Cost and Opportunities from Mitigation and Adaptation in Agriculture

Abstract

It has been predicted that even though efforts are made to reduce drastically the GHG emissions, climate change would still occur as it takes long time for climatic processes to respond. Thus, in addition to mitigation, adaptation to climate change equally plays an important role. Agriculture is one of such sectors that remain highly vulnerable to climate change. It is presumed that the least developed countries are the most susceptible ones due to their higher dependency on climate sensitive sector such as agriculture, and is expected to aggravate further the regional disparities. The international climate change regime designed Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) to help facilitate industrialized countries to meet their emission targets. Developing countries could be a part of it from where they can fulfill their dual purpose of fulfilling own responsibility of achieving sustainable development and at the same time earn income through carbon finance. Organic farming, bio-gas, System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and community forestry are some of the potential areas discussed where developing countries could take such opportunity. However, such tools are often criticized for its complexities in international implementation rule and varied policies of host nations.