9 May 2012: Ahead of the first UNFCCC climate change negotiations since the Durban Climate Change Conference concluded in South Africa at the end of 2011, the Economics and Policy Innovations for Climate-Smart Agriculture (EPIC) Programme at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released a note that aims to help participants follow the UNFCCC agenda items relevant to agriculture.

Titled “Roadmap to Agriculture at the UNFCCC Climate Talks,” the note underscores that agriculture has been discussed under the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA), and that a proposed work programme on agriculture under the AWG-LCA has not been agreed upon.

It highlights that, at its 36th session, to be held from 14-25 May 2012, in Bonn, Germany, SBSTA will address agriculture under agenda item 9 (Issues relating to agriculture). Other agenda items relevant for agriculture include: agenda item 4 (guidance relating to REDD); agenda item 10(c) (guidelines for measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of domestic Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs); and agenda item 11(c) (land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF)). Under the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), agenda items relevant for agriculture include: item 5 (NAMAs); agenda item 8 (national adaptation plans); and agenda item 9 (approaches to address loss and damages). Under the AWG-LCA, the following agenda items are relevant for agriculture agenda item 3(b)(iii) on NAMAs; agenda item 3(b)(iv) on cooperative sectoral approaches; and agenda item 3(b)(v) on market approaches, as well as those on finance and technology. .

FAO underlines that agriculture will be most directly discussed under the SBSTA’s issues relating to agriculture with the aim of recommending a decision for the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 18), scheduled to take place at the end of 2012, in Doha, Qatar. Submissions on agriculture to SBSTA 36 have been received from Bolivia, Burundi, China, Costa Rica, Denmark on behalf of the EU, Gambia on behalf of the least developed countries (LDCs), Iran, Japan, Malawi, New Zealand, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Swaziland on behalf of the African Group, Switzerland on behalf of the Environmental Integrity Group, Uganda, the US, Tanzania, Uruguay and Zambia. A key question is whether a work programme may be established at COP 18. The Bonn Climate Change Conference will take place from 14-25 May 2012, at the Maritim Hotel, in Bonn, Germany. [Publication: Roadmap to Agriculture at the UNFCCC Climate Talks]