Agriculture: from Problem to Solution Achieving the Right ... - Misereor

4Agriculture: from Problem to Solution - Achieving the Right to Food in a Climate-Constrained WorldDespite historical overall boosts in production in the last 50 years, hunger is increasing.Today we produce 17 percent more calories per day per person than we did 30 years agoin spite of a 70 percent population increase, 10 yet increases in yields have not automaticallytranslated into food security. Hunger is not just a matter of insufficient production, andthe question of unequal access is crucial as far as food security 11 is concerned.The ‘Price Volatility and Food Security’ Report (2011) 12 by the Committee on World FoodSecurity (CFS) High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on Food Security and Nutrition statedthat there is “no need to boost agricultural growth [but rather an] urgent need to guidethat growth towards long-term food security”. The question is: how can we redirectagriculture to serve its social, economic and ecological function in a sustainable way? Forthis to happen, we believe there is a need to forge sustainable development pathwayswhich will redirect the role of agriculture to the service of society and to build diverseand resilient food production systems which contribute to food security, social equity andenvironmental regeneration.Finally, there is also an urgent need to question our current consumption and productionmodels which are not only unsustainable from an agricultural perspective but also amajor driver of climate change. It is imperative to put an end to highly emitting economiesin general, and to place the finitude of natural resources at the centre of our economicsystem. As such, developed countries must start to drastically reduce their emissions,notably in the agricultural sector, and support developing countries to take low emissionsdevelopment pathways.In this light, this paper sets out key recommendations for decision makers, targetingparticularly the negotiations on agriculture within the Subsidiary Body for Scientific andTechnical Advice (SBSTA) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) and the round table on food security and climate change at the 39 th sessionof the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), as these are the two most legitimateintergovernmental bodies dealing with climate change and food security respectively.A real change of direction is urgently needed and long overdue. CIDSE calls for thefollowing principles, which are presented in detail in this paper, to guide future policydirection:• Right to food approach; removing concepts of charity and emphasising the moral andlegal obligation to ensure that all people have the capacity to feed themselves in dignity.• Harnessing agriculture’s role in reducing poverty; as the principle economic sectorof most developing countries, agriculture constitutes the main source of livelihood forthe majority of the world’s poor. States have an obligation to protect and fulfil theright to adequate food for their populations, and consequently, to support their localagricultural sector in a way that responds to the needs of the most vulnerable.

5• Respect for Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR); a principle whichtranslates the joint responsibility of the international community for environmentaldamages resulting from human activities in a way that reflects countries’ respectivecontributions to GHG emissions, the way they are impacted by those emissions, andtheir respective abilities to cope with the impacts.• Science integrity and precautionary principle; the scientific knowledge provided byintergovernmental scientific bodies on climate change and its environmental and socioeconomicimpacts must be the basis of political action.In this paper CIDSE also presents six detailed recommendations to policy makers onclimate and agricultural issues.Recommendations:} Invest in small-scale food production} Support sustainable models of production} Beware of false solutions – agriculture in carbon markets and agrofuels 13} Secure access to land, natural resources and the commons} Align finance, trade and agriculture policies to realise the right to adequate food} Change consumption patterns and reduce food waste and post-harvest loss

7in the context of climate change, and theimportance of the participation of thoseaffected in developing and implementingresponses. An approach centred on therespect of human rights will also ensure ananalysis that identifies people and groupsthat are particularly vulnerable to foodinsecurity and the specific barriers theyface, including, for example, women.2. Poverty Alleviation andthe Socio-Economic Roleof AgricultureThe importance of the agricultural sector topoverty alleviation is significant. Agriculturerepresents a larger share of the economy inthose countries with the highest percentageof poor and undernourished people. Asthe principle economic sector of mostdeveloping countries, it constitutes themain source of livelihood for the majorityof the world’s poor. The rural poor areparticularly dependent on the agriculturalsector, either on a subsistence level or forincome to meet household needs.However, to encourage growth in thissector, and to face the lack of financing bythe international community, governmentsin developing countries have been turningincreasingly to private sector actors and theforeign direct investment 17 they provide forsolutions, the latter becoming a commonlyaccepted measure of how we define‘success’ in development. There are majorconcerns with such an approach becausethe short-term, profit-seeking objectives ofsome powerful businesses do not addressthe multi-functionality of agriculture,including factors such as povertyreduction, environment preservation andterritorial development, amongst others.Moreover, standards for transnationalprivate companies’ activities with regardsto their impacts on human rights, andtheir enforcement, are still very much awork in progress. This is a major issue, asforeign direct investments by transnationalcompanies can lead to land and naturalresources’ grabbing, which compromisethe human rights of local communities.One major risk of this increased rolegiven to private sector actors is the useof public funds to subsidise the interestsof certain businesses at the expense oflocal populations. Hunger should not beperceived as a business opportunity – totake a recent example reported in the press,for arbitrage in relation to food pricesinduced by the 2012 US drought. 18 Hungerand poverty eradication are first andforemost a responsibility of governmentsthemselves. States have an obligation toprotect and fulfil the right to adequate foodfor their populations, and, consequently, toAgroecological farming methods include: agroforestry, biological control (controllingpests and diseases with natural predators), water harvesting methods, intercropping,green manure cover crops, mixed crop and livestock management, and many otherpractices. One feature uniting all of the above advances is the low use of external inputs.To put agroecological technologies into practice requires technological innovations,agriculture policy changes and socio-economic changes, but mostly a deeper understandingof the complex long-term interactions among resources, people and their environment.To attain this understanding, agriculture must be conceived of as an ecological system aswell as a socio-economic system.From: Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (UCSC), www.agroecology.org.

