In addition to the challenges of crafting policy to support climate-smart agricultural landscapes, those related to investment and the financial challenges of dealing with climate change have received considerable attention of late, and will be a major topic of discussion at the upcoming COP18. An earlier Blog post noted that more integrated finance mechanisms are needed to successfully fund climate-smart landscapes, while yesterday examined how REDD+ illustrates the multitude of factors to consider in investments.
A recent guidance document produced by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization aims to assist practitioners in formulating investments that incorporate climate change considerations into agricultural development projects and programs. The guide provides a background primer on climate-smart agriculture and provides tools for assessing vulnerability to climate change impacts. It walks its reader through opportunities to address climate change at the project conceptualization, preparation, and evaluation stages. One of the main goals for the guide is to help capture the synergies among food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation through integrated planning at the ecosystem level.
Of course, what is an investment guide without an explanation of the potential resources available? Multilateral and bilateral public funds currently provide a large portion of climate-related financing, with carbon markets playing an important role in funding mitigation projects. Working within these confines, the guide suggests that if projects are designed to explicitly address multiple objectives, including mitigation and adaptation, they can be considered for different types of climate finance.
Read through the guidance document for more details.
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