by Neil Palmer

Every once in a while you hear a stat that’s potentially a game-changer.

And if I’m perfectly honest, I really wasn’t expecting it during Roundtable Discussion Seven, “Achieving Emissions Reductions: new tools, technologies and practices across the agro-food chain,” at Agriculture, Landscapes and Livelihoods Day 5.Get the Big Facts on GHG emissions from the food production system

The aim of the session was to showcase some of the new ways of calculating the greenhouse gas emissions in various food production systems, in order to make the most effective interventions.

And that’s when one of the panelists and presenters, Simon Aumônier, of UK firm Environmental Resources Management, stepped up to the podium.

Simon has been doing a lot of work on the greenhouse gas hotspots of a range of food products over the course of their life cycles. That means he tries to establish which part of the journey from seed to plate results in the most GHG emissions.

So I was surprised when he explained that in the UK,  a full life cycle analysis revealed that the kind of egg with the lowest carbon footprint was in fact… free range.

Read the full story: Greenhouse gas hotspots, boiling points, and thinking outside the…egg carton – CCAFS Blog

Neil Palmer is a Public Awareness officer at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). He reported live from Agriculture, Landscapes and Livelihoods Day 5 on 3 December in Doha, Qatar.

by Cecilia Schubert

As part of Meine van Noordwijk’s quest to get people engaged in both adaptation and mitigation activities the word “mitigadaptation” came into play.

Get the Big Facts on links between adaptation and mitigation.

Created during a brainstorming session in Kenya, it didn’t take long before people soon realized that “miti” in Kiswahli also means trees. Need less to say, the word got good reviews when introduced, simply because it makes sense to people in Kenya. The word in one go implies that adaptation and mitigation are two sides of the same coin. And important when building a sustainable landscape. More importantly, people could relate and envision the practices because of the chosen wording that is linked to the local language.

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by Olive Thiong’o

“What is visible on the ground is that farmers are already adapted somewhat. But we need them to remain robust, even when challenges hit them,” stressed Arame Tall, researcher with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Arame was speaking at the round table session Dialogue on Scaling Up Risk Management for Food Security and Agriculture held during Agriculture, Landscapes and Livelihoods Day (ALL5).

What emerged from the discussions is that when it comes to climate risk management index-based insurance is no silver bullet, in spite of its popularity. But instead risk management requires a combination of approaches. Integration of risk management with social protection; setting up regional or multi-country risk pools where possible; distributing risks and rewards across the value chain; and using a participatory dialogue process to include all actors, are other plausible options to upscale risk management.

Read the full story: Climate insurance only part of the risk-reduction puzzle – CCAFS blog

Olive Thiong’o is a communications officer with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) in East Africa. She reported live from Agriculture, Landscapes and Livelihoods Day 5 on 3 December in Doha, Qatar.

by Daisy Ouya

To feed a burgeoning global population, agricultural production has to more than double in the coming four decades, and it must do so within the expected climate-change-related stresses. Can this growth in production happen in a way that keeps greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide, methane and others) to a minimum? And can it at the same time help farmers adapt to worsening climates? Continue reading →

by Rachel Friedman

Funding is always a prominent topic of discussion, and often a sensitive issue at such international gatherings as the UNFCCC COP18. Commitments made by member countries usually have some financial strings attached, and the question is largely ‘who will pay, how much, and for what?’ At Agriculture, Landscapes, and Livelihoods Day (ALL) the issue surfaced continuously over the course of the day – more money for technology transfer; more for neglected areas of research (climate impacts on pollination, pests, and disease); more for farmers. To manage overlapping objectives related to food security and nutrition, development, environment, and climate, there was undeniable agreement that increased and more efficient funding is necessary. Continue reading →