9Recommendations forClimate and Agriculture policiesThe Committee on World Food SecurityThe Committee on World Food Security (CFS), as the foremost inclusive international andintergovernmental platform dealing with food security and nutrition, is the legitimatepolicy-making organ which should guide international efforts to ensure coherence andavoid fragmentation. Climate and agriculture features high on the agenda of the 39 thsession of the CFS in October 2012, where a policy roundtable has been devoted todiscussing the issue. We thus urge the CFS to take into consideration the findings of theHigh Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition Report on ‘Food security andclimate change’ (2012), in addition to our policy recommendations detailed below.The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeThe consideration of agriculture in the United Nations Framework Convention on ClimateChange (UNFCCC) falls under the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and TechnologicalAdvice (SBSTA). In its decision 2/CP17, the Conference of the Parties (COP) decidedin Durban (2011) to mandate the SBSTA to consider issues related to agriculture in thecontext of “cooperative sectoral approaches and sector specific actions, to enhance theimplementation of article 4, paragraph 1(c) of the Convention”, 21 with a view to a decisionat COP18. The establishment of a work programme on agriculture is one of the optionsconsidered in terms of taking the issue forward.It is important to note that CIDSE rejects any work programme in the UNFCCC under theSubsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) which does not addressthe urgent adaptation challenges and the need for financial and structural support tosustainable farming practices first and foremost. It is crucial that the proposal for a workprogramme on agriculture within the UNFCCC does not lead to mitigation measuresonly, or place additional pressure on small-scale food producers via inadequate climatepolicies. Addressing agriculture in a new dedicated framework may undermine the validefforts already being undertaken in regards to agriculture adaptation within the UNFCCCframework, such as the Nairobi work programme and the work programme on lossand damage. The interconnection of food production with social, environmental andeconomic issues must be integrated into UNFCCC policies.Based on the four principles outlined earlier, CIDSE’s key recommendations to guideagriculture and climate policy are as follows:Recommendation 1Invest in small-scale foodproductionInvestment in small-scale food producersvia agroecological approaches can realisemultiple dividends, simultaneouslyincreasing production, food and incomesecurity, enhancing resilience to climaterelatedand other livelihoods shocks, andreducing agriculture’s contribution to thegreenhouse gas emissions. 22To reduce vulnerabilities and increase thecapacity to adapt, power structures thatmade people vulnerable in the first placemust be challenged. For example, if theproblem of food insecurity is caused byfarmers not being able to afford farminginputs or having too insecure land tenureto have an incentive to invest in it, food aidor provision of better climate informationwill do nothing to reduce vulnerability.

11the delivery of new and additional publicclimate finance.• Fill the UNFCCC frameworks, such as theNairobi work programme and the workprogramme on loss and damage, withpolitical investment, content and money.To this end, it would be more efficientto consolidate these efforts beforedeveloping any new framework thatmight only make the negotiations evenmore complex than they already are.• Implement participatory mechanismsin the SBSTA (similar to those found inthe CFS) to ensure that the needs, viewsand experiences of small-scale foodproducers can be expressed and takeninto account.We urge the CFS to:• Encourage the development of local andregional platforms where those mostaffected by food insecurity and climatechange can participate in the design,implementation and evaluation ofadaptation and mitigation plans.• Integrate climate change concerns inall of its future work and liaise withand inform UNFCCC discussions onagricultural issues.Recommendation 2Support sustainablemodels of productionThere is a significant distinction betweenthe role of different food production modelsand their contribution to GHG emissions,as well as their added value to local foodsystems and potential resilience to climatechange. Large-scale industrial agriculture –with high external input use of syntheticnitrogen fertilizers and methane from cattleproduction – is highly emitting. Moreover,these production methods contribute to thereduction of forest cover, and, as a result,to emissions from deforestation. The CFSHLPE report on ‘Food security and climatechange’ (2012) warns that “significantconversion of new land to food productionshould not be a major contributor toincreased production because of itsconsequences for GHG emissions.” 25Also, such industrial models are largelycharacterised by monocropping systemswhich are inherently vulnerable to climatechange. 26 There is therefore a need torecognise and acknowledge the damagethat has been done by these models ofproduction. Any mitigation policy inagriculture must therefore, as a priority,tackle emissions where they are mostimportant, i.e. focusing first and foremoston industrialised agriculture, whilerespecting the right to development ofsmall producers.The current trend to push for ‘sustainableintensification’ via ‘climate-smartagriculture’ 27 should be viewed withcaution. Even though climate change isclearly undermining production capacities,an approach solely based on increasingyields, without questioning the model ofproduction itself and its impacts, would bevery limited, particularly as food insecurityis not solely a matter of insufficientproduction but also inadequate access. 28The development of export-drivenindustrial agriculture in some developingcountries is one example of the fact thatincreased production does not necessarilylead to increased equitable access to food.Limited access to food, due to high foodprices, is one structural root cause offood insecurity. What is needed is ratherto support increased productivity andefficiency of small-scale food productionand policies which will ensure food securityat a local level with stable access to food. Itmust be noted that beyond the productionof commodities, agriculture also has asocial and economic role, whilst providingimportant environmental services whichare public goods. The “multifunctionalnature” 29 of the agricultural sector is largelyneglected in approaches that solely focuson increasing production.The 2008 report by the InternationalAssessment of Agricultural Knowledge,Science and Technology for Development(IAASTD) notably reminds us that “smallscalediversified farming is responsiblefor the lion’s share of agriculture globally.While productivity increases may beachieved faster in high input, large-scale,specialised farming systems, greatest scopefor improving livelihoods exist in small-

