Food and Nutrition Security (FNS)

CONTEXT

The world population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050. To feed this population, food production must increase by an estimated 70 percent. Agriculture is key to addressing these challenges. At the same time, agriculture must adapt to climate change and help mitigate climate impacts.

In the face of climate change and extreme weather events which continue to have significant impacts on agricultural production, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has emerged as one important entry point in reducing the emission of greenhouse gases and building climate resilience while ensuring increases in agricultural productivity with ensuing implications on food and nutrition security.

VISION

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an approach for transforming and reorienting agricultural systems to support food security under the new realities of climate change. Widespread changes in rainfall and temperature patterns threaten agricultural production and increase the vulnerability of people dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods, which includes most of the world’s poor. Climate change disrupts food markets, posing population-wide risks to food supply. Threats can be reduced by increasing the adaptive capacity of farmers as well as increasing resilience and resource use efficiency in agricultural production systems. 

CSA promotes coordinated actions by farmers, researchers, private sector, civil society and policymakers towards climate-resilient pathways through four main action areas: 

(1) building evidence;
(2) increasing local institutional effectiveness;
(3) fostering coherence between climate and agricultural policies; and
(4) linking climate and agricultural financing.

CSA differs from ‘business-as-usual’ approaches by emphasizing the capacity to implement flexible, context-specific solutions, supported by innovative policy and financing actions.

MISSION

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an approach that helps guide actions to transform agri-food systems towards green and climate resilient practices. CSA supports reaching internationally agreed goals such as the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. It aims to tackle three main objectives: sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes; adapting and building resilience to climate change; and reducing and/or removing greenhouse gas emissions, where possible.

OBJECTIVES

• CSA is positively associated with land productivity.
• CSA is also positively associated with food security.
• The bundled use of CSA practices offers greater land productivity and food security gains.
• Adoption of climate-smart varieties stands out in all CSA combinations.
• CSA adoption has the potential to benefit non-adopters should they adopt.

For more information the CSAYN FNS Program Contact the programme lead: Lightness Hibone >>>