Add agriculture to climate talks, says global body

By Surinder Sud Business Standard, New Delhi 13/04/09

A global farm policy think tank has recommended that agriculture should form part of the international negotiations on climate change in the forthcoming apex conference of parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at Copenhagen in December 2009.

A policy brief issued by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has pointed out that with suitable technology and management, agriculture, which now contributes about 15 per cent to green house gas (GHG) emissions, can actually become an important sink for emissions even from other sectors.

Besides, agriculture will be adversely affected by the climate change and millions of poor farmers will need help in adapting to the weather patterns. The mechanism for funding research on climate adaptation and mitigation by the agriculture sector needs to be discussed at the UNFCCC meet at Copenhagen.

Apart from agriculture’s direct contribution of 15 per cent to the GHG emissions, land-use related changes, including forest loss, account for additional 19 per cent to harmful emissions.
While reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation has been formally included in the current negotiations on climate change, agriculture as such has been left out. This should now be put on the agenda for the Copenhagen meet, the IFPRI has asserted.

It has suggested that the negotiations at the UNFCCC must go beyond the traditional schemes developed under the Kyoto protocol and should encourage funding for climate change mitigation in the agricultural sector.

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