12Agriculture: from Problem to Solution - Achieving the Right to Food in a Climate-Constrained Worldscale, diversified production systems indeveloping countries.” 30Moreover, support for sustainable modelsof production (that is to say models whichare based on the functioning of ecosystems)implies the choice of small-scale and familyfarming over large-scale industrialisedagriculture. Indeed, small-scale farmers arein a better position to implement techniquesfor conserving natural resources (such aswater, soil and forests) which respect localconditions, thereby creating more resilientand sustainable systems.Food for thought:• Promote policies which will addressthe climate crisis and food insecurity ina holistic way, assessing the emissionsrange from different agricultural models,as well as their ability to sustainablyreduce emissions. Decisions mustbe based on independent scientificassessments (such as that of the IAASTDreport) of the emissions from differentpractices, and on accurate informationregarding the adaptation and mitigationpotentials of each model, including socialaspects and cost effectiveness.• Provide incentives for sustainable foodproduction, agroecology and regenerativeagriculture, as well as promote thediversity of the genetic resource base.• Take into account the primary responsibilityof industrial production models in thedesign of climate mitigation policies.• Further clarify the concepts of‘sustainable intensification’ and ‘climatesmartagriculture’, taking into accounttheir impacts on the environment andfood security of local communities.We urge parties to the UNFCCC to:• Ensure policies are based on soundscientific research and are governed bythe precautionary principle. Decisionsunder the convention must be informedby relevant international institutions,notably the Committee on World FoodSecurity (CFS), and also the IAASTDreport and the findings from the UNSpecial Rapporteur on the Right tofood 31 on the adaptation and mitigationpotentials of agroecological practices.We urge the CFS to:• Deliver more action-orientated policiesand decisions and promote monitoringand accountability mechanisms for Statesto effectively implement policies andprogrammes.• Assess and compare different farmingsystems and their contributions toemissions (direct and indirect) andpotential for adaptation.• Call for increased investments andresearch into agroecological modelsto ensure food security and increaseresilience with special attention to theneeds of women farmers.• Encourage States to remove incentivesfor emission-intensive agriculture.Recommendation 3Beware of false solutions– agriculture in carbonmarkets and agrofuelsThough low-emitting food productionsystems are crucial for reducing thecontribution of agriculture to overallGHG emissions, such systems need to besupported in a way that is coherent andaddresses agriculture adaptation as apriority. For instance, many false solutionsto climate change mitigation in theagricultural sector are being promoted.Essentially, these ‘solutions’ are inadequatefor both climate mitigation and foodsecurity. The inclusion of agriculture incarbon markets is one example of a falsesolution. It is argued that this solutionwould be a good way to mobilise financialresources to ensure climate mitigationin agriculture whilst fostering adaptationand alleviating poverty. Proposals toinclude agriculture in offsetting marketsare, however, questionable from anenvironmental perspective and presentconsiderable risks for small-scale producers.There are indeed major concerns that soilcarbon markets lead to increased pressureon food security, whilst at the sametime contributing nothing to emissionsreductions and also undermining climatemitigation efforts. Firstly, large farms andagribusiness, rather than small-scale farms,would be likely to attract most investmentin soil carbon sequestration. Under the

13Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) andany regulated carbon offset mechanism,project development and certificationcycles are lengthy, complex and costly.Consequently, those most likely to obtaincarbon credits are those who can afford topay for specialist ‘carbon consultants’ andwho can offer offset projects large enoughto cover the CDM-related transaction costs.Moreover, there is a fear that such a solutionmay undermine climate change mitigation.Carbon offset strategies such as the CDMare only feasible for industrial processes,where greenhouse gas emissions caneasily be measured. Agricultural fields,however, are subject to complex biologicalprocesses and are highly heterogeneous innature. This makes it difficult to obtain thereliable soil carbon measurements whichwould be essential for the quantificationof sequestered CO 2 and the generation ofcorresponding credits.Finally, including agriculture in carbonmarkets could also lead to increasedpressure on land as investors becomeattracted to the financial gains associatedwith acquiring land under this scenario.This can further incentivise land grabbing,leading to continued expansion of large-scalemonocultures at the expense of smallholders,traditional crops and biodiversity.Another false solution of grave concernis the use of agrofuels as substitutes forconventional oil, which is currently beingpromoted to de-carbonise the transportsector. This has led to major social andenvironmental impacts, most notably onagriculture and food security, with onlymarginal or even negative impacts onclimate mitigation. The growing demandfor agrofuels has had negative effects onlocal food security due to pressures onland and competition between food andfuel crops. Agrofuel policies have alsoled to the indexing of food prices to oilprices, contributing to increased food pricevolatility. The contribution to GHG emissionsof the Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC)for agrofuels production (via deforestationand conversion of land for fuel crops, forexample), is very significant, and stronglyundermines agrofuel mitigation potentials. 32As such, there is little evidence thatthe majority of agrofuel policies andprogrammes are aiding either climatechange mitigation or food security. 33Hence, mitigation policies need to integrateassessments of the potential detrimentalimpact that could undermine foodproduction or encourage land grabbing, soas not to further incentivise false solutions.Food for thought:• Reject the use of flexibility mechanismsthat shift responsibility for mitigation todeveloping countries.• Ensure that potential solutions are indeedaccessible to small-scale food producersand will not create more of a burden,such as increased debt.• Abolish agrofuel blending mandatesand any subsidies for production (suchas public investment or fiscal facilities)and focus on ways to reduce energyconsumption, rather than maintainingthem at the current unsustainable level.• Establish strong social and environmentalsafeguards to govern private investmentsin agricultural adaptation and mitigationprojects.We urge parties to the UNFCCC to:• Consider adaptation as the priority focusof climate policy dealing with agriculture.Mitigation options considered shouldaim at reducing emissions where they aremost important, i.e. industrial agriculturefirst and foremost.• Thoroughly assess mitigation optionsconsidered by all parties, and aim atbeing sustainable, equitable and fair. Thepotential impacts of mitigation optionson food security must be assessed andsubsequently addressed.• Reject the inclusion of agriculture incarbon markets. Proposals for mitigationmeasures must include indicatorsto effectively monitor the emissionsreductions, the effectiveness and thesustainability of different approaches.• Consider the work undertaken by theIntergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC) towards the fifthassessment report (AR5), providing areview of climate science as the guidelineof political decision on climate and a toolto revise countries’ pledges.

14Agriculture: from Problem to Solution - Achieving the Right to Food in a Climate-Constrained World• Integrate an approach to agriculture inthe UNFCCC throughout global, nationaland local levels. The SBSTA shouldprovide information to parties on howconsistency can be guaranteed betweenactions planned in National AdaptationProgramme of Actions (NAPAs) andNationally Appropriate MitigationActions (NAMAs) and policy proposalson agriculture.We urge the CFS to:• Ensure that adaptation and mitigationprogrammes, policies and strategies areassessed, ex-ante and ex-post for theirpossible impacts on the right to adequatefood.• Encourage governments and donorsto support the development anddissemination of projects that strengthenadaptation with sustainable practicesincreasing carbon sequestration andintegrating disaster risk reduction whereappropriate.• Challenge false solutions, such asagrofuels, by exposing the impacts ofsuch policies on food security.• Strongly reject the promotion ofgenetically modified seeds in the nameof resistance to climate stresses such asdrought or salinity in any climate-relatedpolicy. Patenting of all forms of lifeshould be strictly banned.Recommendation 4Secure access to land,natural resources and thecommonsLack of secure land tenure and access tonatural resources is one of the key structuralcauses of hunger and poverty. Access andconflict over productive resources suchas arable land and water will becomeincreasingly strained due to climate change.It is therefore imperative that governmentsprotect the rights of small-scale foodproducers to their resources as they are theprimary stewards of such resources.Arable land, or the proportion of the earthwhere food can grow, is being depletedat an alarming rate. Today, less than tenpercent of the planet’s total land area isarable. During the past 40 years nearly onethird of the world’s cropland (1.5 billionhectares) has been abandoned because ofsoil erosion and degradation. This meanswe are losing about 75 million hectares toland degradation every year. 34 Economicinterests are becoming increasinglydirected towards this most scarce resourceand this is leading to the dispossession ofthousands of people the world over. Thistrend, also known as ‘land grabbing’, islikely to continue unless measures are putin place to protect the poorest.Land grabbing can lead to the dispossessionand/or the adverse incorporation of peopleinto an unsustainable agro-industrialsystem. It compromises their livelihoodsand their capacities to feed themselves andfurther intensifies resource degradation.Drivers of land grabbing include foodproduction for wealthier countries, agrofuelproduction, large-scale infrastructureprojects, carbon credit and other marketbasedmechanisms, as well as purespeculation on this increasingly scarceresource by banks, pension funds andother financial actors. Rising agriculturalcommodity prices make the acquisitionof land look like an increasingly attractiveinvestment option.Efforts must be stepped up to secure landfor small-scale producers. This will ensurepeople are not arbitrarily dispossessed oftheir land, and obtain better deals fromincoming investors.There is also a need to institute redistributiveland reform to address the unequaldistribution of land which characterisesthe post-colonial context of so many of theworld’s poorest people.

