Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-8 (section)

===== 8.6.1.2.1 Agriculture and food production =====

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Integrated CRD approaches in agriculture, such as CSA, can reduce trade-offs and exploit synergies with biodiversity and food security to reduce the risk of climate change ( [[#Di%20Gregorio--2017|Di Gregorio et al., 2017]] ; [[#Loboguerrero--2019|Loboguerrero et al., 2019]] ). There are many technologies and approaches in agriculture that leverage synergies relevant for CRD, including agroecology ( [[#Pandey--2017a|Pandey et al., 2017a]] ; [[#Saj--2017|Saj et al., 2017]] ), CSA, climate-smart landscapes, organic agriculture mitigating climate change, conservation agriculture, ecological intensification and sustainable intensifications, which in many cases aim to address both adaptation and mitigation to climate change simultaneously ( [[#Kongsager--2018|Kongsager, 2018]] ). From these approaches, a number of scalable agriculture technologies have emerged that simultaneously achieve mitigation and adaptation goals, such as reducing water consumption while maintaining grain yield, including alternate wetting and drying irrigation technology ( [[#Liang--2016|Liang et al., 2016]] ) and aerobic rice production ( [[#Wichelns--2016|Wichelns, 2016]] ). Likewise, a number of these approaches have been supported within international and national institutional frameworks (e.g., through incentives) to harness synergies ( [[#Kongsager--2016|Kongsager et al., 2016]] ).

CSA is discussed in the scientific literature as an approach that could transform agricultural production systems and food value chains in line with sustainable development and food security under climate change. However, concerns and criticisms have been raised, such as the insufficient consideration of access to entitlements within CSA and the question who wins and loses when applying CSA in different country contexts (see [[#Karlsson--2017|Karlsson et al., 2017]] ; [[#Sain--2017|Sain et al., 2017]] ). CSA has three main objectives: sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes, adapt and build resilience to climate change, and reduce and/or remove GHG emissions ( [[#FAO--2017|FAO, 2017]] ). Various CSA technologies are capable of improving crop yields, increasing net income, increasing input-use efficiencies and reducing emissions ( [[#Khatri-Chhetri--2017|Khatri-Chhetri et al., 2017]] ). However, uptake and adoption of CSA by local farmers in poor developing countries remains a challenge ( [[#Palanisami--2015|Palanisami et al., 2015]] ) due to the difficulty of identifying and prioritising of technologies suiting local climate risks and accommodating the farming practices of locals ( [[#Dougill--2017|Dougill et al., 2017]] ; [[#Khatri-Chhetri--2017|Khatri-Chhetri et al., 2017]] ). An analysis of CSA implementation in Mali, for example, identified major challenges to policymakers’ efforts to adopt CSA, including difficulties identifying CSA options and portfolios, valuing them and prioritising investments ( [[#Andrieu--2017|Andrieu et al., 2017]] ).

Potential opportunities from CSA may also result from integration of ‘technological packages’ ( [[#Totin--2018|Totin et al., 2018]] ), which include new market structures, knowledge infrastructure and agriculture extension services, capacity-building programmes ( [[#Dougill--2017|Dougill et al., 2017]] ; [[#Totin--2018|Totin et al., 2018]] ) and institutional support for key enabling programmes, such as crop insurance, agro-advisories and rainwater harvesting ( [[#Khatri-Chhetri--2017|Khatri-Chhetri et al., 2017]] ). CSA is able—if carefully designed—to achieve transformative ‘triple wins’ for climate and development when it is accompanied by new governance architectures that are socially inclusive and respectful of traditions and livelihoods, and accommodate traditional institutions that underpin the bargaining power of the poorest and most vulnerable groups ( [[#Karlsson--2017|Karlsson et al., 2017]] ).

Conservation agriculture (CA), another framework for achieving CRD, is based on three synergistic principles: (a) soil management to reduce soil physical disturbance and reduce its degradation, (b) crop management such as residue management to protect the soil top layers and (c) genetic management to increase agricultural systems’ biodiversity and therefore their resilience ( [[#DeLonge--2017|DeLonge and Basche, 2017]] ). In the cereal systems of the Indo-Gangetic Plains, India, CA has increased crop yields, returns from crop cultivation and input-use efficiency, in spite of heat stress, while reducing GHGs emissions ( [[#Sapkota--2015|Sapkota et al., 2015]] ). However, challenges with CA are also documented in the scientific literature. For example, an evaluation of CA in Malawi noted that adoption of CA was challenged by weak integration of CA in agricultural policies, lack of institutional arrangements of promoters and farmers’ experiences ( [[#Chinseu--2019|Chinseu et al., 2019]] ).

Locally appropriate agro-ecological practices have clear potential to increase the resilience of livelihoods and enhance adaptation to climate change at field and farm levels across a wide range of contexts, often with significant mitigation co-benefits ( [[#Sinclair--2019|Sinclair et al., 2019]] ). Relatedly, agroforestry systems are the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal production systems to solve societal challenges including climate change ( [[#Raymond--2017|Raymond et al., 2017]] ). For example, in the tropics, such systems offer viable opportunities to mitigate and adapt to climate change for farmers by transitioning to resilient farming systems and improving farm economy while securing environmental benefits for local and global communities ( [[#Swamy--2017|Swamy and Tewari, 2017]] ). In Western Africa, the high plant functional diversity of agroforestry systems with a mix of trees and crops having different roles, such as shade provision, soil fertilization, fruit production or timber value, maximises benefits and allows alternative adaptation strategies ( [[#Tschora--2020|Tschora and Cherubini, 2020]] ). In spite of various benefits of agroforestry, the expansion of existing areas of agroforestry and the establishment of new agroforestry systems has remained limited ( [[#Martineau--2016|Martineau et al., 2016]] ), mainly due to a lack of institutional support, a lack of expert support to ensure adequate management, weak capacity for monitoring and regulation, and a lack of financial support ( [[#Hernández-Morcillo--2018|Hernández-Morcillo et al., 2018]] ).

The enabling conditions for the expansion of agroforestry include training and expert support programmes for managers and sharing of best practices ( [[#Ashraf--2015|Ashraf et al., 2015]] ; [[#Hernández-Morcillo--2018|Hernández-Morcillo et al., 2018]] ; [[#Tschora--2020|Tschora and Cherubini, 2020]] ). Other scalable frameworks integrating food and agriculture within CRD include sustainable intensification (SI), which emphasises sustainable practices to safeguard sustainable use of natural resources and meet the growing demand for agricultural production, while building resilience ( [[#Thierfelder--2018|Thierfelder et al., 2018]] ). Integrated agricultural systems aim to increase farm diversity and lower reliance on external inputs, enhancing nutrient cycling and increasing natural resource use efficiency ( [[#Smith--2017|Smith et al., 2017]] ), and may have the potential to enhance resilience against climate change impacts and risks ( [[#Gil--2017|Gil et al., 2017]] ). Policy frameworks that aim to integrate any of these approaches for climate action must account for the costs associated throughout the uptake and adoption process ( [[#Gil--2017|Gil et al., 2017]] ).

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