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Cafedirect at COP 17

Greta Jonyniate | 14.12.11

Cafedirect have recently written an excellent article on the new hot topic in the agricultural sector - 'Climate-smart agriculture'. In simple terms, this is the process of producing food in a way that is good for the climate. We love the work that Cafedirect are doing, and hope that their presence at the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban has gone some way to help countries come to an agreement regarding this important matter. For more great articles, go to www.cafedirect.co.uk and check out their blog page!

What’s the new buzzword around climate change for the agricultural sector? No, you won’t guess – its ‘Climate-smart agriculture’! That’s what was on everyone’s lips during my days at COP17, the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa. The conference was about two things:

• How to get countries to agree to legally binding emission reductions so our planet doesn’t go up in “flames” due to global warming
• How to set up and finance a Green Climate Fund that should support developing countries to become greener economies and allow them to better adapt to negative impacts of climate change.

I was on the panel of a learning event with our partner IFAD – the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development – talking about our joint project with cocoa smallholders in São Tomé & Príncipe, a small island state off the West African coast, and makers of the cocoa for our add-water hot chocolate. The lively discussion was part of the Agricultural and Rural Development Day 2011; a side- event of COP17 to get agriculture fully onto the climate change agenda. Agriculture is a huge contributor of greenhouse gas emissions and millions of vulnerable smallholder farmers in developing countries, are already feeling the negative impacts of climate change. You can read more about the discussions on IFAD’s Social Reporting Blog.

So what is climate-smart agriculture? Simply put, it is to produce food in a way that is good for the climate ie. emits less greenhouse gases, is more resilient, more efficient, and strengthens adaptive capacity. It’s not as complicated as it sounds because a lot of smallholder farmers, especially the coffee and cocoa farmers we work with, already apply many agricultural practices that deliver on climate-smart agriculture. For example, by applying organic farming their greenhouse gas emissions are lower compared to industrial, high input agriculture on plantations. By inter-cropping with other food crops like bananas, beans, cassava etc. and establishing shade trees on their plot of land, its resilience is strengthened. Not to mention the benefits to biodiversity.

Climate change is a very important and strategic issue for us, as it goes across all parts of our business: from securing future supply chains to our principles of doing business in a fairer and pioneering way for grower communities to ensure they have a livelihood in the future.

It is likely that small agreements to keep discussing these issues will be the main outcomes of the COP17 meetings, due to end today, and whilst it is vital to get legally-binding international agreements signed, for us at Cafedirect it’s all about action. From pushing the whole adaptation agenda for smallholder farmers early on in 2007 during our pioneering AdapCC project to continuous support for initiatives at individual producer organisation level via our Producer Partnership Programme, right up to pre-financing and championing innovative adaptation mechanisms like our project with coffee partner Cepicafe in northern Peru.

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