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AN INTEGRATED ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPING AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH: SYNERGIES AND TRADE-OFFS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

ANDY JARVIS*
Affiliation:
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) Km 17, Recta Cali-Palmira, Apartado Aéreo 6713, Cali, Colombia CGIAR Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security
CHARLOTTE LAU
Affiliation:
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) Km 17, Recta Cali-Palmira, Apartado Aéreo 6713, Cali, Colombia CGIAR Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security
SIMON COOK
Affiliation:
CGIAR Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security
EVA WOLLENBERG
Affiliation:
CGIAR Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security University of Vermont, 617 Main Street, Burlington, Vermont, 05405, USA
JAMES HANSEN
Affiliation:
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) Km 17, Recta Cali-Palmira, Apartado Aéreo 6713, Cali, Colombia International Research Institute for Climate and Society, The Earth Institute, Columbia University and Palisades, New York, USA
OSANA BONILLA
Affiliation:
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) Km 17, Recta Cali-Palmira, Apartado Aéreo 6713, Cali, Colombia CGIAR Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security
ANDY CHALLINOR
Affiliation:
CGIAR Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security University of Leeds. Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
*
§Corresponding author. a.jarvis@cgiar.org

Summary

Global food security is under threat by climate change, and the impacts fall disproportionately on resource-poor small producers. With the goal of making agricultural and food systems more climate-resilient, this paper presents an adaptation and mitigation framework. A road map for further agricultural research is proposed, based on the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. We propose a holistic, integrated approach that takes into account trade-offs and feedbacks between interventions. We divide the agenda into four research areas, three tackling risk management, accelerated adaptation and emissions mitigation, and the fourth facilitating adoption of research outputs. After reviewing specific technical, agronomic and policy options for reducing climate change vulnerability, we acknowledge that science and good-faith recommendations do not necessarily translate into effective and timely actions. We therefore outline impediments to behavioural change and propose that future research overcomes these obstacles by linking the right institutions, instruments and scientific outputs. Food security research must go beyond its focus on production to also examine food access and utilization issues. Finally, we conclude that urgent action is needed despite the uncertainties, trade-offs and challenges.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

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