Editing IPCC:AR6/SRCCL/Chapter-5 (section)

==== 5.6.4.1 Agroecology ====

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Agroecology (see Glossary) (Francis et al. 2003 <sup>[[#fn:r1074|1074]]</sup> ; Gliessman and Engles 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r1075|1075]]</sup> ; Gliessman 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r1076|1076]]</sup> ), provides knowledge for their design and management, including social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions (Dumont et al. 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r1077|1077]]</sup> ). It started with a focus at the farm level but has expanded to include the range of food system activities (Benkeblia 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r1078|1078]]</sup> ). Agroecology builds systems resilience through knowledge-intensive practices relying on traditional farming systems and co-generation of new insights and information with stakeholders through participatory action research (Menéndez et al. 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r1079|1079]]</sup> ). It provides a multidimensional view of food systems within ecosystems, building on ILK and co-evolving with the experiences of local people, available natural resources, access to these resources, and ability to share and pass on knowledge among communities and generations, emphasising the inter-relatedness of all agroecosystem components and the complex dynamics of ecological processes (Vandermeer 1995 <sup>[[#fn:r1080|1080]]</sup> ).

At the farm level, agroecological practices recycle biomass and regenerate soil biotic activities. They strive to attain balance in nutrient flows to secure favourable soil and plant growth conditions, minimise loss of water and nutrients, and improve use of solar radiation. Practices include efficient microclimate management, soil cover, appropriate planting time and genetic diversity. They seek to promote ecological processes and services such as nutrient cycling, balanced predator/prey interactions, competition, symbiosis, and successional changes. The overall goal is to benefit human and non-human communities in the ecological sphere, with fewer negative environmental or social impacts and fewer external inputs (Vandermeer et al. 1998 <sup>[[#fn:r1081|1081]]</sup> ; Altieri et al. 1998 <sup>[[#fn:r1082|1082]]</sup> ). From a food system focus, agroecology provides management options in terms of commercialisation and consumption through the promotion of short food chains and healthy diets (Pimbert and Lemke 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r1083|1083]]</sup> ; Loconto et al. 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r1084|1084]]</sup> ).

Agroecology has been proposed as a key set of practices in building climate resilience (FAO et al. 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r1085|1085]]</sup> ; Altieri et al. 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r1086|1086]]</sup> ). These can enhance on-farm diversity (of genes, species, and ecosystems) through a landscape approach (FAO 2018g <sup>[[#fn:r1087|1087]]</sup> ). Outcomes include soil conservation and restoration and thus soil carbon sequestration, reduction of the use of mineral and chemical fertilisers, watershed protection, promotion of local food systems, waste reduction, and fair access to healthy food through nutritious and diversified diets (Pimbert and Lemke 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r1088|1088]]</sup> ; Kremen et al. 2012 <sup>[[#fn:r1089|1089]]</sup> ; Goh 2011 <sup>[[#fn:r1090|1090]]</sup> ; Gliessman and Engles 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r1091|1091]]</sup> ).

A principle in agroecology is to contribute to food production by smallholder farmers (Altieri 2002 <sup>[[#fn:r1092|1092]]</sup> ). Since climatic events can severely impact smallholder farmers, there is a need to better understand the heterogeneity of small-scale agriculture in order to consider the diversity of strategies that traditional farmers have used and still use to deal with climatic variability. In Africa, many smallholder farmers cope with and even prepare for climate extremes, minimising crop failure through a series of agroecological practices (e.g., biodiversification, soil management, and water harvesting) (Mbow et al. 2014a <sup>[[#fn:r1093|1093]]</sup> ). Resilience to extreme climate events is also linked to on-farm biodiversity, a typical feature of traditional farming systems (Altieri and Nicholls 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r1094|1094]]</sup> ).

Critiques of agroecology refer to its explicit exclusion of modern biotechnology (Kershen 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r1095|1095]]</sup> ) and the assumption that smallholder farmers are a uniform unit with no heterogeneity in power (and thus gender) relationships (Neira and Montiel 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r1096|1096]]</sup> ; Siliprandi and Zuluaga Sánchez 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r1097|1097]]</sup> ).

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