15Food for thought:• Secure land tenure and rights of usersthrough the rapid implementation of the‘Voluntary Guidelines for the ResponsibleGovernance of Land, Fisheries andForests.’ 35• Introduce a two-year moratorium on largescaleland investments made by foreignand transnational companies, until thefinal conclusion and implementationof the CFS principles on ResponsibleAgricultural Investment (RAI).• Recognise customary rights.• Provide land redistribution andcompensation where necessary.• Integrate the principle of free, priorand informed consent and robustcompensation regimes into nationallegislation through appropriate legalframeworks which ensure legal supportfor local populations, as well as protectionof those defending land rights.• Integrate the nexus of sustainablemodels (such as agroecology) intodiscussions regarding the CFS principleson Responsible Agricultural Investment.We urge parties to the UNFCCC to:• Further work on the interactions betweenclimate change and land grabbing, soas to ensure that mitigation and energypolicies do not further contribute to thisphenomenon. Policies such as agrofueltargets and subsidies, which divertfood to energy use and promote landconcentration, must be abolished.We urge the CFS to:• Support the implementation of theVoluntary Guidelines for the ResponsibleGovernance of Tenure of Land, Fisheriesand Forests as its foremost priority.• Support the development of integratedland use policies for food security,adaptation and mitigation.• Reduce land use change for agriculturethrough support for agroforestry forinstance.Recommendation 5Align finance, tradeand agriculture policiesto realise the right toadequate foodIt is anticipated that climate change willhave dire impacts on food production, and,as a result, on food prices. Historically,the availability of cheap food on theinternational market was one of the factorsthat contributed to reduced investment andsupport to local agriculture in developingcountries. This is generally put forward asone of the reasons for the food crisis of2007–2008, as countries found themselvesvulnerable to price fluctuations and unableto procure locally for their needs. Fordeveloping countries, market liberalisationhas meant a significant increase independence on food imports, making therise in prices a matter of grave concern.Trade policies were negotiated in an eraof overproduction and this now needs tobe revisited. One of the main lessons tobe learned from the food crisis is that theworld market is not a reliable source forstable and affordable food supply any more.In times of increased prices and volatility,imports cannot be the cornerstone of anysustainable food security strategy. 36In a 2011 discussion paper from UNCTAD, 37a “significant shift from conventional,industrial, monoculture-based and highexternal input-dependent productiontowards sustainable production systemsthat considerably improve the productivityof small-scale food producers” wasrecommended. Increasing food productionin this way needs to be accompanied by amore supportive trade and macroeconomicframework if improved livelihoods andhigher incomes for small-scale foodproducers are to be realised.Despite this fact, food trade is expectedto increase under climate change, withmost developing countries becomingmore dependent on food imports andfluctuations in market prices and thusincreasing vulnerability to related shocks.

16Agriculture: from Problem to Solution - Achieving the Right to Food in a Climate-Constrained WorldFood for thought:• Better incorporate food security andclimate change concerns into marketpolicies and trade agreements duringinternational negotiations.• Revaluate trade rules to reflect concernsabout the right to adequate foodrather than prioritising the concerns ofexporters to access markets.• Create space in trade negotiations forfood-insecure countries to respond tointernational price fluctuations, includingthe implementation of price stabilisationmeasures, import quotas and tariffs andeven export restrictions if needed.• Grant low-income, food-deficientcountries special consideration whennegotiating trade rules.• Make multilateral, bilateral and nationalagricultural trade policies subject to exanteand ex-post socio-economic andenvironmental impact assessments.• Enable governments in developingcountries to move ahead with effectivetrade measures, including use of specialsafeguards in order to support smallscalefood producers’ participation inlocal and regional markets.• Implement new and innovative financialsystems as promising sources of publicclimate finance, such as a FinancialTransaction Tax (FTT), in order to supportadaptation and mitigation initiatives.• Introduce tighter rules on speculationin financial markets, including theestablishment of position limits for ‘nonbonafide’actors.We urge the CFS to:• Further elaborate discussions on the roleof trade on food security, paying specialattention to the new challenges posed byclimate change.Recommendation 6Change consumptionpatterns and reduce foodwaste and post-harvestlossToday, while nearly one billion peopleexperience hunger, another one billion areconsidered obese and overweight. 38 Obesitycauses 3.8 million deaths worldwide beforethe age of sixty, 39 and in the coming years,the number of deaths from obesity-relatedconditions is expected to climb to 5.1million by 2030. In countries such as theUnited States, this means that the currentgeneration of children could have shorterlife expectancies than their parents due totheir dietary lifestyles. 40As a planet, we are consuming more food,due in part to population growth, butalso because average food consumptionis increasing. In particular, those who canafford it are eating higher proportions ofmeat, dairy products and processed foodswhich are less efficient at being convertedto calories than whole grains, fruits andvegetables. Ironically, economic growth iscontributing to this change. Nutrition isimproving in India, China and elsewhere,but a growing part of these populationsare also over-consuming and consumingmore processed foods, leading to a dietarytransition which is having serious impactson public health. Obesity is also related tothe quality of the food being consumed.To support this dietary transition, we arewitnessing an increased diversion of graincrops from human food to animal feed, asdemand for meat and dairy products hassteadily risen since the 1960s. 41 About onethird of world crop production (covering 3.7billion hectares) is used to feed animals. 42On average, it takes around 6kg ofplant protein to produce just 1kg ofanimal protein. 43 Land needed by local/indigenous populations for their ownfood production is being taken over toraise animal feed. The division betweenfeed cultivation and livestock productionis also a growing problem. A fundamentalaspect of sustainable agricultural systemsis that nutrients are circulated; for instance,manure from livestock is used to fertilizethe fields. When animal productionand feed cultivation are geographicallyseparated, nutrients cannot be recycled andare therefore lost in the local nutrient cycle.Furthermore, more than one third of thefood produced on this planet for humanconsumption is wasted. 44 This amounts toapproximately 1.3 billion tonnes of lost food

