Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Perspective
  • Published:

Climate-smart agriculture for food security

Nature Climate Change volume 4, pages 1068–1072 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 25 March 2015

This article has been updated

Abstract

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an approach for transforming and reorienting agricultural systems to support food security under the new realities of climate change. Widespread changes in rainfall and temperature patterns threaten agricultural production and increase the vulnerability of people dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods, which includes most of the world's poor. Climate change disrupts food markets, posing population-wide risks to food supply. Threats can be reduced by increasing the adaptive capacity of farmers as well as increasing resilience and resource use efficiency in agricultural production systems. CSA promotes coordinated actions by farmers, researchers, private sector, civil society and policymakers towards climate-resilient pathways through four main action areas: (1) building evidence; (2) increasing local institutional effectiveness; (3) fostering coherence between climate and agricultural policies; and (4) linking climate and agricultural financing. CSA differs from 'business-as-usual' approaches by emphasizing the capacity to implement flexible, context-specific solutions, supported by innovative policy and financing actions.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Climate-resilient transformation pathways for agriculture.

Similar content being viewed by others

Change history

  • 13 March 2015

    In the version of this Perspective originally published, the list of authors and affiliations should have read as below. These errors have been corrected in the online versions of the Perspective. Leslie Lipper1*, Philip Thornton2,3, Bruce M. Campbell3,4, Tobias Baedeker5, Ademola Braimoh5, Martin Bwalya6, Patrick Caron7, Andrea Cattaneo1, Dennis Garrity8, Kevin Henry9, Ryan Hottle10, Louise Jackson11, Andrew Jarvis3,4, Fred Kossam12, Wendy Mann1, Nancy McCarthy13, Alexandre Meybeck1, Henry Neufeldt8, Tom Remington14, Pham Thi Sen15, Reuben Sessa1, Reynolds Shula16, Austin Tibu17 and Emmanuel F. Torquebiau7 1Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy. 2International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), PO Box 30709, Nairobi 00100, Kenya. 3Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS), University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Science, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Rolighedsvej 21, DK-1958, Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark. 4International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17, Recta Cali-Palmira, Apartado Aéreo 6713, Cali, Colombia. 5World Bank, Agriculture Global Practice, 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433, USA. 6New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), International Business Gateway New Road and 6th Road, Midridge Office Park c/o Challenger and Columbia Avenue, Block B Midrand Johannesburg 1685, South Africa. 7French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), TA 179/04, Avenue Agropolis, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. 8World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, PO Box 30677-00100 Nairobi, Kenya. 9Colorado State University, School of Global Environmental Sustainability, 108 Johnson Hall, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA. 10Ohio State University (OSU) International Programs in Agriculture and School of Environment and Natural Resources Office of International Programs in Agriculture, 113 Agricultural Administration Building, The Ohio State University, 2120 Fyffe Road, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA. 11University of California, Davis, Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, 3144 PES Building, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA. 12Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Management, Malawi, Department of Climate Change and Met Services, PO Box 1808 Blantyre, Malawi. 13Law, Economics and Agriculture for Development (LEAD) Analytics, 5136 Nebraska Avenue NW, Washington DC, USA. 14International Potato Center (CIP), PO Box 31600, Lilongwe 3, Malawi. 15Northern Mountainous Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute, Viet Nam (NOMAFSI), Phu Ho Commun, Phu Tho District, Phu Tho Province, Viet Nam. 16Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Zambia, Department of Agriculture, Mulungushi House, PO Box 50291, Lusaka, Zambia. 17Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Malawi, Land Resources Conservation Department, PO Box 30291, Lilongwe, Malawi. *e-mail: leslie.lipper@fao.org

References

  1. Wheeler, T. & von Braun, J. Climate change impacts on global food security. Science 341, 508–513 (2013). This paper shows that it is likely that climate variability and change will exacerbate food insecurity in areas currently vulnerable to hunger and undernutrition, indicating the need for considerable investment in adaptation and mitigation to build climate smart agricultural systems.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Rural Poverty Report 2011 (International Fund for Agricultural Development, 2011).

  3. Alexandratos, N. & Bruinsma, J. World Agriculture Towards 2030/2050: The 2012 Revision ESA Working paper No. 12–03 (FAO, 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  4. IPCC Summary for Policymakers Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects (eds Field, C. B. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014).

