2. A 2015 agreement should acknowledge the importance of agriculture for food security and livelihoods and the role it can play to help meet global adaptation and mitigation goals. Agriculture should not be excluded from the commitments made by countries.

3. A draft of the 2015 agreement, released in October, notes food security as a key objective of the agreement, and does not exclude agriculture or food systems from future discussion, finance, technology transfer or capacity building. This is positive and negotiators should ensure agriculture is not excluded as the negotiating text evolves. Specific efforts should also be made to ensure linkages to sectoral issues are made clear – for example between food security and agriculture.

4. The process set up under the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) in June 2014, for submissions and workshops over the next two years, is welcome. It is progress on adaptation specifically. But it is essential to specify how SBSTA outcomes will feed into the ADP discussions so that a global framework for action from 2020 includes agriculture.

6. National policy processes, including through NAMAs and NAPAs, will work best if they combine food security, adaptation and mitigation rather than keeping the three aspects in separate tracks. Integration is needed across landscapes and food supply chains, in order to manage trade-offs effectively, particularly trade-offs between food production and mitigation goals.

7. Financing for both mitigation and adaptation must be part of climate change policies. Recent developments are positive: improvements in the Global Environment Facility’s strategy and an increase in financing stemming from ‘fast start’ finance are helping increase funding towards climate-smart agriculture. But more needs to be done. It is essential that the new Green Climate Fund (GCF) provides specific, stable, and long-term support to adaptation and mitigation in agriculture, with specific efforts targeted at women farmers and youth in agriculture.

8. There are many existing solutions to some of the known challenges of climate change that can be scaled up. These include improved soil and water management practices, better climate information services, and greater access to agricultural resources among women. Our most important challenge, as farmers and as supporters, is not to invent new practices and approaches, but to share what already works as widely as possible to create global change for the better.

9. We need to make agriculture an appealing option for young people, not only as a means of ensuring food security, but also to boost rural economies. And the decisions we make today on climate change will shape the environment in which young farmers operate in the future.

1. The work undertaken under SBSTA is very important but it needs to feed back into the ADP negotiations to be effective.

2. On identification of adaptation measures.

a. Successful adaptation measures in agriculture will need to be scaled up, in order to reach millions of smallholder farmers facing the impacts of climate change.

b. Adaptation measures in agriculture can be scaled up through: policy engagement, economic and financial incentives, value chains and private sector approaches, and information and communication technologies (ICTs).

c. Effective institutions, provision of appropriate climate finance, and information to guide investments at national and local levels are key to successful implementation.

d. Adaptation measures can inherently lead to significant mitigation co-benefits. In the context of increasing production, the opportunities for mitigation in agriculture arise mostly from (1) sequestering carbon through increased agroforestry or soil carbon, and (2) avoided emissions, including avoided deforestation.

e. Research and development is an important adaptation measure. As climates change, consistent long-term investment in research at national level – and collaboratively across countries – will pay off for adaptation at farm, agriculture sector and national food security levels.

f. Male and female farmers in developing countries have different vulnerabilities and capacities to adapt to climate change. Adaptation measures will need to include gender and social inclusion concerns if they are to achieve their objectives.

g. There is a need for capacity enhancement and decision-support tools to enable planning and implementation at national, sub-national, and local levels.

 3. On identification and assessment of agricultural practices and technologies to enhance productivity in a sustainable manner

a. Agricultural practices and technologies to enhance productivity in a sustainable manner may be applied at the farm level, dealing with basic natural resources like soil, water, crops, livestock, forest and fisheries. They may also be applied beyond the farm, such as agricultural advisories, meteorological services, and insurance.

b. In many instances, different technologies and practices will need to be combined, to realize benefits at both farm and landscape levels.

c. Agricultural practices and technologies need to be cognizant of the differences in agro-ecological zones and farming systems, and should be applied in a context specific manner.

d. Scientific and indigenous knowledge play important roles in developing appropriate practices and technologies. In some contexts scientific and indigenous knowledge can be combined to the benefit of farming communities.

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