Improving assessments of the three pillars of Climate Smart Agriculture: Current achievements and ideas for the future

In this study we evaluate Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) assessment tools with regard to their suitability for covering not only biophysical but also socio-economic aspects of CSA, focusing on smallholder household level in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC). In this opinion piece we give a con...

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Autores principales: Wijk, Mark T. van, Merbold, Lutz, Hammond, James, Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Frontiers Media 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/121941
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author Wijk, Mark T. van
Merbold, Lutz
Hammond, James
Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus
author_browse Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus
Hammond, James
Merbold, Lutz
Wijk, Mark T. van
author_facet Wijk, Mark T. van
Merbold, Lutz
Hammond, James
Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus
author_sort Wijk, Mark T. van
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description In this study we evaluate Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) assessment tools with regard to their suitability for covering not only biophysical but also socio-economic aspects of CSA, focusing on smallholder household level in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC). In this opinion piece we give a concise overview of the most recent developments in measuring key indicators and metrics for the three pillars of CSA (food security, adaptation and mitigation) and give our opinion on how we think this would allow for improvements in the current state of assessing CSA in a smallholder farming context. Our assessment shows that all tools reviewed here have a biophysical lens while looking at productivity, and largely ignore potential social (e.g. food security, gender) and economic (poverty) aspects of the sustainability of intensified production. Mitigation was also analyzed in all approaches but few tools go beyond greenhouse gas emissions to analyse environmental sustainability (for example water quality, soil health, ecosystem services) more generically. Climate change adaptation was the CSA pillar with the weakest representation within the approaches reviewed here. Based on an overview of recent advantages in work focusing on CSA our key recommendations are i) to make better use of recent advances in indicator development for sustainability assessments, including work on quantification of water and land footprints in relation to farm management; ii) to use household level analyses to quantify pathways from productivity towards food security and improved nutrition as well as descripting drivers of adoption of adaptation options; and iii) to use recent advances in system specific quantification of greenhouse gas emissions through both LMIC focused modelling and empirical work.
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spelling CGSpace1219412025-11-13T10:38:19Z Improving assessments of the three pillars of Climate Smart Agriculture: Current achievements and ideas for the future Wijk, Mark T. van Merbold, Lutz Hammond, James Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus assessment food security adaptation mitigation climate-smart agriculture horticulture ecology food science In this study we evaluate Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) assessment tools with regard to their suitability for covering not only biophysical but also socio-economic aspects of CSA, focusing on smallholder household level in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC). In this opinion piece we give a concise overview of the most recent developments in measuring key indicators and metrics for the three pillars of CSA (food security, adaptation and mitigation) and give our opinion on how we think this would allow for improvements in the current state of assessing CSA in a smallholder farming context. Our assessment shows that all tools reviewed here have a biophysical lens while looking at productivity, and largely ignore potential social (e.g. food security, gender) and economic (poverty) aspects of the sustainability of intensified production. Mitigation was also analyzed in all approaches but few tools go beyond greenhouse gas emissions to analyse environmental sustainability (for example water quality, soil health, ecosystem services) more generically. Climate change adaptation was the CSA pillar with the weakest representation within the approaches reviewed here. Based on an overview of recent advantages in work focusing on CSA our key recommendations are i) to make better use of recent advances in indicator development for sustainability assessments, including work on quantification of water and land footprints in relation to farm management; ii) to use household level analyses to quantify pathways from productivity towards food security and improved nutrition as well as descripting drivers of adoption of adaptation options; and iii) to use recent advances in system specific quantification of greenhouse gas emissions through both LMIC focused modelling and empirical work. 2020-09-22 2022-09-24T11:11:28Z 2022-09-24T11:11:28Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/121941 en Open Access application/pdf Frontiers Media van Wijk, M.T., Merbold, L., Hammond, J. and Butterbach-Bahl, K. 2020. Improving assessments of the three pillars of Climate Smart Agriculture: Current achievements and ideas for the future. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 4:558483.
spellingShingle assessment
food security
adaptation
mitigation
climate-smart agriculture
horticulture
ecology
food science
Wijk, Mark T. van
Merbold, Lutz
Hammond, James
Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus
Improving assessments of the three pillars of Climate Smart Agriculture: Current achievements and ideas for the future
title Improving assessments of the three pillars of Climate Smart Agriculture: Current achievements and ideas for the future
title_full Improving assessments of the three pillars of Climate Smart Agriculture: Current achievements and ideas for the future
title_fullStr Improving assessments of the three pillars of Climate Smart Agriculture: Current achievements and ideas for the future
title_full_unstemmed Improving assessments of the three pillars of Climate Smart Agriculture: Current achievements and ideas for the future
title_short Improving assessments of the three pillars of Climate Smart Agriculture: Current achievements and ideas for the future
title_sort improving assessments of the three pillars of climate smart agriculture current achievements and ideas for the future
topic assessment
food security
adaptation
mitigation
climate-smart agriculture
horticulture
ecology
food science
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/121941
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