Agroecology’s Transformative Resilience-Building Potential

THIRD WORLD NETWORK INFORMATION SERVICE ON SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Dear Friends and Colleagues

Agroecology’s Transformative Resilience-Building Potential 

Our future climate will seriously undermine current efforts to improve the state of food security and nutrition, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. To address this, there is an urgent need for transformational change of our food systems towards more sustainability and resilience. Agroecology could play a vital role here.

Towards this end, the FAO, research institutes from Senegal and Kenya and CSOs have published a study that provides solid evidence that biodiverse agroecological systems built on local communities increase resilience to climate change. It includes an analysis of the international policy arena on climate change, a meta-analysis of peer-reviewed studies on agroecology, and two country case studies on the policy and technical potential of agroecology to foster climate resilience at farm level. 

The study found robust scientific evidence demonstrating that agroecology increases climate resilience and also contributes to a low-emissions pathway. Agroecology increases the adaptive capacity and reduces the vulnerability of agroecosystems, mainly through improved soil health, biodiversity and high diversification of species and genetic resources within agricultural production systems. Mitigation co-benefits are also achieved, mainly related to increased soil organic matter and the reduced use of synthetic fertilizers. Knowledge co-creation and dissemination via advisory services and farmer-to-farmer approaches have a key role to support the development, strengthening and uptake of agroecology. Agroecology’s transformative resilience-building potential depends on its holistic and systemic nature, which goes beyond a set of practices and includes a social movement for producers’ empowerment and a multidisciplinary scientific paradigm. 

The case studies from Kenya and Senegal show that in both countries, despite different policy settings, agroecological systems have a higher capacity to absorb, cope, adapt to climate change and are therefore more resilient. The key recommendations of the study include, among others:

• Fostering agroecology to build resilience should be recognized as a viable climate change adaptation strategy.
• Barriers to the scaling-up of agroecology need to be addressed. In particular, improved access to knowledge and understanding of systemic approaches should be fostered across sectors, stakeholders and scales.
• Further comparative research on the multidimensional effects of agroecology is needed.
• Increase investment in research on agroecological approaches, support transdisciplinary and participatory action research, conducted by innovation platforms that foster co-creation and dissemination of knowledge.
• Embrace complexity, adopt a more systemic understanding of challenges and solutions to hedge against climate change, grasp environmental issues in a holistic way and move towards more policy coherence, by breaking silos and working across agricultural sectors.
• There are no “one-size fits all” solutions, no silver bullets – individual contexts and local knowledge building on the ten elements of agroecology must be considered.

We reproduce below the Executive Summary and Conclusions and Recommendations of the report. The full study is available here: http://www.fao.org/3/cb0438en/CB0438EN.pdf

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THE POTENTIAL OF AGROECOLOGY TO BUILD CLIMATE-RESILIENT LIVELIHOODS AND FOOD SYSTEMS

Leippert, F., Darmaun, M., Bernoux, M. and Mpheshea, M. 2020. The potential of agroecology to build climate-resilient livelihoods and  food systems. Rome. FAO and Biovision. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb0438en

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Climate change has severe negative impacts on livelihoods and food systems worldwide. Our future climate according to latest scenarios seriously undermine current efforts to improve the state of food security and nutrition, especially in sub-Sahara Africa. To address this to its full extent, there is an urgent need for transformational change of our food systems towards more sustainability and resilience. Agroecology could play a vital role here. As a response to FAO’s governing bodies’ call for increased evidence-based work on agroecology, this study aims to elaborate on existing links between agroecology and climate change. It provides evidence on the technical and policy potential of agroecology to build resilient food systems. Inspired by the idea that transformation will only happen through a coordinated approach among all levels, this study was jointly developed by a broad set of actors from UN agencies (FAO), research institutes (FIBL, Bioversity, ISRA) and CSOs (Biovision, Enda Pronat, ICE) and thus combines evidence from a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives.

The overall research question of this study was:

How can agroecology foster climate change adaptation, mitigation and resilience through practices and policies?

To provide a robust and evidence based answer to this we analysed three different dimensions:

1. International policy arena, in particular in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture;
2. Peer-reviewed scientific studies on agroecology applying a meta-analysis; and
3. Two case studies in Kenya and Senegal that assess both, the policy potential of agroecology in respective national settings and the technical potential of agroecology to foster climate resilience on farm-level.

The main findings of the study are:

• Robust scientific evidence demonstrates that agroecology increases climate resilience. Success factors for this are that agroecology builds on: a) ecological principles, in particular on biodiversity, overall diversity and healthy soils (meta-analysis and case studies results); b) social aspects, in particular on the co-creation and sharing of knowledge and fostering traditions (case study results).
• More than ten percent of the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) by UNFCCC member states mention agroecology and consider it a valid approach to address climate change. The climate potential of agroecology is furthermore backed by the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land and the 2019 HLPE report of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) (int. policy analysis result).
• The interdisciplinary and systemic nature of agroecology is key for its true transformational power. However these characteristics are also the main challenges for both, conducting comprehensive research and policy revisions: typically research concepts and policy processes focus on the productive dimension with selective sectorial views (meta-analysis and policy analysis results).

