- Climate-smart agriculture, or CSA, is an approach to food production that can improve productivity, increase resilience to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- At scale, these practices have the potential to feed the planet.
- Scaling up will require massive stakeholder engagement, cooperation and investment on every level.
With the world’s population estimated to hit 9.8 billion by 2050 – a 2 billion increase over the next 30 years – our current food production systems face an enormous challenge, made even more daunting by climate change. Experts say agriculture must increase its output by a startling 50% in the next 30 years – while halving its carbon footprint.
To address the world’s ballooning food needs in the midst of a worsening climate crisis, we must dramatically scale up climate-smart agriculture (CSA), an approach to food production that can improve productivity, increase resilience to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
And it’s possible. As we have learned from implementation for over a decade in Africa and at the farm level around the world, localized CSA practices have the potential for far-reaching positive impacts on the global food system when scaled.
Localizing CSA efforts
Understanding the specific current and future risks that climate change poses to agricultural lands and commodities – based on geography – is a critical first step towards reorienting agricultural production. Farmers can then use localized, climate-smart measures to address these risks. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations asserts that CSA allows producers to sustainably increase productivity and incomes, adapt and build resilience to the changing climate, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Ultimately, it’s a nature-positive production approach leveraging best management practices, spun through a climate change lens and tailored to specific crops, regions and ecosystems.
Read the rest here: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/why-we-must-scale-up-climate-smart-agriculture-csa-climate-hunger-population-resilience/