Mitigating Climate Change Through Agriculture

Among the major challenges currently faced by humanity are food security and climate change. Agriculture plays a significant role in both. Adapting to climate change is expected to be an increasing issue for agriculture and food security in the next decades. At the same time, agriculture is part of the solution in mitigating climate change: by both reducing and sequestering terrestrial greenhouse gas emissions, interventions in agriculture can reduce human caused net emissions of greenhouse gases. This significant contribution can be achieved not only without jeopardizing food security but also while promoting sustainable development. However, significant hurdles stand in the way of scaling up beneficial practices. Implementing the right policies will be key to overcoming these hurdles. Reforms are especially required in the areas of land tenure, support for agricultural inputs and international trade policies. The central players in driving a response to climate change are farmers – managing the land –, and the food industry – influencing the choice of crops, products consumed, quality standards and the path to profitability. The financial sector has a clear role to play in scaling up the investment for climate-smart agriculture. Consumers’ behaviour is also crucial. URL:[http://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/DBR_INTERNET_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000278568/Mitigating+climate+change+through+agriculture%3A+An+untapped+potential.pdf]