Central American countries, particularly Guatemala, are experiencing extreme climate events which are disproportionately affecting agriculture and subsequently rural livelihoods. Governments are taking action to address climatic threats, but they need tools to assess the impact of policies and interventions aiming to decrease the impacts of climate change on agriculture. This research, conducted with national policy makers and climate change and agriculture stakeholders in Guatemala, provides a comparative analysis of eight climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices and technologies associated with the smallholder maize-beans production system in the Dry Corridor. The practices were identified as high-interest for investment by national stakeholders. CSA practices and technologies aim to improve food security, resilience, and low emissions development, where possible and appropriate. The paper assesses the cost-benefit profile of the introduction of CSA options into farm production systems. Indicators related to profitability and valuation of environmental and social externalities are used to assess options. Probabilistic cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is used to address field variability and high uncertainty around parameter values. All practices except one were profitable over their lifecycle, with some practices, expected to be ideal for drought prone areas, presenting a higher risk for adoption. The results were discussed with national stakeholders who established best-bet CSA investment portfolios. This paper argues that a thorough understanding of the costs and benefits of potential CSA options is needed to channel investments effectively and efficiently towards both short- and long-term interventions and should be coupled with broader assessment of tradeoffs between CSA outcomes. (Résumé d'auteur

Agricultural productivity and growth in Mali are under threat from erratic rainfall, resulting in more frequent dry years. The national economy is vulnerable to climate change due to 50% of the gross domestic product coming from the agricultural sector and 75% of the population living in rural areas. The Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) concept arises from a need to provide innovative solutions towards the complex and integrated goals of increasing yields, improving resilience, and promoting a low emissions agricultural sector. A major challenge for policymakers to operationalize CSA is the identification, valuation (cost-benefit), and subsequent prioritization of climate-smart options and portfolios (groups of CSA options) for investment. This paper presents the process, results, and lessons learned from a yearlong pilot of the Climate-Smart Agriculture Prioritization Framework (CSA-PF) in Mali. Key national and international stakeholders participated in the co-development and prioritization of two CSA portfolios and related action plans for the Malian Sudanese zone. Initial steps towards outcomes of the process include inclusion of prioritized CSA practices in ongoing development projects and prompting discussion of modifications of future calls for agricultural development proposals by regional donors

This paper offers an overview of how climate change is already affecting farmers across eastern and southern Africa, and how it will continue to affect them in the future. The rising temperatures and increased rainfall variability associated with climate change are undermining the livelihoods and food security of Africa’s farmers, most of whom work at a subsistence level and also face problems of poverty, inadequate infrastructure and poor governance. To address these problems, governments and development organizations have promoted climate-smart agriculture (CSA). These projects, however, have been constrained by inadequate data and predictions regarding future climate change. In particular, farmers in Africa need better projections of the climate hazards for specific regions. Historical weather data at the local level contains many gaps, and the continuing collection of such data could be much improved. Strengthening the database of observed weather is critical to understanding the changes that have occurred already, to project future changes, and to plan appropriately to address them. Once collected and analyzed, climate data must be communicated in ways that help decision-makers understand climate impacts. Good tools are available—such as ClimateWizard.org and Servir ClimateServ—but practitioners at the local level must have the access and training to use them. Even in places where projections are uncertain, steps can be taken now to implement CSA practices and make farmers more resilient in the face of climate change.

Extreme weather is causing significant problems for smallholder farmers and others who depend on agricultural value chains in developing countries. Although value-chain analysis can help untangle the complex relationships within agricultural systems, it often has failed to take into account the effects of climate change. Climate-change assessments, meanwhile, often focus on the production node while neglecting other components of the value chain. In response to these shortcomings, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), in collaboration with the Government of Kenya, developed the climate risk profiles (CRP) approach. Using a case study from Nyandarua County in Kenya, we illustrate how this approach (i) supports identification of major climate risks and their impacts on the value chain, (ii) identifies adaptation interventions, and (iii) promotes the mainstreaming of climate-change considerations into development planning at the subnational level. Our results show that the magnitude of a climate risk varies across value chains. At the input and production stage, strategies for supporting climate-smart value chains include the following: improving access to input markets, supporting diversification and value addition, provision of climate-smart production technologies, dissemination of climate information services, and making financial and insurance services available. At the harvesting, processing and marketing stages, useful interventions would include strengthening farmer organization, investing in climate-proofed infrastructure including roads and facilities for storage, processing and improving access to output markets. Finally, climate-change adaptation along the value chain would be improved by strengthening existing institutions, exploring public-private partnerships and adopting coherent local policies.

Tracking progress towards the Global Goal on Adaptation requires documentation of countries’ intentions, against which future progress can be measured. The extent to which existing national policy documents provide adequate baselines is unclear. We evaluated the adequacy of African Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) (N = 53) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) (N = 15) against three criteria—coverage, consistency and robustness—mapped to the adaptation cycle. Fifty-three percent of NAPs and 8% of NDCs cover all elements needed for providing sufficient baselines for tracking adaptation progress. Only 40% and 9% of the NAPs and NDCs, respectively, provide consistent links between climate risk assessment, planning, implementation and tracking. No document provided fully robust indicators to operationalize tracking. Notable efforts towards adequacy exist, especially in NAPs. The findings illustrate continental-scale advances and shortcomings for tracking progress, and emphasize opportunities in upcoming NDC revisions and NAP processes to enhance their coverage, consistency and robustness for future adaptation tracking.