Food Security

Challenges for a Climate Compatible Development: How to strengthen agricultural, livestock and forestry public policies (2013)

This policy brief emerges from a process of analysis of the status and quality of the public policies on climate change and development in ten Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia, El Salvador and Paraguay. It suggests that policies generated should have quality in the design, be implemented effectively, and guarantee institutional strengthening, greater awareness through social communication, and political and social support, for achieving its goals. It observes that combing integrated climate policies to sectoral and macroeconomic policies from each country is necessary. This will help to prioritize the climate agenda and include a comprehensive global and regional approach. It also emphasizes the importance of working collaboratively between public and private institutions with a multilevel approach. These recommendations look to promote the legitimacy, sustainability and real impact of policies.

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April 12, 2013 | More on Agriculture, Civil Society, Food Security, Public Climate Change Policies, Publications, REDD+ | Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, CDKN, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay | Comment

Report on the Status and Quality of Public Policies on Climate Change and Development in Latin America (2012)

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This report analyses the present status of public policies on climate change and development in Latin America focusing on the agricultural, livestock and forestry sectors. As a result of a comparative analysis of 10 national reports conducted in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay; the Regional Report identifies and analyzes specific patterns and common characteristics from agendas and climate policies of the 10 countries related to their level of implementation, the institutional strength of organizations responsible for their implementation, integration with development policies, public participation and political support. This is the English translation of the following report published originally in Spanish.

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April 11, 2013 | More on Agriculture, Food Security, Public Climate Change Policies, Publications, REDD+ | Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, CDKN, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay | Comment

Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Change Adaptation in the Peruvian Andes (2012)

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Indigenous peoples have extensive knowledge of their local environment and this knowledge can be a valuable tool for climate change adaptation. Unfortunately, indigenous knowledge is rapidly being lost as a result of globalization, out-migration, and the continued marginalization and impoverishment of indigenous peoples. Through the lens of three case studies from the Peruvian Andes, this paper by Emily Kirkland, Brown University, demonstrates the irreplaceable role that indigenous knowledge can play in adaptation to climate change, as well as the crucial contribution outside actors can play in preserving, restoring and disseminating this knowledge.

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May 28, 2012 | More on Adaptation, Civil Society, Food Security, Indigenous Peoples & Tribes, Reading List | Andes, Perú, Potato | Comment

Peru Looks to Traditional Adaptation Practices to Cope with Climate Disruption

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By Emily Kirkland*

Photo: Mylene d’Auriol Stoessel

This article was originally published here.

In the absence of an international climate treaty to rapidly reduce global emissions, preparing for the impacts of climate change, from melting glaciers to longer droughts, is a crucial next step. Adapting to a warmer world will require the best in modern science and engineering. It will also require us to draw on traditional sources of knowledge from rural communities and Indigenous Peoples.

August 22, 2011 | More on Adaptation, Food Security | Perú | Comment

Climate Change, Forests and Rural Development in Highland Mexico

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*Dr. Graham Woodgate

(Photo: The volcanic cone of the Nevado Toluca rising above the forests below)

Reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is a key plank of global climate change mitigation strategies. Opinion is divided on the efficacy and ethics of REDD+ mechanisms, in no small part due to the complexity of the two-way relationship between forests and climate and the structural characteristics of North-South relations.

May 23, 2011 | More on Biodiversity, Food Security, REDD+ | Deforestation, Maize, Mexico | Comment

Reflections on Climate Justice at COP-16

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By Arielle Balbus, Brown University

Attending the various civil society events in Cancun one was struck by how differently the participants framed the issues from their presentation at the UNFCCC negotiations down the road.

Both the Klimaforum and La Vía Campesina presented economic liberalization, the multinational corporations, urbanization, and the acceleration of technological change as direct causes of the climate crisis, and proposed a revalorization of “traditional” knowledge and practices as the first step towards averting environmental disaster.

January 10, 2011 | More on Civil Society, Food Security, International Climate Negotiations | Cochabamba, COP16 | Comment

IDB Development Effectiveness Overview 2010

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This annual report summarizes the actions taken by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to measure and improve the social, economic, and environmental impact of the IDB’s work throughout the region. Chapter Five is entitled “Protecting the Environment, Responding to Climate Change, Promoting Renewable Energy, and Ensuring Food Security.” The report focuses on enhancing agricultural productivity, promoting tourism for development and environmental sustainability, and modeling and planning adaptation options in response to the threats of climate change in Latin America.

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December 27, 2010 | More on Adaptation, Economics of Climate Change, Food Security, Reading List, Renewable Energy | development, Inter-American Development Bank | Comment

How Small Farms (Might) Survive Climate Change

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By Adam Kotin, Brown University

Latin American farmers are already feeling the effects of climate change in big ways. They are on the frontlines of seasonal shifts and extreme weather events, facing head-on the slew of dangers that these bring.

And, as is the case with most climate change effects, the impacts are not equally distributed. Smaller-scale farms have fewer resources to protect themselves from the devastation that even a single storm can bring. Even more crucially, they have less financial security to fall back on in case that devastation does occur.

December 10, 2010 | More on Food Security, Renewable Energy, Trade & Commerce | Bananas, Costa Rica | Comment

The Via Campesina Caravan rolls into town

Guy Edwards

Meena Menon over at the Climate Change Media Partnership has the latest on the Via Campesina’s alternative NGO forum in Cancun for the COP16:

Led by Via Campesina, or the International Peasant Movement, farmers have been traveling around Mexico to get here by caravan. A day of protests Dec. 7 to reject the “false and market based solutions” to climate change is one of several actions planned.

Positioned as a direct challenge to the United Nations climate change conference, Via Campesina has a presence in over 70 countries, uniting farmers, workers and indigenous people to stake a claim for their rights and make their voices heard, the organizers said.

Unlike venues of some past UN climate summits like Copenhagen, the arrangement in Cancun is to disperse them across a large area separated by security points. Another alternative forum of NGOS, Klima Forum, is an hour bus ride from the main UN venue.

“It is impossible for people to go near the conference or have any say,” remarked Paul Nicholson, member of the Basque Farmers Union. The Via Campesina Global Forum is a platform for grassroots movements which need a space to express their dissent and discuss solutions.

To read the program of events for the Via Campesina’s Forum for Life, Environmental and Social Justice taking place from the 4^th to 10^th December in Cancun click here.

December 7, 2010 | More on Civil Society, Food Security, International Climate Negotiations | Climate Justice, COP16 | Comment

Latin American Mayors seek Global Leadership Role on Climate

Guy Edwards

By Guy Edwards and Taryn Martinez*

On the 21^st November the World’s Mayors Summit on Climate took place in Mexico City where city leaders highlighted the progressive role played by urban centres on climate change in the face of sloth-like progress by national governments. Pioneering schemes in a number of Latin American cities illustrates how cities can be an ideal avenue to push low carbon development in the region.