The key recommendations from this study are:

• Given the sound knowledge base, fostering agroecology to build resilience should be recognized as a viable climate change adaptation strategy.
• Barriers to the scaling-up of agroecology need to be addressed: amongst others, improved access to knowledge and understanding of systemic approaches should be fostered across sectors, stakeholders and scales.
• Further comparative research on the multidimensional effects of agroecology is needed.
• Agroecology’s transformative resilience-building potential depends on its holistic and systemic nature which goes beyond a set of practices and includes: a social movement for producers’ empowerment and a multidisciplinary scientific paradigm.

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

* Tables and Figures in this section are available in the full pdf online file.

5.1 OVERALL CONCLUSIONS

Summarizing the detailed and chapter-specific conclusions from the various components of this study on the international policy potential, the meta-analysis and the two case studies we can conclude:

5.1.1 Agroecology is gaining momentum on the international policy level

We systematically assessed the potential for agroecology (according to FAO’s ten elements’ definitions) to be considered and recommended as a relevant adaptation or mitigation approach in the international agriculture-climate discussions (UNFCCC and KJWA). The analysis revealed that:

• An increasing number of countries and stakeholders from different backgrounds see agroecology and related approaches as a promising means for reaching adaptation and mitigation targets and to achieve an effective transformational change.
• More than ten percent of the NDCs explicitly mention “agroecology”, as either an adaptation strategy (11 percent) or as mitigation option (4 percent).
• Without addressing agroecology specifically, isolated agroecological approaches are also mentioned in NDCs, picking selected agroecological elements, such as “efficiency”, “recycling”, “diversity” and “co-creating of knowledge”. The systemic nature of agroecology and especially its socio-economic and political elements receive far less attention. Submissions by observers to the UNFCCC, especially those of some CSOs, are much more demanding and call for a fundamental transformation of the food system. Moving forward, it would therefore be critical to look at agriculture through systems views which are inclusive of its social and human capital as these seem to contribute considerably to the agroecosystems resilience.
• Many countries recognize in their NDCs the need for institutional mainstreaming of climate change aspects in various sectors. Due to the holistic nature of agroecology that considers integration, connectedness, diversity, synergy and less dependence on external resources for food production it could be mainstreamed into agricultural and related sectoral plans. This could be done through the already existing policy frameworks, from which the majority of the NDC implementation activities are derived from. Embedding resilience into productivity and production could be carried out for example by integrating approaches like agroecology and agroforestry into sustainable land and water management policies (IPCC, 2019). For this integration to happen, it may be necessary to develop coordination mechanisms across different ministries which will develop and implement these integrated policies for the wide-spread and coherent adoption of agroecological approaches.

5.1.2 Solid scientific evidence demonstrating that agroecology increases climate resilience

The meta-analysis of peer-reviewed studies on agroecology (n=34 meta-analysis and 17 case studies selected out of 185) brings forward some clear patterns:

• Agroecology builds on key characteristics which have a strong positive correlation with climate resilience.
• Most solid evidence on strengthening climate resilience through increased adaptive capacity and reduced vulnerability is through improved soil health, high levels of agro-biodiversity and high diversification, for instance integrating different breeds, varieties and species into agricultural production systems and thus increasing productivity and maintaining yield stability (Figure 33).
• Mitigation co-benefits are also achieved, mainly related to increased soil organic matter (carbon sequestration) and reduced use of mineral nitrogen fertilizers.
• Institutional aspects, such as knowledge co-creation and dissemination through advisory services and farmer-to-farmer approaches have a key role to support the development, improvement and uptake of agroecology.
• When supporting agroecology and fostering climate resilience, it is key to establish and strengthen functional and context-specific knowledge and participatory innovation systems.

5.1.3 Lessons learned from Kenya and Senegal

Policy potential

The national case studies assessed each country’s institutional frameworks with regards to its potential to integrate agroecology in order to hedge against climate change. The analysis provides a deeper understanding of the current national context, the prevailing policy environment as well as the opportunities and challenges for agroecology to be considered in the decision-making process and to scale it up.

While Kenya and Senegal have different policy settings, in both countries there is considerable potential for agroecology to gain recognition. However, it is challenging to translate the interdisciplinary and systemic nature of agroecology into policies, laws and strategies. Both case studies highlight the importance of training and awareness-raising activities to ensure a common understanding of agroecology and to ensure it is embraced by appropriate institutional frameworks.

