GDPRD Agriculture and Climate Change: sixth issues paper

The Global Donor Platform on Rural Development produced the sixth issues paper on agriculture and its possible role in the Copenhagen Negotiations in September 2009. This one summarises the outcomes of the UNFCCC informal Bonn meeting in August 2009, and analyses the latest negotiating texts.

It identifies the issues that the negotiations need to address on agriculture and poses a number of questions on agriculture that need to be considered. These are as follows

Important questions that need to be considered as the negotiations proceed include:

• Does agriculture have a unique role in adaptation because of its potential for mitigation and other co-benefits? If so, do we need to ensure that agriculture is included in any sectoral references or given specific mention?
• Where agriculture is mentioned, what does this mean for benefits or impact on developing countries and smallholder farmers? Does a pro-poor aspect need to be emphasised when mentioning the sector?
• Will activities under LULUCF in the second commitment period include agriculture-based activities, and will these be mandatory or voluntary?
• Should agriculture activities be in NAMAs, or the CDM, or both?
• What are the best financing mitigation mechanisms for agriculture to help reduce GHG emissions and generate co-benefits for resilience, poverty reduction and food security?
• Should agriculture be part of REDD-Plus now, should it be brought in at a later stage after further research through a separate agriculture work programme, or should a new mechanism be developed for agriculture?
• What are the technical issues (mitigation and adaptation) that a work programme on agriculture could include?

The paper also includes appendices that provide detailed analyses of the text.

NB: a glossary of some of the acroynms is as follows: LULUCF: land use, land use change and forestry | NAMAS: nationally appropriate mitigation actions | CDM: clean development mechanism | REDD: Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation | REDD plus: as above, with additional approaches focusing on conservation, sustainable management and enhancement of carbon stocks.