  5. Porter, J. R. et al. in Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects (eds Field, C. B. et al.) 485–533 (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Lobell, D. B., Schlenker, W. & Costa-Roberts, J. Climate trends and global crop production since 1980. Science 333, 616–620 (2011). Models that link yields of the four largest commodity crops to weather indicate that global maize and wheat production declined by 3.8 and 5.5%, respectively, relative to a counterfactual without climate trends.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Battisti, D. S. & Naylor, R. L. Historical warnings of future food insecurity with unprecedented seasonal heat. Science 323, 240–244 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Wheeler, T. et al. Temperature variability and the yield of annual crops. Agr. Ecosyst. Environ. 82, 159–167 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Thornton, P. K. & Gerber, P. Livestock production: recent trends, future prospects. Mitig. Adapt. Strateg. Global Change 15, 169–184 (2010). Population growth and dietary change are likely to lead to increased demand for livestock products, but this will be modified by increasing environmental and socioeconomic constraints, and the potential impact of growth in the sector on poverty reduction is uncertain, partly owing to climate change effects.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Olsson, L. et al. in Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects (eds Field, C. B. et al.) 793–832 (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Hurley, T. A Review of Agricultural Production Risk in the Developing World Harvest Choice Working Paper 11 (International Food Policy Research Institute, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Dercon, S. & Christiaensen, L. Consumption risk, technology adoption and poverty traps: evidence from Ethiopia. J. Dev. Econ. 96, 159–173 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Tubiello, F. N. et al. The FAOSTAT database of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. Environ. Res. Lett. 8, 015009 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Smith, P. et al. in Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change Ch. 11 (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014).

    Google Scholar 

  15. IPCC Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change (eds Edenhofer, O. et al.) 29, note 4 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014)

  16. Climate-Smart Agriculture Sourcebook Executive Summary (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013)

  17. Garnett, T. et al. Sustainable intensification in agriculture: premises and policy. Science 341, 33–34 (2013). Sustainable intensification is about optimizing productivity and a range of environmental and social outcomes entailing increasing food production from existing farmland in ways that have lower environmental impact and do not undermine our capacity to continue producing food in the future.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development Agriculture at a Crossroads: Synthesis Report (Island Press, 2009).

  19. Parfitt, J., Barthel, M. & Macnaughton, S. Food waste within food supply chains: quantification and potential for change to 2050. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B 365, 3065–3081 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Gitz, V. & Meybeck, A. Risks, Vulnerabilities and Resilience in a Context of Climate Change (FAO, 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Thornton, P. K., Ericksen, P. J., Herrero, M. & Challinor, A. J. Climate variability and vulnerability to climate change: a review. Global Change Biol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12581 (2014).

  22. IPCC Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (eds Field, C. B. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2012).

  23. Vermeulen, S. J., Campbell, B. M. & Ingram, J. S. I. Climate change and food systems. Annu. Rev. Env. Resour. 37, 195–222 (2012). Food systems contribute 19–29% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and are also likely to be profoundly affected by climate change, indicating the need for approaches that integrate adaptation and mitigation concerns in agriculture such as sustainable intensification and waste management.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Challinor, A., Martre, P., Asseng, S., Thornton, P. & Ewert, F. Making the most of climate impact ensembles. Nature Clim. Change 4, 77–80 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Sayer, J. et al. Ten principles for a landscape approach to reconciling agriculture, conservation, and other competing land uses. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 8349–8356 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Herrero, M. et al. Exploring future changes in smallholder farming systems by linking socio-economic scenarios with regional and household models. Global Environ. Change 24, 165–182 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Vervoort, J. M. et al. Challenges to scenario-guided adaptive action on food security under climate change. Global Environ. Change http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.03.001 (2014).

  28. Arslan, A., McCarthy, N., Lipper, L., Asfaw, S. & Cattaneo, A. Adoption and intensity of adoption of conservation farming practices in Zambia. Agr. Ecosyst. Environ. 187, 72–86 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. McCarthy, N., Lipper, L. & Branca, G. Climate-Smart Agriculture: Smallholder Adoption and Implications for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation (Mitigation of Climate Change in Agriculture Series No. 4, FAO, 2011).

    Google Scholar 

  30. Institutional Economics Perspectives on African Agricultural Development (International Food Policy Research Institute, 2009).

  31. Antón, J., Cattaneo, A., Kimura, S. & Lankoski, J. Agricultural risk management policies under climate uncertainty. Global Environ. Change 23, 1726–1736 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. World Development Report: Risk and Opportunity: Managing Risk for Development (World Bank, 2014).