FINDINGS FROM THE KENYA POLICY ANALYSIS

• Climate-related policies in Kenya do not emphasize systemic, ecologic farming approaches but selectively address agroecology elements such as soil and water conservation practices.
• Through increased understanding of agroecology, stakeholders see opportunities for integrating it into sub-national institutional processes.
• There exist opportunities to embed agroecological approaches into existing policies.
• Further efforts to provide evidence, training and policy guidance for agroecology would need to be matched with increased levels of public and private investment and financial support. Government, in particular, can utilize its procurement power and regulation to influence the investment in agroecology. This can be through a provision of incentives for the adoption of agroecological products or subsidizing for the prices paid for.

FINDINGS FROM THE SENEGAL POLICY ANALYSIS

• Agroecology emerged in the 1980s in Senegal and many promising initiatives spread out since then that have influenced policies. However, policies and laws do not yet include agroecological approaches, as there is still a strong focus on high external input dependent agricultural systems.
• Favourable conditions for scaling-up agroecology exist today: 1) an increasing institutional commitment, since agroecological transition ambition is included in the government’s priorities (among the five major initiatives of the Plan Sénégal Émergent 2019-2024); 2) the strong multi-stakeholder group DyTAES aspires to develop a contribution document to transform national policies and work towards an agroecological transition.

Technical potential

In both countries, a comparative analysis of 40-50 farmers that have been included in agroecological projects supported by Bioversity, Enda Pronat and ICE for more than five years versus 40-50 farmers non-participating in the agroecological programs (control group), was conducted to gain a better understanding of the ecological and socio-economic resilience performance of agroecology (based on the FAO SHARP tool):

• Overall results show that agroecological farmers have significantly higher SHARP resilience levels compared to the control group (non-agroecological farmers).
• These agroecological systems have a higher capacity to absorb, cope with, adapt to climate change and are therefore more resilient.
• In both countries and despite very different contexts, spatial and temporal heterogeneity as well as integrating and sharing of traditional knowledge (“honours legacy”) (Figure 34 and Table 12) were both significantly higher in the agroecology farms, which indicates that they are key aspects in strengthening resilience in agroecosystems, particularly agroecological systems.

The results of this study support the claim, that agroecology should be acknowledged as a powerful approach to transform agricultural production systems for a more sustainable and climate-resilient future. This corroborates what some Latin American countries have stated in their NDCs (Chapter 2), that agroecology should be considered as the base for the transition to more sustainable food systems.

The results of this study support the claim, that agroecology should be acknowledged as a powerful approach to transform agricultural production systems for a more sustainable and climate-resilient future. This corroborates what some Latin American countries have stated in their NDCs (Chapter 2), that agroecology should be considered as the base for the transition to more sustainable food systems.

Technical potential in Kenya

• For 7 out of 13 SHARP indicators, agroecology-based systems perform significantly better.
• The agroecology group scores better in the averages of environmental aspects, economic components and significantly better in agronomic practices.
• Both the agroecological systems and control group identified similar priorities and needs for further support, in particular insurance, animal breeding, non-farm income-generating activities, access to water and land.

Technical potential in Senegal

• For 3 out of 13 SHARP indicators, agroecology-based systems perform significantly better.
• The agroecology group performed significantly better on social-related indicators, and better for agricultural practices. Same performance levels as the control group were reached for the economic and environmental related aspects.
• Barriers for agroecological farmers include access to effective biological products for pest control and weed management, as well as limited access to financial services and insurance.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON AGROECOLOGY FROM A RESILIENCE PERSPECTIVE

The following graph summarizes the findings of this study in a simplified way, depicting the interactions and the close connectedness of the agroecosystems resilience concept (represented by the 13 indicators from Cabell and Oelofse, 2012) and the characteristics of agroecology (as described by FAO’s ten elements) (Figure 35). The core principles on which agroecology builds (i.e.: diversity, efficient use of natural resources, nutrient recycling natural regulation and synergies) characterizes its inherent adaptation and resilience potential to climate change (Côte et al., 2019). This interconnection between the two concepts is the exact reason why agroecology, from a conceptual point of view, possesses an inherent resilience potential to climate change. In the below figure, the resilience potential (and one of the 10 elements of FAO) is therefore represented at the heart of the radar, with the idea that it embraces it all. In this study, we have gathered evidence from various perspectives that allow us to conclude that agroecology indeed strenghtens the resilience of smallholder farms and contributes to their adaptation to climate change. For instance, the findings revealed the importance of the social and human capital. The ability of agroecological farmers to self-organize and engage in common learning and information sharing allows them to form broader social safety-networks that buffers them against disturbances, both climatic and economic. Building on traditional knowledge and wider management skills passed down through generations also contributes to increased resilience. Diversification through agroecology builds the natural capital of the farms. Higher levels of biological diversity and heterogeneity in these farms improves biogeochemical processes like nutrient and water cycling, increases stability as well as improves soil organic matter that adds to soil fertility and overall soil health. These processes are fundamental for resilience building and adaptation to climate change. Lastly, diversification of different aspects of food systems is a crucial element that manifests into increased resilience, reduced risks and maintained stability of food production in the wake of shocks and stresses.

