May 2016: In a brief, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) has analyzed Party submissions on agriculture and adaptation as submitted to the 44th meeting of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and recommended that SBSTA should establish a work program to determine how agriculture will fit into the new climate regime.

The brief, titled ‘More holistic approaches to agriculture needed: An analysis of submissions to SBSTA 44 on agriculture and adaptation,’ identifies trends and shares emerging findings, including on holistic approaches to agriculture, traditional and local knowledge and practices, gender equity, and challenges and barriers. It calls for emphasis on critical stakeholders, such as small-scale food producers, food-insecure households and women. It highlights that separating the social and environmental aspects of adaptation measures from those that pertain to productivity, food security and resilience creates risks, and concludes that effective adaptation approaches look at multiple elements simultaneously and seek to achieve multiple objectives. The publication further recommends that women’s agency should be recognized and supported through gender-responsive strategies; and that knowledge-sharing platforms be created, to serve as channels for collaboration, capacity building and innovation, and as repositories for adaptation options.

CIFOR is a member of the CGIAR Consortium. [More holistic approaches to agriculture needed: An analysis of submissions to SBSTA 44 on agriculture and adaptation]