CSA Country Profile for ColombiaColombia

Background

The Country Profile for Colombia is a product of a collaborative effort between the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the lead Center of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS); the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE); and the World Bank. This initiative was part of a project to identify country-specific baselines on CSA, in line with the situation analysis steps presented here for CSA plan, in seven countries in Latin America: Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Grenada, Mexico, and Peru and two states in Mexico.

Climate-smart considerations in Colombia include:
  • There are a variety of existing CSA practices that could increase the climate smartness of landscapes and the agricultural sector if taken to scale.
  • Scaling up investments in agricultural research and development (R&D), which is currently only 0.2% of the gross domestic product (GDP), would foster innovation.
  • Planning processes with a focus on sub-national and local levels are needed to analyze the agro-climatic risks, to identify the most promising CSA practices, and to implement adaptation and mitigation responses.
  • There is potential for scaling CSA livestock options, such as improved pastures and silvopastoral systems, across 3 million hectares, which would mitigate climate change, improve livelihoods, and create sustainable landscapes.
  • Efficient use of nitrogen fertilizers, especially in rice and maize, is an important mitigation opportunity.
  • Agroforestry practices are already implemented in more than 35% of coffee systems but could be expanded to include more farmers and to other crops and production systems, including cocoa, rubber, and fruit orchards.
  • Liking international funds and low-emissions development policies (National Strategy for REDD+, Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions [NAMAs], and the Colombian Low-Carbon Development Strategy [CLCDS]) to support integrated agriculture, conservation, adaptation to climate change, and mitigation opportunities and to scale out CSA adoption. Strengthening inter-ministerial dialogue to move agriculture initiatives beyond productivity.
  • Development of and access to Integrated Decision Support Systems that compile and analyze climatic, agronomic and market information, and deliver results to a range of stakeholders and decision makers.
  • Closing critical gaps such as limited provision of agriculture insurance, which creates opportunities for further development of rural agricultural markets. A comprehensive agriculture risk management strategy is needed.
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CCAFS Climate-Smart Agriculture 101

The basics

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an integrative approach to address these interlinked challenges of food security and climate change, that explicitly aims for three objectives:

A. Sustainably increasing agricultural productivity, to support equitable increases in farm incomes, food security and development;

B. Adapting and building resilience of agricultural and food security systems to climate change at multiple levels; and

C. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture (including crops, livestock and fisheries).

Entry points

Agriculture affects and is affected by climate change in a wide range of ways and there are numerous entry points for initiating CSA programmes or enhancing existing activities. Productivity, mitigation and adaptation actions can take place at different technological, organizational, institutional and political levels. To help you navigate these myriad entry points we have grouped them under three Thematic Areas: (i) CSA practices, (ii) CSA systems approaches, and (iii) Enabling environments for CSA. Each entry point is then described and analysed in terms of productivity, adoption and mitigation potential and is illustrated with cases studies, references and internet links for further information.

Develop a CSA plan

Planning for, implementing and monitoring CSA projects and programmes evolves around issues of understanding the context including identification of major problems/barriers and opportunities related to the focus of the programme; developing and prioritizing solutions and designing plans; implementation; and monitoring and evaluation. Most major development agencies have their own framework for project and programme formulation and management but CCAFS has developed a specific approach for planning, implementing and assessing CSA projects and programme called CSA plan. CSA plan was developed to provide a guide for operationalizing CSA planning, implementation and monitoring at scale. CSA plan consist of four major components: (1) Situation analysis; (2) Targeting and prioritizing; (3) Program support; and (4) Monitoring. evaluation and learning.

Finance

To meet the objectives of CSA, such as agricultural development, food security and climate change adaptation and mitigation, a number of potential funding sources are available. For instance, climate finance sources may be used to leverage agriculture finance and mainstream climate change into agricultural investments. This section offers an overview of potential sources of funding for activities in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) at national, regional and international levels and for a number of different potential ‘clients’ including governments, civil society, development organizations and others. Additionally, it includes options to search among a range of funding opportunities according to CSA focus area, sector and financing instrument.

Resource library

CSA Guide provides a short and concise introduction and overview of the multifaceted aspects of climate-smart agriculture. At the same time it offers links to references and key resources that allows for further investigations and understanding of specific topics of interest. In the resource library we have gathered all the references, key resources, terms and questions in one place for a quick overview and easy access that can be used as a part of or independently of the other sections of the website. The resource library is divided into six sections; (1) References – list all publications, links and blogs referred to on the website; (2) Tools – list all the CSA tools presented on the website; (3) Key terms – explains the most important and frequently used terms related to CSA; (4) Frequently asked questions (FAQ) – provides a rapid overview of the most common questions asked on climate-smart agriculture; (5) About – where you can find out more about the purpose and structure of, as well as on the organizations and authors behind the website; (6) Contact.

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