FAO’s Work on Climate Change

Fred Snijders Senior Natural Resources Officer Climate and Environment Division

Contributes to FAO’s Global Goal:

eliminating hunger, food insecurity and

malnutrition

• Addressing key challenges:

– Increasing demand for food;

– Dietary changes;

– Diminishing growth rates of yields;

– Increasing pressure on natural resources;

– Impact of climate change (growing conditions, extreme

events).

Contributes to FAO’s Global Goal: eliminating hunger, food insecurity and

malnutrition • Our responses:

- Increase, in a sustainable manner, productivity and income

growth in agriculture;

- Support adaptation across the agricultural sectors to expected

climatic changes;

- Build resilience both to short and long-term changes and extreme

weather events;

- Reduce, where possible, the greenhouse gas emission intensity of

production systems.

Contributes to FAO’s Global Goal: eliminating hunger, food insecurity and

malnutrition

• Two key areas of work in FAO aim at an integrated

response:

- Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA)

- Resilience to natural hazards and resulting disasters

CSA: An approach to help guide actions to transform and re-

orient agricultural systems to effectively and sustainably

support food security under the new realities of climate

change.

Levels of activities:

• At the global level: international

- Support to international governance mechanisms that assist in

the transformation of the agricultural sectors towards becoming

more climate-smart.

Involvement in UNFCCC processes, including technical

submissions, the Global Alliance on Climate-Smart Agriculture,

Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), GRA, etc.

Submissions to UNFCCC 2016

• A-TEP: Concrete opportunities for strengthening resilience,

reducing vulnerabilities and increasing the understanding and implementation of adaptation actions

• SBSTA 44

- Submission C: Identification of adaptation measures

- Submission D: Identification and assessment of agricultural practices and technologies

• Excom of the Warsaw International Mechanisms for Loss and Damage: Best Practices, challenges and lessons learned from existing financial instruments at all levels that address the risk of loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change.

Levels of activities:

• At the global level: normative/knowledge products

- Identification and assessment of technological, management and

policy options for climate change adaptation and mitigation under a

climate-smart agriculture approach.

Often through involvement in country (pilot) activities to test and develop

the norms, standards, approaches, methodologies, the basic data;

o Harnessing and sharing FAO’s technical knowledge as a specialized

technical agency

FAO’s technical knowledge

FAO’s technical knowledge

FAO’s technical knowledge

FAO’s technical knowledge

FAO’s technical knowledge

CSA Tools to inform action

ExACT GLEAM SHARP MOSAICC

Levels of activities:

• At the country level:

- Technical support and capacity development of key institutions and

organizations to provide the essential support for the sustained

implementation and uptake of locally appropriate climate-smart

production systems.

Our technical on-the-ground work, may include Farmer Field Schools,

support to extension services, etc.

Climate Change interventions contained in e.q. INDC’s and NAPs are

realized through implementation of adaptation actions, NAMA’s., etc

Levels of activities:

• At the country level:

- Support to countries in creating the required policy, financial and enabling environment, which provides women and men farmers, foresters and fisher folk the knowledge and access to resources and services necessary to transition to sustainable, climate change resilient and economically viable production systems.

The CSA approach as developed through FAO’s EPIC programme

Assessment of climate change impact, create the evidence base, economically, socially and environmentally, stakeholder consultation, identification of barriers and trade-offs for adoption, resulting in formulation of policy recommendation, of investment proposals for large-scale implementation on-the-ground. Cross-sectoral!

Levels of activities:

• At the country level:

- Support countries in the preparation of, and readiness for, UNFCCC

related planning, implementation, reporting and financing

mechanism and opportunities that contribute to the transformation

to climate-smart agriculture.

REDD+, GHG inventories and BUR’s, formulating NAMA’s and related MRV,

and now: readiness for GCF and INDCs, as well as GEF.

Financing is crucial for large-scale transformation of agricultural systems

and the GCF offers a wide range of opportunities that need to be explored

Levels of activities:

• At the country level:

– Support to countries to ensure that the agricultural sectors and the

CSA approach are included in the mid to long-term development

planning processes and investment decisions.

o Includes National Agriculture Investment Planning and programs;

o National Adaptations Plans (NAPs) – agriculture aspects

Much country work, in particular at the policy and planning level is partly

overlapping and strongly complementary to other country work.

National Adaptation Plans

NAPs are a crucial element in our response to Climate Change.

Integrating agriculture into NAPs is vital. Over 95 % of countries that included

an adaptation section in iNDCs give an important place to agriculture

It is crosses all agricultural sectors, covering crops, livestock, forestry,

fisheries and aquaculture, depending on country conditions

Adaptation should be realized within the larger framework of food security,

in all its dimensions and based on proper assessments of impacts and

options

Should be done in full dialogue with all relevant players in a range of

Ministries

FAO stands ready to support countries and to apply its this wide area of

knowledge, tools and expertize

Thank you