the other hand refers to targeted approaches for improving agricultural practices in terms both in terms of productivity and economic viability while also ensuring that emissions are reduced, and climate resilience is achieved.
These include shifting approaches towards agricultural land use as well pre- and post-production practices which integrate the above-mentioned goals and achieve the target of higher productivity at minimal cost to the environment.One such approach is in reducing deforestation and coupling this with intensified farming of high-yielding crops, livestock and fisheries varieties. Another method lies in reducing the allocation of grains to animal feed and making more use of by-products in food processing.
Other approaches involve better soil management and practices that conserve soil carbon, restoring degraded lands, improving pest and disease management, as well as opting for high-yielding agroforestry. The improvement in the management of food reserves as well as reductions in the overconsumption of food and consumer waste are further approaches still to achieving climate resilience in agriculture.
The CSA approach also involves better governance practices over agricultural related operations, which includes safeguarding equitable rights and access for the communities that are involved and affected by agricultural practices. It also involves improving agricultural related financial services, creating effective input and product markets, enhancing learning processes and knowledge management, and introducing better social safety nets.
As an industry that has evolved over a quarter of a millennia, the agricultural sector remains a pivotal part of modern global society. It is both a central aspect of economic and socioeconomic development as well as the main source of our collective sustanence. Finding effective solutions which ensure that the ways in which we grow, process, distribute and use our food remain sustainable and climate friendly is one of the foremost challenges of our generation, and will determine the quality of life of future generations that will inherit our global food production systems in the years to come.
Ensuring that these systems remain resilient in the face of the shifting climate landscape remains a consideration that should be at the forefront of global discussions on sustainability and socioeconomic development henceforth. It is only with continued collaboration and the sharing of experiences, wisdom and knowledge that we can we find workable solutions to this great challenge of ours.
With the recent efforts made at COP 26 and as we move towards COP 27 in Egypt, the growing awareness surrounding agriculture's role with respect to climate change and a better understanding of sustainable farming techniques provide good reason to remain optimistic. As another famous Attenborough once said, “Life will find a way”.