  33. Duflo, E., Kremer, M. & Robinson, J. Nudging farmers to use fertilizer: Theory and experimental evidence from Kenya. Am. Econ. Rev. 101, 6, 2350–2390 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Issues Related to Agriculture: Draft Conclusions Proposed by the Chair (UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technology Advice, 2014).

  35. State of Food and Agriculture: Investing in Agriculture for a Better Future (FAO, 2012).

  36. Financing Climate-smart Agriculture 375–406 (Climate-Smart Agriculture Sourcebook Module 14, FAO, 2013).

  37. Report on the Sixth Replenishment of the GEF Trust Fund (Global Environment Facility Secretariat (GEF) Secretariat and World Bank, for Fifth GEF Assembly, 2014).

  38. Vermeulen, S. J. et al. Addressing uncertainty in adaptation planning for agriculture. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 8357–8362 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome, 00153, Italy

    Leslie Lipper, Andrea Cattaneo, Wendy Mann, Alexandre Meybeck & Reuben Sessa

  2. International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), PO Box 30709, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya

    Philip Thornton

  3. Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS), University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Science, Rolighedsvej 21, DK-1958, Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Philip Thornton, Bruce M. Campbell & Andrew Jarvis

  4. International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17, Recta Cali-Palmira, Apartado Aéreo 6713, Cali, Colombia

    Bruce M. Campbell & Andrew Jarvis

  5. World Bank, Agriculture Global Practice, 1818 H Street NW, 20433, Washington DC, USA

    Tobias Baedeker & Ademola Braimoh

  6. New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), International Business Gateway New Road and 6th Road, Midridge Office Park c/o Challenger and Columbia Avenue, Block B, Johannesburg, 1685, Midrand, South Africa

    Martin Bwalya

  7. French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), TA 179/04, Avenue Agropolis, Montpellier Cedex 5, 34398, France

    Patrick Caron & Emmanuel F. Torquebiau

  8. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, PO Box 30677-00100, Nairobi, Kenya

    Dennis Garrity & Henry Neufeldt

  9. Colorado State University, School of Global Environmental Sustainability, 108 Johnson Hall, Fort Collins, 80523, Colorado, USA

    Kevin Henry

  10. Ohio State University (OSU) International Programs in Agriculture and School of Environment and Natural Resources Office of International Programs in Agriculture, 113 Agricultural Administration Building, The Ohio State University, 2120 Fyffe Road, Columbus, 43210, Ohio, USA

    Ryan Hottle

  11. Department of Land, University of California, Davis, Air and Water Resources, 3144 PES Building, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, 95616, California, USA

    Louise Jackson

  12. Department of Climate Change and Met Services, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Management, Malawi, PO Box 1808, Blantyre, Malawi

    Fred Kossam

  13. Law, Economics and Agriculture for Development (LEAD) Analytics, 5136 Nebraska Avenue NW, Washington DC, USA

    Nancy McCarthy

  14. International Potato Center (CIP), PO Box 31600, Lilongwe, 3, Malawi

    Tom Remington

  15. Northern Mountainous Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute, Viet Nam (NOMAFSI), Phu Ho Commun, Phu Tho District, Phu Tho Province, Viet Nam

    Pham Thi Sen

  16. Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Zambia, Mulungushi House, PO Box 50291, Lusaka, Zambia

    Reynolds Shula

  17. Land Resources Conservation Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Malawi, PO Box 30291, Lilongwe, Malawi

    Austin Tibu

Authors
  1. Leslie Lipper
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Philip Thornton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bruce M. Campbell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tobias Baedeker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ademola Braimoh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Martin Bwalya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Patrick Caron
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Andrea Cattaneo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Dennis Garrity
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Kevin Henry
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Ryan Hottle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Louise Jackson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Andrew Jarvis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Fred Kossam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Wendy Mann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Nancy McCarthy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Alexandre Meybeck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  18. Henry Neufeldt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  19. Tom Remington
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  20. Pham Thi Sen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  21. Reuben Sessa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  22. Reynolds Shula
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  23. Austin Tibu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  24. Emmanuel F. Torquebiau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leslie Lipper.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lipper, L., Thornton, P., Campbell, B. et al. Climate-smart agriculture for food security. Nature Clim Change 4, 1068–1072 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2437

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2437

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Anthropocene