Transcript The Relation Between Agriculture and Climate Change

The Relation between Agriculture
and Climate Change:
Reducing the Vulnerability of the
Agriculture Sector
Oscar Rodas
Asociación Guyra Paraguay (NGO)
Paraguay, South América
[email protected]
Global emissions of GHG related to human activities
Deforestation (land use changes)
and degradation
Fossils fuels
In Paraguay in 2011 soy growers will require massive amount of fossils fuels to transport around 10,000,000 tons of
soy bean at an equivalent of 1 truck transporting 20 tons in 1 trip (around 500,000 roundtrips!). Additional to by
truck transportation internally in the country, fossils fuels are used to export the soy bean by boats using the
Paraguay Parana rivers hydroways.
AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE CHANGE:
NEED TO CHANGE AN PERFECT VICIOUS CIRCLE
AGRICULTURE REDUCES
FOREST ECOSYSTEMS,
CLIMATE STABILIZATION,
GLOBAL SERVICE
AGRICULTURE CONTRIBUTES
TO CLIMATE CHANGE
CLIMATE CHANGE INCREASES
VULNERABILITY OF AGRICULTURE
AGRICULTURAL FRONTIER EXPANSION
IS BASED ON DEFORESTATION
AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE CHANGE:
VIRTUOUS CIRCLE
AGRICULTURE INCREASES:
AGRO ECOSYSTEMS AND FOREST ECOSYSTEMS
CLIMATE STABILIZATION
GLOBAL SERVICE
AGRICULTURE CONTRIBUTES
TO FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE
AGRICULTURAL VULNERABILITY
IS REDUCED
AGRICULTURE BUSSINES EXPANSION
IS BASED ON SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES INCLUDING
FOREST AREA INCREMENT, PROTECTION AND RESTORATION
AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN LAC
Agriculture is in the broad sense critical for LAC.
Agriculture tied to LAC physical resource base and natural assets.
Especially in South American countries, a great part of GHGs come
from the agricultural sector.
2007 IPCC Report:
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reduced yields in warmer environment (for temperate climate
crops)
growing incidence of heat waves
increased heat stress
wildfires
land degradation
crop damage
soil erosion,
heavy precipitation events
saltwater intrusion
soil salinization
The impacts of CC on agriculture are expected to be substantial:
Natural resource base, livelihoods, economy, etc.
Lack of plans for resource management strategies
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public and private investments
policy changes
future capacity to respond tochanges
Ccimate variability versus climate change
National Climate Change Downsclaing Climate Change Scenarios
in Paraguay predict a greater frequency of extreme
weather events related to CC.
AGRICULTURE AND LAND-USE CHANGE
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DETER deforestation monitoring system from
Brazil report 1,920 hectares of deforestation in
Amazonas Region, Brazil, between January and
February in 2011.
•
Asociacion Guyra Paraguay Great South
American Chaco deforestation monitoring
system reports 232,000 hectares deforested in
this region (including portions of Argentina,
Bolivia, Brasil and Paraguay ) in 2010. The
deforestation rates in Paraguayan Chaco in
2011, is around 400 hectares per day.
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In general, in South America agriculture is
related to exotic pastures implementation for
cattle ranching (mainly to beef export
business) and soy/sugar cane plantations.
AGRICULTURE AND LAND-USE CHANGE
Asociación Guyra Paraguay
WWF
Agrupación de Policía Ecológica y Rural
Asunción – Paraguay - Junio de 2009
AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION
REDUCED VULNERABILITY MEANS INCREASED ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION
CAPACITY AT THE SAME TIME!
In terms of adaptation, a wide variety of strategies should be used in
agriculture:
– Response to climatic variability to benefit farmers
– Knowledge about options to maintain production levels
and yields by farmers (crops, cattle, water use, etc.)
– response to short-term climatic variations
– long-term, planned adaptations to help anticipate and
minimize the effects
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To balance agricultural expansion and ecosystems services
(especially forests providing climate stabilization services)
To create possitive incentives for private land owners,
especially ranchers and soy growers to preserve forest (In
Paraguay the Enviromental Services Law 3001/06 is active
from 2006, but still with few participants)
In Brazil, a private sector initiative leaded by Soy Growers
and Processors Group are implementing a system not to buy
or commercialize soy products from deforestated areas in
Amazonas
What the regional needs are
• Climate information systems in place (Systems to enhance climate
predictability)
• Water management technologies adopted (Improvements in water
collection, drainage, irrigation distribution systems, maximize use of water
in livestock production, etc.)