17per year. 45 In developing countries, wasteoccurs mainly on-farm, due to limitationsin post-harvest methods, preservationtechniques, packaging and distributionsystems. In developed countries, wastemost often results from consumerbehaviour and inefficient processes in thesupply chain. This presents a tremendousopportunity when we consider that all ofthe hungry people in the world could belifted out of undernourishment on lessthan 25 percent of the food that is wastedin the United States and Europe alone. 46According to the FAO, ten percent of richcountries’ greenhouse gas emissions comefrom growing food that is never eaten.In a world challenged by climate change,a rising population, and a global economiccrisis, we need to be smarter, more efficient,and fairer about the way we produce,distribute and consume our food. Largecorporations are taking over more andmore of the food system, using productionmethods that deplete resources in the longterm.Food and land are seen as tradablecommodities, with their value set byinvestors interested in profit. The foodindustry inflicts more than two dollars ofenvironmental and resource damage forevery one dollar of profit. On net sales ofUS$12.8 trillion, it causes US$200 billionworth of environmental problems, which is224 percent more than its profit earnings. 47In sum, current production techniquesoffer minimal gains while the human andenvironmental costs are severe. These aresystemic problems in how we produce,distribute and consume food, and problemswhich need to be challenged.Food for thought:• Invest in consumer awareness andencourage a shift towards healthierand more sustainable dietary choicesas part of adaptation. This includesmore consumption of diverse fruit andvegetables and less consumption oflivestock products.• Invest in consumer awareness on the foodwaste issue, particularly in developedcountries.• Introduce mechanisms and innovationsthat will produce more efficient foodsystems with less waste along the chain,including the re-use of urban organicwaste (free from pollutants) backinto agricultural land, as well as thereutilisation of animal manure for biogas,for instance.• Identify and support food productionprocesses and distribution practiceswhich are more resource efficient andhave fewer environmental externalities,encouraging and enforcing restrictionson the private sector to produce anddistribute in ways that result in fewerGHG emissions.• Establish shorter food chains and localeconomies through farmers’ markets,community-supported agriculture andlocal food councils, for example.• Support better post-harvest measuresin developing countries where food iswasted on farm.• Strengthen consumer organisations.• Procure locally for social programmeswhen possible.We urge parties to the UNFCCC to:• Provide parties, via the SBSTA, withinformation on the mitigation potentialof measures limiting the expansion ofthe wasteful agri-food chain, and offersupport to more efficient post-harvestmeasures in developing countries.

18Agriculture: from Problem to Solution - Achieving the Right to Food in a Climate-Constrained WorldConclusionUnder the ‘business as usual’ scenario,increases in agricultural productionwill fundamentally mean increases ingreenhouse gas emissions; but there areways, via agroecological models, to delinkfood production from increased emissions.Building resilience in production systemsand the livelihood strategies of the pooris essential if communities are to adaptto both climatic and economic changes.To this end, there is a need to curb theexpansion of the industrial agri-foodmodel and support agroecological modelsof production which are accessible tosmall-scale food producers, support theregenerative capacities of the earth and donot contribute to further GHG emissions.A shift in the way we conceive and practiceagriculture is urgently needed. Part andparcel of this is the recognition of the role ofinclusive governance in ensuring all partiesuphold a vision for sustainable agriculture.Public consultations and participation inadaptation and mitigation programmes andprojects, as well as open, transparent, andinclusive decision making are critical if weare to realise the right to adequate food ina climate-constrained world.The fragmentation of policies by sectorcannot respond to the new challengesposed by climate change. Coherent policies,grounded in human rights, must be thecornerstone for all decision making.

