Alvin Chandra

Climate-smart agriculture: perspectives and framings

ABSTRACT This paper offers a systematic analysis of the concepts and contexts that frame the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) discourse in the academic and policy literature. Documents (n = 113) related to CSA and published in peer-reviewed journals, books, working papers, and scientific reports from 2004 to 2016 were reviewed. Three key trends emerged from the analysis: studies are biased towards global policy agendas; research focuses on scientific and technical issues; and the integration of mitigation, adaptation, and food security (the three pillars of CSA) is becoming a popular scholarly solution. Findings suggest that CSA is a fairly new concept used to describe a range of adaptation and mitigation practices without a specific set of criteria. Although CSA is often framed around the three pillars, the underlying issues constructing the discourse differ at global, developing, and developed country scales. Although there is increasing research on developing countries, particularly in relation to how CSA can transform smallholder agriculture, there is a paucity of research documenting the experiences from developed countries. The findings suggest that research on CSA needs to move beyond solely focussing on scientific approaches and only in certain geographical contexts. If CSA is to be applicable for farmers across the globe, then cross-disciplinary research that is underpinned by broad socio-economic and political contexts is essential to understand how differences in narratives might affect implementation on-the-ground in both developing and developed countries. POLICY RELEVANCE Although policy makers are increasingly supportive of the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) approach, the rhetoric has largely been developed on the basis of scientific and technical arguments. The political implications of varying perspectives have resulted in a growing divide between how developing and developed countries frame solutions to the impacts of climate change on agriculture under the 2015 Paris Agreement. Different framings are part of the explanation for why the scope of CSA is being rethought, with the scientific community redirecting attention to seeking a separate work programme under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The current policy framing of CSA will give no new policy direction unless it grounds itself in the smallholder farmer and civil society contexts.

Deconstructing vulnerability and adaptation in a coastal river basin ecosystem: a participatory analysis of flood risk in Nadi, Fiji Islands

Despite the growing discussion on vulnerability and adaptation in urban areas, there is limited research on how smaller towns and cities in Small Island Developing States are being affected by and responding to climate change impacts. This study uses fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM), field visits and semi-structured interviews with 40 stakeholders across 6 different stakeholder groups in the Nadi River Basin, Fiji Islands to identify, analyse and deconstruct climate change vulnerability and adaptation options to manage increasing flood risks. The research evidence suggests that vulnerability to floods in the basin is on the rise due to a complex mesh of three intersecting factors. Firstly, non-climatic pressures such as development, drainage, social change, agriculture, tourism growth and deforestation combine, juxtapose and interact in a rather unique way with global climate variability (interdependent systems) to increase the stress on the river and coastal ecosystems. Secondly, the most vulnerable or at-risk populations like the farmers, squatter households and in particular women within the community have weak coping capacity due to a combination of demographic and social characteristics. Thirdly, vulnerability is on the rise due to climate factors as well as the flurry of unplanned development, redevelopment and degradation of catchment resources. The research findings have implications for adaptation policies. In particular, the basin stakeholders should integrate climate change within sectorial planning processes, actively engage the vulnerable groups, promote knowledge, awareness and social learning, and invest in adaptive management across all levels of decision-making. Structural policy changes to land-use planning and insurance financing schemes are also necessary to address growing risks. These have the potential to enhance local capacities of communities to adapt to climate-induced floods and improve ecosystem integrity for resilience building.

Resolving the UNFCCC divide on climate-smart agriculture

ABSTRACT Agriculture has featured prominently in the UNFCCC technical discussions but is largely absent from the formal negotiation processes. There is also a growing divide between how developed and developing countries frame solutions to the impacts of climate change on agriculture, which is limiting recognition of solutions that integrate mitigation and adaptation opportunities, such as climate-smart agriculture.

How might adaptation to climate change by smallholder farming communities contribute to climate change mitigation outcomes? A case study from Timor-Leste, Southeast Asia

The agriculture industry is significantly exposed to the impacts of climate change, and is also responsible for contributing extensive greenhouse gas emissions. As a way of responding to both adaptation and mitigation challenges within the industry, this article examines how community-based climate change adaptation initiatives might provide mitigation outcomes in the agriculture sector in Timor-Leste. Beginning with an exploration of nation-wide institutional responses to climate change, the study utilises interviews, field observations and document analysis to examine an extensive community-based adaptation program in two districts in Timor-Leste focused on increasing the resilience of the agriculture sector and the livelihoods of poor rural farmers. Analysis of this program reveals a largely synergistic relationship between adaptation measures focused on land and water management and agriculture and their corresponding greenhouse gas mitigation potential, including co-benefits such as soil/atmospheric carbon sequestration, reduced emissions, soil nitrification and reduced use of inorganic fertilisers. Community-based adaptation programs in the agriculture sector have a significant influence on mitigation outcomes, which is often overlooked in community-based programs. The adaptation program in Timor-Leste has provided useful insights into the inter-relationships between adaptation and mitigation at the community level, which could be further supported and scaled-up in other Southeast Asia countries and elsewhere.

Climate-Smart Agriculture in Southeast Asia

Abstract This chapter presents a systematic and comparative analysis of adaptation and mitigation practices implemented in smallholder agricultural systems in two Southeast Asian countries. Our specific focus is on two Australian Aid-funded community-based adaptation programs (2012–15) implemented in the Philippines and Timor-Leste. Using mixed qualitative methods, we undertook a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between the two case studies. We identified five vital characteristics of climate-smart practices: institutional strategies, devolved financing mechanisms, knowledge, technology, and market conditions. For three of the five characteristics (institutional, finance, and market), we describe different practices and processes that were used to integrate adaptation, mitigation, and food security outcomes. In both sites, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) was associated more with addressing climate vulnerability than with mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Our findings reveal that a combination of multilevel, multiactor, and participatory on-farm and off-farm actions are more effective in advancing CSA than solely “technical” actions.