Advancing Climate Action in Agriculture – New WRI/Oxfam/CCAC Paper Released at COP25

Dear Agriculture Initiative Partners,

I’m thrilled to share a new paper from World Resources Institute and Oxfam that will be launched at COP25 this week. This paper focuses on the role of the agriculture sector in strengthening national climate action.

Our research indicates that nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement can help to foster more sustainable farming practices that keep the global temperature rise to 1.5°C while ensuring food security and the eradication of poverty. Indeed, NDCs can be used as a platform to help increase support for adaptation, build the resilience of small-scale and vulnerable farmers, reduce emissions in the agriculture sector, bring together climate with other sustainable development objectives, and attract investment and support.

We propose actionable solutions that can be incorporated into NDCs; among others, these recommendations include:

• Better feed, health care and breeding of livestock
• Advanced crop management to help farmers achieve better yields
• Better land practices, including agroforestry and improved soil and water management
• Shifts to healthier and more sustainable diets
• Reductions in food loss and waste

The paper also shows how enhanced policies, finance, and governance arrangements can support NDC implementation. Indeed, to be successful, NDCs, and the actions above, must align with broader food security, equity and sustainable development imperatives. We provide considerations to this end.

Doing so can have positive impacts on adaptation, development, gender, and other priorities that most countries have established. And the sooner NDCs get updated to include these solutions, the better!

Enhancing NDCs: Opportunities in Agriculture is supported by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), which is working toward increasing the ambition for agricultural climate action to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), including methane, black carbon, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and tropospheric ozone. Addressing SLCPs in the agriculture sector is particularly relevant given that the sector is one of the largest sources of SLCPs, which also negatively impact air quality and crop yields.

At COP25 this week? Please consider joining us for a panel discussion hosted by the government of New Zealand, CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center), and the CCAC on “Advancing Climate Action in Agriculture and Food Systems” featuring representatives from Costa Rica, Honduras, Nigeria, New Zealand, Vietnam, FAO, CCAC, CIAT-CCAFS, Oxfam, and WRI. The discussion takes place from 6:30-8:00pm in Room 3, Hall 4. Alternatively, please watch the livestream here. Visit the full side events webcast page here.

We hope to see you at the event and welcome your feedback on the paper.

Kind regards,

Catalina on behalf of the

CCAC Secretariat