• Better integrated management of natural resources and production
systems (this includes water management, conservation agriculture, crop
and pasture rotations, adjustment of planting dates, etc.)
• Technological innovations to reduce climatic risks (biotechnology
innovations to improve drought resistance and pests and disease
resistance, invasive species, and improvements in irrigation
infrastructure).
• Institutional innovations with capacity built for early warning systems for
climate (improved policy and regulatory frameworks for water
management, agricultural and catastrophic risk insurance, etc.).
• Bottom-up participatory processes for climate change adaptation and
reduce threats to climate variability.
What can be done today to improve the management of climatic
risks and improve the adaptation?
1. Identificate vulnerabilities and opportunities (with the
agriculture sector)
2. Reduce uncertities (learn from the past, monitor the present
and information for the future)
3. Identify technologies to reduce vulnerabilities (Diversify,
store and efficient use of water, genetics, etc.)
4. Identify institutional architecture and policy interventions
to reduce or transfer risks
• Systems for early alert and response systems
• Insurance, recovery loans, etc.
• Institutional arrangements & specific policies
CHALLENGES FOR AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE CHANGE
• Inter and intra-institutional
coordination for State policies
• Technologies available and duly tried
to face mitigation and adaptation
• Technical capacity to face
technological challenges
• Capacity to promote public-private
coalitions
• Capacity to provide bottom-up
capacity for understanding variability
and be prepared to face it.
• Sustainability of actions
SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA ACTIONS
RELATED TO DEFORESTATION
• Paraguay has a Zero Deforestation law (2004 to 2013) in the Oriental Region of
the country.
• Argentina is implementing the federal forest law, giving the mandate to the
provinces to design and implement land-use plans related to native forest defined
by three categories (no restrictions to forest conversion, sustainable use areas
and protected forest areas). A map with three colors: Green, yellow and red
Año
Tasa de
deforestación
1945-1960
123.000 ha/año
1970
1986
1995
1997
2002
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
212.000 ha/año
289.000 ha/año
113.000 ha/año
85.000 ha/año
110.000 ha/año
20.000 ha/año
6.400 ha/año
5.600 ha/año
9.503 ha/año
4.112
1.894 ha/año (*)
NEW AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES AND TECHNOLOGIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE
• Zero tillage in soy and othes related crops is proposed by the agricultural sector
as a mitigation option related to climate change.
• Paraguay, Brasil and Argentina are increasingly using Zero Tillage Agricultural
Practices. Paraguay has 80% of the total soy crops under Zero Tillage. Paraguay
soy plantation area is around 2.5 million hectares; it is the 4th global exporter of
soybeans and the 10th exporter of beef products
AGRICULTURE, VULNERABILITY, REDD+ AND SOCIAL ISSUES
• Paraguay is still implementing the Agrarian Reform Proccess. 300,000 families of
small farmers with an average of 10 hectares of land per family represent the
main social factor of agriculture in Paraguay. The majority of the small farmers
do not have any capacity for adaptation to climate change.
• Brazil and Bolivia have a similar situation of small farmers colonies as Paraguay.
• Asociacion Guyra Paraguay already obtained a gold-level certification of CCBA
standard for a REDD+ pilot project involving small farmers’ settlements and are
now going for the VCS standard certification. There is a potential of 3 million
hectares to replicate the pilot project.
AGRICULTURE, VULNERABILITY, REDD+ AND SOCIAL ISSUES
• In Southern South America, agricultural
expansion is not only related to forest loss.
Deforestation is affecting indigenous peoples’
territories.
SOME GENERAL IDEAS TO EXPLORE
• Zero Tillage with no forest preservation is not an option to fight climate change.
• Agro Forestry systems have been explored as a climate change adaptation option,
especially for medium and small farms.
• REDD+ including incentives related to payment for environmental services could
be applied to a wide range of situations in agriculture and agriculture frontier
expansion situations (example: indigenous territories ).
• Alternative options, like binational hydroelectric enterprises paying for forest
providing water services, have being tested to stabilize agriculture expansion over
forests in rural municipalities near hydroelectric facilities watershed areas.