FAO.org

Making the transition to climate-smart agriculture demands not only strong political commitments, but also greater coherence, co-ordination and integration among the various sectors dealing with climate change, agricultural development and food security. Scaling up climate-smart agriculture systems to increase the resilience of agricultural communities to the impacts of climate change and decrease greenhouse gas emissions depends heavily on the coherence of national policies and cross-sectoral planning.

To increase policy coherence, there is a need for a systematic and inclusive assessment of current policies and their intended and unintended effects on the set of development objectives prioritized by a country, including the three objectives of climate-smart agriculture: sustainable increases in agricultural productivity and incomes, climate change adaptation in the agriculture sectors, and reduction and removal of greenhouse gas emissions. Depending on the country, the priority among the different climate-smart agriculture objectives may vary. Nevertheless, it is important to identify and enhance synergies between the different policy objectives, address trade-offs and, where necessary, take compensatory actions. Understanding the local and gender-differentiated barriers to the adoption of climate-smart practices as well as the incentive mechanisms that can encourage their adoption can help policy makers design new climate-sensitive policies, where they may be necessary. 

Chapter C3-3 presents the latest development in international agreements that influence and guide national climate-smart agriculture planning and implementation. Chapter C3-4 considers the issues related to coherence, coordination and integration that are specific to national climate-smart agriculture policy making. Chapter C3-5 presents examples of various policy measures that can provide incentives for the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices and technologies, and reduce the barriers that impede their uptake. Examples from several countries highlight the various approaches that have applied in national efforts to promote climate-smart agriculture.

• Before designing new climate-sensitive policies, policy makers should systematically assess the intended and unintended effects of a wide range of current international and national agricultural and non-agricultural agreements and policies on the objectives of climate-smart agriculture and take into account other national development priorities.
• New policies to stimulate the adoption of climate-smart agriculture systems should focus on filling policy gaps and contribute to the country-driven capacity development in the short and long term.
• Policy makers should exploit synergies between the three objectives of climate-smart agriculture. However, some trade-offs may have to be accepted and possibly compensated for when achieving synergies is not an effective or efficient option.
• Understanding the socio-economic and gender-differentiated barriers and incentive mechanisms that affect the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices is critical for designing and implementing supportive policies.
• A key role for the public sector is the creation of an enabling environment that can allow private sector and civil society stakeholders to make timely and well-informed decisions on matters pertaining to sustainable food production, climate change adaptation, and reductions and removals of greenhouse gases.