19Agroecology in PracticeAS-PTA (Agroecology and Family Farming) has worked with small farmers’ communitiessince 1983, promoting agroecology as a strategy to overcome food insecurity and poverty. Inits local development programme in the semi-arid region of the Brazilian Northeast, AS-PTAcooperate with regional farmers’ organisations, involving up to 14 municipal level unionsand hundreds of community-level associations in one of the largest NGO-led initiatives inBrazil. Through participatory methods, the organisation has identified the main productionand marketing constraints faced by these communities, analysing their root causes andproposing and piloting solutions.One of the most important issues in this region is water scarcity for human and animalconsumption, as well as agricultural production. The potential of rain water harvesting,including innovative techniques such as subterranean dams and micro-irrigation projects,has been identified as an important response to the dry spells that frequently affect theregion. The propagation of local seed varieties which are more resilient to drought, as wellas natural vegetation management for animal rearing, are also important complementarystrategies.Evaluations of AS-PTA’s projects have demonstrated improved income generation throughimproved production and better access to local markets, as well as significant increases inthe nutritional well-being of households involved. Most importantly, AS-PTA has seen thatparticipants in the programme have become much less vulnerable to drought conditionssince they began implementing agroecological methods.AS-PTA is part of a national network for agroecological development and disseminates itsmethods and techniques to other civil society partners. This network (ANA) also advocatesat the local and national levels for public policies which promote rural sustainabledevelopment and improve conditions for the family farmers who are responsible for 70percent of the production of the food consumed in Brazil.www.aspta.org.br

20Agriculture: from Problem to Solution - Achieving the Right to Food in a Climate-Constrained WorldReferences1 According to the Committee on World Food Security High Level Panel of Experts on Food Securityand Nutrition Report on Food Security and Climate Change, crop and livestock agriculture accountedfor 15 percent of emissions in 2005. This includes two percent from related sectors (production ofchemical inputs, energy consumptions, irrigation, etc.). Land use change in and of itself accounts foranother 11–17 percent. See: www.fao.org/cfs.2 Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Agriculture in the climate talks: looking beyondCancun, 2010, p.2, www.iatp.org.3 For the purposes of this paper ‘small-scale food producers’ refers to all those engaged inlivelihoods related to food production – this includes, farmers, fisherfolks, pastoralists, gatherers/harvesters and agricultural workers. The concept of ‘small scale’ differs significantly betweencountries and is not merely a matter of hectares. For the sake of this paper, we use the term tocapture the concept of scale in the operation, as well as the model of production it employs andthe contribution of family labour towards the production.4 In Africa and Latin America, small-scale farming represents approximately 80 percent of all farms.In Latin America small-scale farms produce up to 67 percent of total output and create up to77 percent of employment in the agricultural sector (FAO, 2001).5 PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and European Commission Joint ResearchCenter, Trends in Global CO 2 Emissions, 2012, p.6.6 The 2° to 1.5°C threshold of temperature rise has been long identified as the ceiling above whichclimate change would become irreversible, calling for ambitious and urgent political action.7 UNEP, Bridging the Emissions Gap, 2011, p.8, www.unep.org.8 The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Day 2012: Lessons in Sustainable Landscapes and Livelihoods, www.cgiar.org/press-releases.9 Foresight, The Future of Food and Farming, 2011, p.134, www.bis.gov.uk.10 FAO, IFAD, WFP, Reducing Poverty And Hunger: The Critical Role Of Financing For Food,Agriculture And Rural Development, 2002, p.9, www.fao.org.11 There are four pillars to food security: availability, access, utilisation and stability.12 The Committee on World Food Security High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security andNutrition, Report on Price Volatility and Food Security, 2011, www.fao.org/cfs.13 CIDSE opts to use the term ‘agrofuels’, as opposed to ‘biofuels’. ‘Agrofuels’ are liquid fuels madefrom fuel crops grown on a large scale for agro-industrial models. Agrofuels, such as ethanoland bio-diesel, are currently produced from plants such as corn, oil palm, soy, sugar cane, sugarbeet, rapeseed, canola, jatropha, rice and wheat. ‘Biofuels’, on the other hand, refer to small-scalemodels of production, and to non-industrial liquid fuels frequently made in owner-operatedfacilities for local consumption. See: Food First, Agrofuels in the Americas, Chapter II, p.4, 2009,www.foodfirst.org.)14 United Nations, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, www.un.org.15 Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, International Covenant onEconomic, Social and Cultural Rights, www2.ohchr.org.16 Olivier De Schutter, www.srfood.org.17 For more information on how agricultural investment by private sector and agribusinessactors impacts the global South, see: Entraide et Fraternité, Commerce international, 2012,www.entraide.be.

