Agriculture – small steps; right start

We leave Durban with agriculture issues back in the negotiating text. It’s not quite the agreed climate and agriculture work program on adaptation and on mitigation that many, including President Zuma, were hoping for. Rather, we have a process to make recommendations on a process.

Agriculture is the backbone of Africa, and the largest sector of the economy by GDP, number of employees and exports. So-called ‘climate smart agriculture’ practices can bring food security, adaptation and mitigation benefits, yet  finance and technological support is lacking to transform agricultural systems.

A lack of recognition of agriculture in the climate negotiations hasn’t helped so far, with the issue missing from
the climate text before Durban. African countries have really galvanised in order to make progress at the summit this year. It's a good start.