Agriculture (for biofuels please see below)
While climate change presents an undeniable threat to agricultural production and food security, the agricultural sector significantly contributes to greenhouse gasses and needs to help mitigate climate change. At the same time, however, increased demands on the sector require that agricultural production more than double by 2050. Rather than pursuing a one-size-fits-all decrease in agricultural emissions, efforts should focus on policies that deliver win-win outcomes to enhance agriculture productivity, promote food security and sustainable livelihood, and that contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
An open and equitable trade system for food and agriculture is vital to food security and contributes to climate change adaptation and mitigation; it can help offset climate-induced production decreases in certain regions and facilitate the transfer of food and agricultural products from regions where their production requires relatively fewer greenhouse gas emissions to regions where production would result in higher emissions.
To help address these concerns, ICTSD and the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council (IPC) have established an interdisciplinary panel of experts, the ICTSD-IPC Platform on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Trade: Promoting Policy Coherence. For the full, illustrative brochure on the ICTSD-IPC Platform on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Trade, please click here.
Research and Analysis:
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Policies and Agriculture: Implications for Production Incentives and International Trade Disciplines, by David Blandford and Tim Josling, ICTSD-IPC Platform on Climate Change, Agriculture and Trade, Issue Brief No. 1, August 2009
ICTSD-IPC Platform on Climate Change, Agriculture and Trade: Considerations for Policymakers, October 2009
The Role of International Trade in Climate Change Adaptation, by Gerald Nelson, Amanda Palazzo, Claudia Ringler, Mark Rosegrant, Timothy Sulser, and Miroslav Batka, ICTSD-IPC Platform on Agriculture, Climate Change, and Trade, Issue Brief No. 4, December 2009
Climate Change and Developing Country Agriculture: An Overview of Expected Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation Challenges, and Funding Requirements, by Jodie Keane, Sheila Page, Alpha Kergna and Jane Kennan, ICTSD-IPC Platform on Agriculture, Climate Change, and Trade, Issue Brief No. 2, December 2009
International Climate Change Negotiations and Agriculture, ICTSD-IPC Platform on Agriculture, Climate Change, and Trade, Policy Focus No. 1, May 2009
Carbon and Agricultural Trade in Developing Countries, by James Macgregor, ICTSD-IPC Platform on Agriculture, Climate Change, and Trade, Issue Brief No. 3 (forthcoming)
Climate Change and China’s Agricultural Sector: An Overview of Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation, by Jinxia Wang and Jikun Huang, ICTSD-IPC Platform on Agriculture, Climate Change, and Trade, Issue Brief No. 5 (forthcoming)
Policy Dialogues:
Climate Change and Food Security: Taking Stock after the COP 15, 24 February 2010, Paris, France
ICTSD-IPC Lunch Discussion on “Climate Change, Agriculture and Trade”, alongside the UNFCCC COP 15 negotiations, 10 December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark
ICTSD-IPC Dialogue on “Climate Change and Food Security: Taking Stock at the COP 15”, alongside the UNFCCC COP 15 negotiations, 11 December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark
Climate Change and International Agricultural Trade Rules, 1 October, Geneva, Switzerland.
Climate Change, Agriculture and Trade, 29 October, Washington DC, US
Climate Change, Agriculture and Trade on the Road to Copenhagen, 12 May 2009, Salzburg, Austria
Climate Change and Agriculture: The Role of Trade, side event alongside the 17th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, 12 May 2009, New York, US
Climate Change, Agriculture and Trade: Promoting Policy Coherence, alongside the UNFCCC negotiations, 5 April 2009, Bonn, Germany
Climate Change, Agriculture and Trade: Promoting Policy Coherence, side event alongside the UNFCCC negotiations, 6 April, Bonn, Germany,
Climate Change – the Role of Food and Agricultural Trade, alongside the UNFCCC COP 14, 9 December 2008, Poznan, Poland
Biofuels
To produce, trade, or use agricultural products as fuel is a policy riddle that has spawned heated debate and multiple—and sometimes conflicting—action. Today, many see fuel derivatives from agricultural produce and forests as a new frontier in energy supply. Over the past few years, OECD countries and most major demandeurs of energy for transport or otherwise have adopted policies and measures that have spurred enormous demand and stimulated investment in production and growth. Evidence shows that these policies have rapidly expanded trade flows and production at home and abroad; in particular measures introducing mandates of agrofuel use in the mix of liquid fuel for transportation or the energy grid. Given the ensuing scale, sustainability challenges are many, multifaceted, and urgent.
Net gains and losses from use of biomass as energy are hard to estimate, particularly in a long-term assessment. Odds for a future of improved energy efficiency; lower carbon emissions; reasonable and sustainable use of lands for the production of food, fibre, forests, or fuel; and larger developmental and social gains may be enhanced or dampened by the policies that are made now; especially those with long-term targets as well as changes in regulatory frameworks and international rules that limit and lock-in our possibilities.
In this context, ICTSD has over the past two years engaged in policy dialogue, research, analysis, and problem-solving activities that contribute to societies’ pressing need to come to grips with the reality of energy crops.
Research and Analysis:
Biofuels Subsidies and the Law of the World Trade Organization, by Toni Harmer, ICTSD Programme on Agricultural Trade and Sustainable Development, Issue Paper No. 20, June 2009
Biofuels Certification and the Law of the World Trade Organization, by Marsha A. Echols, ICTSD Programme on Agricultural Trade and Sustainable Development, Issue Paper No. 19, June 2009
US Trade Policies on Biofuels and Sustainable Development, by Jane Earley, ICTSD Programme on Agricultural Trade and Sustainable Development, Issue Paper No. 18, June 2009
EU Support for Biofuels and Bioenergy, Environmental Sustainability Criteria, and Trade Policy, by Alan Swinbank, ICTSD Programme on Agricultural Trade and Sustainable Development, Issue Paper No. 17, June 2009
Biofuels Production, Trade and Sustainable Development, by ICTSD, ICTSD Programme on Agricultural Trade and Sustainable Development, Policy Discussion Paper, December 2008
Sustainable Bioenergy Development in UEMOA Member Countries, by ICTSD in partnership with the UN Foundation and the Energy and Security Group, October 2008
Policy Dialogues:
Sustainable Biofuels: EU Policies and WTO Rules, 23 February 2010, Geneva, Switzerland
Biofuels in Asia: Striking a Balance between Trade, Agriculture and Energy Policies, co-organised with the International Institute for Trade and Development (ITD), SEA START, and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), 9-10 November, Bangkok, Thailand
Biofuels, Trade Policy and Sustainable Development, 17 June 2009, Geneva, Switzerland
Bioenergy, Agriculture, International Trade and Sustainable Development, side event alongside the 16th Session of the UNCSD, 14 May 2008, New York
Biofuels as Alternative Energy: A Regional Outlook, co-organised with the Ecuadorian Centre of Environmental Law (CEDA), and the support of the Andean Community (CAN), the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and the Latin American University for Social Sciences (FLACSO), 17-18 October 2007, Quito, Ecuador