2118 Reuters, Glencore sees opportunities in US drought, 21 August 2012, www.reuters.com.19 Article 3.1 of the United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change statesthat “parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of future and presentgenerations of human kind on the basis of equity and in accordance with their commonbut differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities. Accordingly, developedcountries should take the lead in combating climate change and the adverse effectsthereof”. United Nations, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),1992, p5, www.unfccc.int.20 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Article 3.3, 1992,p.6, www.unfccc.int.21 ‘All Parties, taking into account their common but differentiated responsibilities andtheir specific national and regional development priorities, objectives and circumstances,shall: (c) Promote and cooperate in the development, application and diffusion, includingtransfer, of technologies, practices and processes that control, reduce or preventanthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocolin all relevant sectors, including the energy, transport, industry, agriculture, forestry andwaste management sectors.’ See: United Nations Framework Convention On ClimateChange (UNFCCC), Article 4c, 1992, p.6, www.unfccc.int.22 For more information, including specific case studies, on how small-scale agriculturecan contribute simultaneously to climate change mitigation, adaptation and povertyreduction, see: Trócaire, Policy Report: Climate Change, Climate Action, Climate Justice,2011, www.trocaire.org.23 A 2010 World Bank report estimated that for the period between 2010 and 2050, thecosts of adapting to a 2°C warmer world will be in the range of $70 billion to $100billion per year. See: World Bank, Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change, SynthesisReport, 2010, p.XV–XVI, www.climatechange.worldbank.org.24 FAO, Towards sustainable food security: Women and sustainable food security, www.fao.org.25 The Committee on World Food Security High Level Panel of Experts on Food Securityand Nutrition, Report on Food Security and Climate Change, 2012, p.54, www.fao.org/cfs.26 Resilience to climate disasters is closely linked to the level of on-farm biodiversity. See:Altieri MA, The scaling up of agroecology: spreading the hope for food sovereignty andresilience, 2012, www.agroeco.org.27 More information and specific examples of agricultural approaches being referred toby some as ‘climate smart’ are available in a series of Policy Briefings by Misereor. See:www.misereor.org/publications/climate-change-and-justice.28 FAO, An Introduction to the Basic Concepts of Food Security, 2008, www.fao.org.29 International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology forDevelopment (IAASTD), Agriculture at a Crossroads, 2008, p.3, www.agassessment.org.30 International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology forDevelopment (IAASTD), Agriculture at a Crossroads, 2008, p.379, www.agassessment.org.31 Olivier de Schutter, Agroecology and the Right to Food, 2011, www.srfood.org.32 International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), ‘Assessing the Land Use ChangeConsequences of European Biofuel Policies’, http://ec.europa.eu/trade.33 The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) High Level Panel of Experts, Food securityand Climate Change, 2012, p.78, www.fao.org/cfs.

22Food Price Volatility - Consequences and impacts on the Right to Food34 It takes approximately 500 years to replace 25 millimetres of topsoil and the minimal soil depthfor agricultural production is 150 millimeters. See: David Pimental, Soil as an EndangeredEcosystem, Bioscience, 2000, www.bioone.org.35 FAO, CFS, Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheriesand Forests, 2012, www.fao.org.36 CIDSE, Food Price Volatility – Consequences and impacts on the Right to Food, 2011,www.cidse.org/resources.37 UNCTAD, Assuring Food Security in Developing Countries under the Challenges of ClimateChange: Key Trade and Development issues of a fundamental transformation of agriculture,2011, www.unctad.org.38 According to the World Health Organization in 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults, of age 20 andolder, were overweight. See: www.who.int.39 R. Beaglehole et al., Priority actions for the non-communicable disease crisis, Lancet, vol. 377,No. 9775, 2011, p.1438–47. www.thelancet.com/journals.40 S. J. Olshansky et al., A potential decline in life expectancy in the United States in the 21stcentury, New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 352, No. 11, 2005, p.1143, www.nejm.org.41 The FAO estimates that by 2050, average meat consumption per person will be 40 percenthigher than in 2010 (70 percent more for developing countries). See: CFS HLPE report on FoodSecurity and Climate Change, 2012, p.73, www.fao.org/cfs.42 Foley et al., Solutions for a cultivated planet, Nature 478, 337–342, www.nature.com.43 The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN), 2003.44 Consumers in North America and Europe waste 95–115 kg/year/per capita, while this figure inSub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia is only 6–11kg/year/per capita.45 FAO, Gustavsson et al, Global Food Losses and Food Waste, 2011, www.fao.org.46 Ibid.47 KPMG, Expect the unexpected: Building business value in a changing world, 2012,www.kpmg.com.

together for global justiceCIDSE membersAustriaBelgiumBelgiumCanadaEngland and WalesFranceGermanyIrelandItalyLuxembourgthe NetherlandsPortugalScotland Spain Switzerland USA}CIDSEis an international alliance of Catholic development agencies. Its members share a commonstrategy in their efforts to eradicate poverty and establish global justice. CIDSE’s advocacy work coversglobal governance; resources for development; climate justice; food, agriculture & sustainable trade;and business and human rights.www.cidse.org