Climate Change

The impacts of climate change are starting to be felt in Latin America, where the bleaching of the Caribbean coral reef, glacial ice-melt in the Andes and the increased risk of die-back of Amazon forests are among some of the effects on the environment. Furthermore, projected increases in temperature, the variability of rain in some areas and the more frequent incidence of extreme events pose an imminent threat to the sustainability of agricultural production in the region and the livelihood of many rural households. Agriculture in developing countries is particularly vulnerable to such occurrences, as the mitigating capacity of farmers is limited. Such changes may affect the suitability of the agricultural asset base, and over time may cause significant changes in production, price and income. Local private adaptation, coupled with government support and incentive provision, can ease the constraints that many producers will face in the future.

 

Natural resource management, on the other hand, plays an important role in the mitigation of climate change. Efforts to capture carbon by preserving forests and supporting reforestation are particularly relevant in Latin America, home to a quarter of the world’s total forests and half of the world’s tropical forests. Carbon sequestration in soils also has great potential for the preservation of soil nutrients and increasing yields. Reduction of emissions from livestock production can further reduce the carbon footprint of the sector.

 

The vulnerability of rural and coastal areas to climate change and the need to design and implement proactive interventions and policies for natural resource management is a focus of our group. In addressing climate change challenges, we focus on both mitigation and adaptation strategies.  On the mitigation side, we support natural resource management, and in doing so liaise with the Carbon Finance Unit and the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility.  A growing number of our projects are linked to or developed in conjunction with a carbon finance operation to encourage carbon reductions. In efforts to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from the sector, we also promote energy saving technology and carbon sequestration in agricultural production and processing. On the adaptation side, we focus on reducing the vulnerability of agricultural production across various ecosystems and on natural disaster management. We support bottom-up approaches to formulating adaptation Action Plans in the agricultural sector.