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This policy brief examines the potential for carbon markets to provide finance for climate-resilient smallholder farmers in Africa. It argues that while carbon markets can fund climate-smart agricultural practices that improve soil health and food security, significant barriers—including strict credit requirements, high costs, and a lack of localized research—currently limit participation. The document calls for policymakers to move away from 'one-size-fits-all' regulations and instead prioritize frameworks that value non-carbon co-benefits like nutrition and economic development.

This briefing examines the balance between using agricultural land for biofuel production and maintaining soil organic carbon. It highlights that while biofuels can substitute fossil fuels, the carbon lost from soil during land conversion or residue removal can offset these gains. Specifically, it cites research indicating that land set-asides for carbon sequestration can be more effective for climate mitigation than corn-ethanol production over a 40-year period, and notes that tropical soils are especially vulnerable to carbon loss.

This report examines the environmental impacts of land use change (LUC) in the La Plata Basin, with a specific focus on the Brazilian Cerrado. It analyzes how the expansion of international commodities, forestry, cattle ranching, and biofuel crops—particularly sugarcane—affects soil carbon stocks and overall soil quality. The document highlights the role of agricultural technology in enabling this expansion and evaluates different management practices, such as no-tillage and the elimination of pre-harvest burning, to mitigate carbon loss and soil degradation.

This report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) argues for an integrated approach to climate change in the agriculture sector, moving away from treating mitigation and adaptation as separate policy goals. It identifies specific agricultural management practices that provide a 'triple dividend' of increased food security, improved adaptive capacity, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, while outlining the financial, institutional, and technical barriers to their adoption.

This research paper by the World Resources Institute uses a national agro-environmental production model to analyze the environmental and economic consequences of creating a market for corn stover to support the ethanol industry. The study warns that harvesting agricultural residues for feedstock can increase soil erosion and greenhouse gas emissions, challenging the sustainability of harvest levels suggested in some government reports.