Agriculture in the climate talks - new paper

At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Cancún, Mexico, governments will decide whether to expand the role that agriculture plays within global climate talks. The fate of these proposals will determine whether agriculture will be used by polluters to offset their emissions and shift the burden of greenhouse gas reduction onto developing countries. The Cancún meeting has the potential to further marginalize small-scale producers and their rights to land and livelihoods, and could also lead to perverse incentives to further intensify industrial agriculture practices.

In a new paper, Agriculture in the Climate Talks, IATP’s Shefali Sharma analyzes how agriculture and food security are treated within the UNFCCC negotiating text, covering issues around mitigation, adaptation and carbon markets. The paper is part of a series IATP has released to coincide with the U.N. climate talks in Cancún. You can find the full series, along with blog reports from IATP staff in Cancún, at: www.iatp.org/climate.