A Farm Bill for a Cooler Climate

Agriculture offers a two-fold benefit for the climate: as a place to reduce direct emissions and as a carbon sink. Many farmers have already adopted more climate-friendly agriculture practices, stimulated in part by programs in the 2008 Farm Bill.

Financing Agriculture Adaptation to Climate Change: A Modest Beginning

President Obama’s climate-related diplomatic capacity in Cancún will be severely limited by incoming and current members of the U.S. Congress who consider climate change science too uncertain to serve as a basis for economic policy change or simply a fraudulent conspiracy to undermine the U.S. economy.

Following Civil Society's Lead on Climate Solutions

In 2009, when IATP published its first climate series prior to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Copenhagen, there was genuine hope that governments would make significant progress towards a global response to climate change. That progress never materialized, and cynicism has grown about the effectiveness of the UNFCCC.

Grain Reserves: A Smart Climate Adaptation Policy

Consider these four developments: 1.) Climate change is having a profound effect on current and anticipated food production; 2.) Those effects are expected to be greatest in some of the world’s most impoverished regions, particularly in the countries that sit around the equator; 3.) The anticipated effects of climate change, coupled with the already evident disruptions to natural phenomena, inc

Women at the Center of Climate-friendly Approaches to Agriculture and Water Use

Global warming has already affected the world’s climate, and changed the type, timing, duration and intensity of water precipitation, resulting in major and minor weather events. These events have been playing havoc with the agriculture-dependent livelihoods and food security of about 70 percent of the world’s poor.

Governments at Cancún climate talks need to support local solutions

Cancun, Mexico – Governments attending the global climate talks in Cancún, which begin today, need to abandon loophole-ridden carbon markets and support bottom-up climate solutions that integrate equity, food security and democratic participation, according to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).

Climate and Agriculture Series: Cancun

At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, governments will decide whether to expand the role that agriculture plays within global climate talks.

Why Carbon Trading Can't Solve Our Water Crisis

A New York Time opinion article argues that one of the best ways to ensure that the world's poorest have access to water is through carbon trading. IATP's Shiney Varghese explains why that is incorrect.

UN Advisory Group on Climate Finance report falls flat

A new report on climate change financing options released today by a U.N. Advisory Group unwisely emphasizes carbon markets and other private finance options, while irresponsibly advocating an increased role for multilateral development banks (MDBs).

Agriculture in the climate talks

The climate negotiations in China where countries finished negotiating for six days (October 4–9) wrapped up just over a week ago. This was countries' last chance to reach common ground for major decisions on global warming before the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) holds its 16th conference of the parties (COP 16) in less than two months in Cancún, Mexico.