5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 

According to the HLPE (2019) and numerous other high-level reports (IPCC 2019, Sachs et al., 2019), a profound holistic and systemic transformation is needed to address climate change as well as achieve the Agenda 2030, and the four dimensions of FSN: availability, access, utilization and stability. It is also necessary to face further multidimensional and complex challenges, including a growing world population increasing pressure on natural resources, impacting land, water and biodiversity.

5.2.1   Overall key recommendations

• Given the sound knowledge base, fostering agroecology to build resilience should be recognized as a viable climate change adaptation strategy.
• Barriers to the scaling-up of agroecology need to be addressed: amongst others, improved access to knowledge and understanding of systemic agriculture approaches should be fostered across sectors, stakeholders and scales.
• Further comparative research on the multidimensional impacts of agroecology is needed.
• Agroecology’s transformative resilience-building potential depends on its holistic and systemic nature which goes beyond a set of practices and includes: a social movement for producers’ empowerment and a multidisciplinary scientific paradigm.
• Science and policy interfaces are necessary. The Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA) should be continued to ensure this interface, turning the submissions and recommendations into action.

5.2.2    Further recommendations to donors, decision-makers and other stakeholders

To address the multidimensional challenges and fostering climate resilience in food and agriculture, donors, decision-makers and other stakeholders should:

• Embrace complexity, adopt a more systemic understanding of challenges and solutions to hedge against climate change, grasp environmental issues in a holistic way and move towards more policy coherence, by breaking silos and working across not only agricultural sectors, but others as well such as natural resources and energy.
• Acknowledge that the current knowledge base is robust enough to support agroecology as an effective climate change adaptation strategy and strengthening farmers’ resilience.fIncrease investment in research on agroecological approaches, support transdisciplinary and participatory action research, conducted by innovation platforms and centres of excellence that foster co-creation of knowledge and dissemination and serve as the learning hub for agroecology.
• Provide capacity development and training to the agricultural advisory services on the dynamics of agroecology and to promote awareness about agroecology to farmers.
• Develop comprehensive performance metrics, covering all the impacts of agriculture and food systems, for rational decision-making and efficient resource allocation at all levels.
• There are no “one-size fits all” solutions, no silver bullets: consider individual contexts and local knowledge, building on the ten elements of agroecology.
• Integrate agroecology into different sectoral plans, strategies or policies. Policies and strategies that support agroecology should build on existing policies and strategies as much as possible, instead of creating new ones. Thereby, perverse incentives and other hindering policies, such as input support for intensive production should be abandoned. Furthermore, strategies and policies advocating for the use of agroecological practices should take multisectoral, multistakeholder and national and sub-national unsustainable approaches to ensure its success.

5.2.3    Recommendations in the context of Koronivia

• Seize the opportunity of the workshop on socio-economics related aspects and consider associated submissions to move agroecology forward.
• Build on the core aspects of agricultural resilience demonstrated in this study: diversification, biodiversity, healthy soils and enhanced social and human capital within agroecological systems.
• Science and policy interfaces are necessary for agriculture and food systems in the UNFCCC and other related international frameworks. Mechanisms should be put in place to allow for the closer interaction between the negotiators and the scientific community during the UNFCCC processes (SBI, SBSTA and COPs). Currently, science-based activities such as side-events receive less attention and support from the negotiators who are key to the process as are decision-makers.
• NDC momentum: seize the 2020 NDC year of revision to further incorporate agroecological approaches as a way forward towards transformational change.
• Raise awareness on the contribution of agroecology on enhancing the resilience of food systems as a means of advancing KJWA and putting more emphasis on the non-production elements of agroecology as they build human and social capital of agroecosystems.

5.2.4 Recommendations to researchers and donors

• Further long-term studies are needed that allow the identification and assessment of the performance of farm systems in general, and agroecological in particular. This will generate evidence to support agroecology as a means to transitioning to more sustainable and resilient food systems. For this to be realized, the donor community will need to fund longer-term studies or projects that will provide necessary evidence on the performance of agroecological systems.
• There is a need for greater integration of scientific and traditional knowledge to enhance participatory action research and for both of the knowledge systems to benefit from each other.
• Projects and programmes should ensure adequate capacity development of the beneficiaries as this builds a human capital that is critical for building resilience. Sufficient funding should be allocated for such activities within projects.