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Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Compatible Development – Case Studies Synthesis Paper
The report identifies systemic institutional, financial, and technical barriers to climate-compatible agriculture in Kenya, Bangladesh, and Honduras, emphasizing the need for an integrated approach to adaptation and mitigation.
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Document type: Report
Addressing Financing for Agriculture: Ensuring a triple dividend for smallholders
The report examines the financing gap for smallholder farmers in developing countries, who are critical for global food security but highly vulnerable to climate change. It argues that achieving a 'triple dividend'—increased food production, improved adaptive capacity, and reduced emissions—requires a coordinated mix of public, private, and climate-specific financing. The document analyzes the limitations of current mechanisms, such as the decline in official development assistance for agriculture and the high transaction costs of carbon markets, and recommends creating national funds and enabling policy environments to support climate-smart agricultural transitions.
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Document type: Report
Leveraging Services Trade Liberalization for Enhanced Food Security in the Southern Africa Development Community
The document examines the link between services trade liberalization and agricultural productivity in the SADC region. It argues that inefficient, monopolized network services—specifically finance, transport, communications, and energy—hinder agricultural growth and food security. The author advocates for the aggressive pursuit of the SADC Services Protocol to attract investment and reduce transaction costs, thereby enabling a transition from commodity exports to value-added agro-processing.
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Document type: Briefing
Leveraging Services Trade Liberalisation for Enhanced Food Security in SADC
The document examines the link between services trade liberalisation and food security in the SADC region. It argues that inefficient, monopolised network services—specifically finance, transport, communications, and energy—hinder agricultural productivity and the development of value-added agro-processing. While SADC has focused on tariff reductions for goods, the author contends that fast-tracking the Services Protocol and improving core infrastructure is necessary to reduce transaction costs and mitigate the impact of food price shocks.
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Document type: Policy brief
Build It and They Will Come: Commitment to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ rice policy mechanisms
The paper examines the politicized nature of the rice sector in Southeast Asia, where domestic priorities and protectionism often lead to market volatility. It highlights how the 2007–2008 food price crisis drove countries toward insular strategies and 'rice sovereignty'. The authors propose that ASEAN can improve food security by enhancing the ASEAN Food Security Information System (AFSIS) for better transparency and fully actuating the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve. The document suggests that these cooperative mechanisms can build trust and stability in the international market, providing a more effective alternative to myopic domestic focuses.
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Document type: Research paper
Agriculture and Climate Change: Post-Durban issues for negotiators
The document analyzes the first official recognition of agriculture by the UNFCCC at COP 17 in Durban. It reviews submissions from 21 parties to the SBSTA, highlighting a tension between developed countries' focus on scientific mitigation and developing countries' priority on adaptation and food security. The briefing argues that agriculture requires a unique approach to emission reductions—potentially based on efficiency per unit of production—due to the necessity of increasing food supplies for a growing global population. It identifies key points of divergence, including trade implications and the role of smallholder farmers, while suggesting areas of consensus such as the link between agriculture and food security.
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Document type: Briefing
HIGH AND DRY
The report argues that genetic engineering offers limited prospects for solving agriculture's drought problems compared to traditional breeding and improved farming practices. It specifically analyzes Monsanto's DroughtGard corn, finding it provides only modest protection under moderate drought conditions and fails to improve water use efficiency. The document recommends increasing public support for non-GE breeding programs and water conservation methods.
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Document type: Executive summary
Latin America and the Caribbean in a future high ambition deal
The document analyzes the role of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations in achieving the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action at COP17 and provides recommendations for the region to maintain high ambition in climate negotiations leading up to 2015. It emphasizes the need for LAC countries to coordinate with Africa and Asia, improve communication of low-carbon successes, and link climate resilience to national interests such as food security and trade.
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Document type: Policy brief
Should We be Concerned about Competition between Food and Fuel?
The document examines the 'food versus fuel' debate, specifically analyzing how consumption mandates like the US Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) impact food prices. It notes that while intergovernmental organizations disagree on the exact percentage of price increases attributable to biofuels (ranging from 5% to 75%), there is a consensus that they play a role. The brief argues that the rigidity of these mandates and the rapid increase in production exacerbate price volatility. It recommends reducing the rigidity of consumption targets and implementing robust reporting requirements on the use of food crops as feedstocks.
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Document type: Policy brief
Extreme Outcomes: Prospects for major tipping and socially contingent events and associated economic and social costs
The document assesses 'extreme outcomes'—near-catastrophic climate events and socially contingent responses—that are often underrepresented in economic assessments. It identifies key biogeophysical tipping elements, such as the melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, and evaluates their potential to trigger severe economic losses and social instability. A high-end sea level rise scenario of 1.65m by the 2080s is estimated to cost approximately $1 trillion per year and displace millions. The brief also explores the nexus of climate change, state fragility, and forced migration, particularly in South Asia and Bangladesh, arguing that these 'wicked problems' require multiple lines of evidence and a shift toward building resilience rather than simple prediction.
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Document type: Policy brief
Craintes et espérances : la crise du modèle libéral productiviste et son alternative verte
The author analyzes the collapse of the liberal-productivist model, which combined neoliberal deregulation with a drive for continuous material growth. This model failed due to a convergence of financial debt crises and ecological constraints, specifically the 'energy-climate crisis' and food price volatility. The author proposes a 'Green Deal' characterized by a shift toward labor-intensive green investments, a reduction in working hours, and a global cooperative framework for greenhouse gas (GHG) quotas. To fund this transition, the document suggests the 'monetization of debts'—canceling or rescheduling old debts while directing new credit toward green conversion. The text warns that without a democratic, cooperative transition, the world risks repeating the 1930s' slide into fascism or totalitarianism.
