A new report by World Watch supports the idea of soil organic carbon being viable tool for fighting Global Warming. Read on!
Farming and Land Use to Cool the Planet
Sara J. Scherr and Sajal Sthapit
For more than a decade, thousands of low-income farmers in northern Mindanao, the Philippines, who grow crops on steep, deforested slopes, have joined landcare groups to boost food production and incomes while reducing soil erosion, improving soil fertility, and protecting local watersheds. They left strips of natural vegetation to terrace their slopes, enriched their soils, and planted fruit and timber trees for income. And their communities began conserving the remaining forests in the area, home to a rich but threatened biodiversity. Yet these farmers achieved even more—their actions not only enriched their landscapes and enhanced food security, they also helped to “cool” the planet by cutting greenhouse gas emissions and storing carbon in soils and vegetation. If their actions could be repeated by millions of rural communities around the world, climate change would slow down.
via » Global Warming, Soil, Agriculture and Food Security | Africa Climate Debate.
WASHINGTON, Apr 9 (OneWorld.net) – “If fundamental climate change mitigation and adaptation goals are to be met, international climate negotiations must include agriculture,” appeals an international food policy think tank.
Farmers in Haiti. © FrizzText (flickr)“We are at the point where the negotiations are going to put in place new mechanisms for the next five to 15 years and it’s critical that agriculture be included this time around,” said Gerald Nelson, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).via Global Climate Talks Must Address Agriculture | OneWorld.net (U.S.).
The global economic, food and climate change crises have hit African women the hardest, according to a report from a delegation of African and United Nations female officials attending a conference on gender equality.
“When we look at the GDPs of all African countries, they are between five and seven per cent [in the recent past… but this present crisis is going to erode all those gains that have been made,” Isatou Njie Saidy, Vice-President of Gambia, told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York.
Africa is said to be one of the regions most vulnerable to the effects of climate change although it contributes minimally to the problem. The difficult social and economic situation of most Africans, especially women and children, worsens the situation, in Ghana for instance, women constitute about 51% of the population and about 30% of them are heads of households. . “They constitute 52% of the agricultural labour force, contribute 46% to the total GDP and produce 70% of subsistent crops. They play major roles in production and distribution” according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture.
A wide variety of literature is available on the importance of agriculture to economic development in Africa and on the critical role that rural women play within this sector. Increasing attention is also being given to the role of smallholder subsistence agriculture in ensuring the food security of the continent, as 73% of the rural population consists of smallholder farmers (IFAD, 1993:6). In Sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture accounts for approximately 21% of the continent’s GDP and women contribute 60-80% of the labour used to produce food both for household consumption and for sale (FAO).
Climate Change and its impact on women
At the household level, the ability to adapt to changes in the climate depends on control over land, money, credit and tools; low dependency ratios; good health and personal mobility; household entitlements and food security; secure housing in safe locations; and freedom from violence. As such, women are often less able to adapt to climate change than men since they represent the majority of low-income earners, they generally have less education than men and are thus less likely to be reached by extension agents and they are often denied rights to property and land, which makes it difficult for them to access credit and agricultural extension services. Click on this link to get the full report (IDS 2008).
Role of Women in Agriculture
Benin
70% of the female population live in rural areas, where they carry out 60-80% of the agricultural work and furnish up to 44% of the work necessary for household subsistence.
Burkina Faso
Women constitute 48% of the labourers in the agricultural sector.
Congo
Women account for 73% of those economically active in agriculture and produce more than 80% of the food crops.
Mauritania
Despite data gaps, it is estimated that women cover 45% of the needs in rural areas.
Morocco
Approximately 57% of the female population participates in agricultural activities, with greater involvement in animal (68%) as opposed to vegetable production (46%). Studies have indicated that the proportion of agricultural work carried out by men, women and children is 42%, 45% and 14% respectively.
Namibia
Data from the 1991 census reveals that women account for 59% of those engaged in skilled and subsistence agriculture work, a and that women continue to shoulder the primary responsibility for food production and preparation.
Sudan
In the traditional sector, women constitute 80% of the farmers. Women farmers represent approximately 49% of the farmers in the irrigated sector and 57% in the traditional sector. 30% of the food in the country is produced by women.
Tanzania
98% of the rural women defined as economically active are engaged in agriculture and produce a substantial share of the food crops for both household consumption and for export
Zimbabwe
Women constitute 61% of the farmers in the Communal areas and comprise at least 70% of the labour force in these areas.
African women bear brunt of global crises, warn delegates at UN conference.
The vulnerability of the agriculture sector to both climate change and variability is well established and there is a consensus that changes in temperature and precipitation will result in:
Although estimates suggest global food production is robust, significant regional disparities are likely. Poorer developing countries are likely to be especially affected (UNDP)
Farmers
AS any farmer will tell you, the production of food relies greatly on the weather. Historically, weather fluctuated from year to year, while climate—the average weather conditions over time—remained much the same. Now, increases in the atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have led to a climb in the global temperatures during the past 20 years. As a result, scientists, farmers, and government officials are struggling to understand what effects a permanently warmer climate will have on agriculture.
Farmers around the world have always talked and worried about the weather obsessively. Climate change makes these worries even more pronounced especially in the Global South.
Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is unequivocal, in saying that the scientific evidence to climate change leaves us no doubt as to the dangers mankind is facing. One of the areas that are of great concern is agriculture, the impact of climate change will be devastating not only in the Global South but also in the North.
Climate and agriculture.
Land use worldwide accounts for an estimated 20 percent of the total greenhouse emissions. So basically farming is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions.
However the immediate problem according to most experts will be the agriculture’s vulnerability to climate change and the grave consequences this implies for the world’s poor and hungry. Drought, severe storms and flooding are hardly news for farmers in the developing world. They have been contending with such catastrophes since the beginnings of agriculture 10,000 years ago. But never before have so many rural people been so vulnerable. However the greater frequency of occurrence, especially in the tropics and the fundamental changes in rainfall patterns, rising temperatures etc will shorten growing seasons and reduce crop productivity. This will impact approximately 63 percent of the developing world’s total population.
A major reason for the vulnerability of developing country farmers to global climate change is the limit to options. The limitation has been gradually introduced by policies, institutions, and practices and as the changes in lifestyles coping strategies. This is amplified by the degradation of the soil, water, forests and other plant resources on which their livelihoods depend.
An estimated 500 million hectares of agricultural land are already degraded in Sub-Saharan Africa, this is the same land that feeds majority of its inhabitants. Agriculture on these lands is also rainfed. In a situation where the rainfall patterns are already quite erratic this is projected to worsen with climate change. Rural folk in developing countries depend on agriculture, the threat posed by climate change must be confronted as a priority and immediate action.
Global climate change poses an unprecedented challenge to humanity’s skill at maintaining viable livelihoods under highly diverse and variable climatic and environmental conditions.
Some Research Findings
Models have shown that in Africa maize, wheat and wild relatives will be impacted negatively by climate change. The models have also shown that there is a lot of local variability based on the micro-ecosystems. But as a generall trend, while the population in Africa is expanding, the food production system is increasingly under pressure and most important urgent question is how to deal with the projected decline of the cereals (Global Climate Change; Can Agriculture Cope? CGIAR).
