Climate variability has recently attracted the increased attention of researchers as well as policymakers all over the globe. Some of this attention has been concentrated on food security, especially in light of current events, such as the monsoon floods in various parts of India, which causes huge losses to agriculture and forestry.
With the rising human population and an increase in global food demand, the resources (soil, water, land) needed for food security and agriculture sustainability are already stretched. At the same time, climate change is now impacting food systems and agricultural production, resulting in low yields and change in cropping patterns. The climate-mediated risks to agriculture and related sectors are expected to increase in the coming decades, particularly in the vulnerable regions where adaptive capacity is weak.
Global food systems are at the juncture of the three foremost challenges under climate change. Sustainably producing the agricultural products while facing negative climate change impacts, second to improve the resilience of agrarian communities to these impacts and third to decrease emissions from food systems, to meet the 2 °C target to limit global warming. In this context, food systems are needed to be transformed by an integrative approach.
Reflecting a critical stance concerning the increase in climate-mediated risk, some authors argue for a need for fundamental structural changes to existing production and consumption models, others advocate for incremental approaches. There is also a growing community of researchers working to address the challenges of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), and who propose a transformation towards sustainability. These contrasting approaches have ignited a contemporary debate about the effectiveness of conventional strategies to address food security and the type of changes required in the long run.
The effects of climate change go beyond individual households, affecting all the activities of a food system (inputs, process, infrastructure, institutions, environment and people).To concurrently enhance agricultural productivity and minimize the negative impacts on the environment, food systems require to be much more efficient in consuming resources such as land, water, and fertilizer.
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can be well-defined as an approach for transforming agricultural practices addressing the new certainties of climate change. CSA is embedded in the broader development plan as defined in 2030 agenda for sustainable development, the Paris agreement on climate change and, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. CSA has shared objectives with sustainable agriculture approaches as they are built upon the technical foundation that already exists. It differs in three essential features; an explicit focus on climate change, the exploration for synergies and negotiation of trade-offs in pursuit of productivity, adaptation and mitigation results in a system perspective and, the availability of new funding opportunities for agricultural development.
Considering the vast diversity of food systems across and within countries innovative approaches are becoming gradually prominent in debates around sustainable development because of their determination to connect production and consumption, environmental sustainability and social innovation, global concerns and local dynamics through the sustenance to locally adapted solutions grounded upon participation and the mobilization of local knowledge. The climate-smart agriculture approach is context-specific and adapted to transition pathways towards sustainable food systems. The effort to adopt a CSA approach to specific setting must take into account local producers knowledge, requirement and priorities. Adaptation to climate change cuts across many SDGs and looking at climate change impacts in the region, is a necessary condition for socio-economic resilience. It is intrinsically related to ending poverty, ensuring nutrition, and enhanced livelihoods.