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Document type: Research paper
Rising Powers, South–South Co-operation and Africa
The document examines the shift in global development dynamics, noting the rise of South–South co-operation (SSC) and the emergence of 'state capitalism', exemplified by China. It argues that while the diversification of partners offers opportunities, African nations must proactively define their developmental interests and improve negotiating capacity to avoid being exploited by rising powers seeking resources. The author recommends that Africa adopt transparency and accountability principles similar to those in North-South aid, utilize national and regional development strategies as frameworks for cooperation, and establish regional codes of conduct for investments, particularly regarding farmland and food security.
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Document type: Policy brief
Identifying opportunities for climate-smart agriculture investments in Africa
The document examines how National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans (NAFSIPs) in 14 African countries can be leveraged for climate-smart agriculture. Using a rapid screening methodology, the study finds that approximately 60% of planned activities in these plans address slow-onset climate change, while 18% address extreme events and 19% focus on mitigation. The paper concludes that all reviewed NAFSIPs have potential for both extreme event adaptation and climate mitigation, and recommends further analysis of cost-effectiveness, financing sources, and the integration of innovative climate financing mechanisms to transform these plans into climate-smart interventions.
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Document type: Research paper
Simultaneously Mitigating Near-Term Climate Change and Improving Human Health and Food Security
The authors identified 14 emission control measures targeting methane and black carbon that could reduce projected global mean warming by approximately 0.5°C by 2050. These measures are estimated to prevent 0.7 to 4.7 million premature deaths annually from outdoor air pollution and increase annual crop yields by 30 to 135 million metric tons from 2030 onwards. The economic benefits of methane reductions (USD 700 to USD 5,000 per metric ton) significantly exceed their marginal abatement costs (under USD 250). Combining these short-term pollutant controls with carbon dioxide reduction measures substantially lowers the risk of exceeding the 2°C warming threshold.
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Document type: Research paper
les enseignements du rapport SREX rédigé par le GIEC et des catastrophes en Afrique : Gestion des extrêmes climatiques
The document translates the global scientific findings of the IPCC SREX report into a regional context for Africa, emphasizing that disaster risk is increasing due to both climate change and socio-economic factors. It argues for an integrated approach that combines disaster risk management (DRM) with climate change adaptation (CCA) and sustainable development. Key regional findings include projected increases in heatwaves and droughts in Southern Africa and increased heavy precipitation in Eastern Africa. The report highlights the extreme vulnerability of coastal cities and the agricultural sector, while advocating for national legislative frameworks, early warning systems, and international financial mechanisms to build long-term resilience.
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Document type: Report
Managing Climate Extremes and Disasters in Africa: Lessons from the SREX report
The document translates the global findings of the IPCC SREX report into an African context, emphasizing that disaster risk is increasing due to both climate extremes and rising human vulnerability and exposure. It details observed and projected temperature and precipitation trends across West, East, and Southern Africa, while arguing for the integration of disaster risk management (DRM) and climate change adaptation (CCA) into national development policies. The report highlights the particular vulnerability of the agricultural sector and coastal cities, and suggests a shift from incremental to transformational changes in governance and partnerships to build long-term resilience.
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Document type: Report
Managing Climate Extremes and Disasters in the Agriculture Sector: Lessons from the IPCC SREX Report
The document highlights that the agriculture sector is exceptionally vulnerable to climate extremes due to its dependence on natural resources. It argues that disaster risk is increasing not only due to climate change but also because more vulnerable people and assets are exposed to these events. The brief advocates for a shift from short-term coping mechanisms to long-term transformational approaches, such as 'climate-smart agriculture', and emphasizes the need for integrated national disaster risk management systems that combine local knowledge with scientific data.
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Document type: Briefing
Agricultural Water Management Scenarios in the Mkindo Watershed Wami Basin, Tanzania
The report evaluates three AWM scenarios in Tanzania's Mkindo watershed: expanding small-scale irrigation and livestock storage, intensifying agriculture via pumps and drainage channels, and large-scale cash crop expansion. It finds that while technological interventions can increase yields and incomes, they often introduce conflicts between farmers and livestock keepers, environmental pollution, and social displacement.
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Document type: Report
Agricultural Water Management Scenarios in the Jaldhaka Watershed, West Bengal, India
The report examines how rural electrification and expanded independent tea production would affect stakeholders in the Jaldhaka watershed. Electrification is expected to increase crop yields and income but risks groundwater depletion and excludes those unable to afford installation. Expanded tea growing offers higher cash income but threatens food security, worker health due to chemical exposure, and downstream water availability.
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Document type: Report
Governance Innovations for Improved Phosphorus Management and Reuse -‐ Voices from the Baltic Sea Region
The report identifies a wide array of technical innovations for phosphorus capture and reuse in the Baltic Sea Region but notes they are often voluntary and under-supported by EU policy. Stakeholders generally oppose a centralised EU regulatory approach, citing a lack of confidence in administration and the need to respect regional diversity in farming systems. Instead, there is significant interest in market-based approaches to commoditise phosphorus residues and the use of stakeholder platforms to mediate between competing regional interests.
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Document type: Report