Climate Week NYC Panel Event: Innovative Approaches for Scaling up Climate-Smart Agriculture

On 21 September 2016, the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA), the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), the CGIAR research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) hosted a panel event on “Innovative Approaches for Scaling Up Climate-Smart Agriculture.” The event was held as part of New York Climate Week, and featured a panel of international experts. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a vision and approach for sustainably transforming agriculture to be more productive and profitable, more resilient to climate across time scales, and part of the solution to the increasing greenhouse gas burden, in the face of a changing climate. The panel brought in a range of perspectives on how to achieve these often contextspecific challenges at scale. Panellists recognized that there no single solution to the challenge of ensuring a food-secure future in the face of a changing climate. But there are many innovations that have been demonstrated successfully, and provide lessons for scaling up. Panel presentations and subsequent discussion brought out several key points. Some of the most promising innovations for scaling up CSA—including climate information services, insurance, and support from the global food industry—go beyond farm-level technologies and practice to foster an enabling institutional environment. Costa Rica’s CSA strategy showcases how national policy can foster the CSA “triple win.” Finally, scaling up CSA – making smallholder agriculture more productive and resilient in the face of a changing climate, while reducing agriculture’s contribution to climate change – requires effective, sustained partnerships among governments, the private sector, the research community, and the development (including NGO) community

Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) Intermediary Training, Dodoma, Tanzania

Since 2014, World Food Programme (WFP), CGIAR Research Program Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) and University of Reading (UoR) have been hosting trainings of extension workers—or, intermediaries—and sharing climate information services. An intensive five-day training on Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) approach was held September 7-11, 2015 in Dodoma, Tanzania to equip Dodoma district intermediaries with the capacity to provide farmers with locally relevant climate, crop and livelihood information. About 42 intermediaries from the Prime Minsters’ Regional Administrative Office, local government, and Tanzania Red Cross Society were trained on a number of areas from PICSA field manual and other topics, such as integrating participatory decision-making tools under different weather conditions and seasonal and short-term climate forecast. Through the training, all intermediaries were able to make interpretation and opt for best option based on local seasonal forecast. For effective implementation of PICSA Process at local levels, training participants formulated work plans and shared copy with facilitators and district supervisors for close follow-up. All trained intermediaries also received a special assessment form to distribute to farmers to complete at the end of the season. A one-day farmer training workshop immediately followed, offering the freshly trained intermediaries an opportunity to learn by doing

Incorporating Transformative Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in Climate Information Services for Agriculture and Food Security

Climate information services (CIS) involve the production, translation, transfer, and use of climate knowledge and information in decision-making and policy and planning. CIS in agriculture can be a critical means to build resilience and maintain food security and livelihoods for those most at risk in the face of climate change and variability, such as smallholder farmers. However, unless women and other marginalized groups were deliberately involved during the planning and development of agricultural innovations and services, it is still possible for them to be excluded from these innovations and services meant to help them cope with climate risks and uncertainties

Review of Climate Services Governance Structures: Case Studies from Mali, Jamaica, and India

The development of sustainable climate services is acknowledged as a key step in building climate-smart practices. Further, it has been noted that successful and sustainable climate services have structures of governance that are coherent and transparent for the stakeholders involved. To facilitate a discussion about what governance processes might help sustain climate services for agriculture in Rwanda, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) commissioned an assessment of case studies on structures of governance for climate services, focusing on national level climate services for agriculture that have been considered successful. The objective of this document is to present an exploration of governance structures for national level climate services— specifically agro-meteorological climate services provided to smallholder farmers—to identify ways in which CCAFS can provide guidance on key principles. This assessment and subsequent analysis are based on 3 case studies: Mali, Jamaica, and India. We explore common themes of effective and sustainable climate services to inform the development of structures for governance of a national level climate service. In doing so, we provide a more granular analysis on three key components: multi-disciplinary working groups, agreements and memoranda of understanding, and monitoring and evaluation processes. For each component, the following themes are noted as key considerations: identification and inclusion of appropriate organizations and key personnel, level of formality, and funding

Advanced Climate Data Tool (CDT) Training and Automatic Weather Station Data Tool (ADT) Part II for Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD)

In October 2022, the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) conducted an advanced training on Climate Data Tool (CDT) and Automatic Weather Station Data Tool (ADT) for Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) staff in Nairobi, Kenya. The training involved software installation and hands-on instructional sessions at the KMD head office. The installation and training was requested by the KMD to support and improve the access and processing—including quality control and visualization—of automatic weather station (AWS) data collected by different systems and networks, on different servers, and in different formats

Impact of climate services on Senegal's farmers

Climate services involve the “production, translation, transfer, and use of climate knowledge and information in climate-informed decision making and climate-smart policy and planning.” 1 A well-functioning climate service provides the information and support that decisionmakers need to understand, anticipate, and manage climate-related risks. While climate services encompass a range of time scales, services for farmers emphasize information at weather (e.g., daily observations, forecasts out to about 10 days) and seasonal climate variability (e.g., historical seasonality, variability and trends; seasonal forecasts) time scales

Climate Services Ecosystems in times of COVID-19

Faced with the greatest public health crisis of our time, people must work together and learn from each other to overcome the complex challenges facing our communities, countries, and the world. Climate-related hazards are one of those challenges; they exacerbate already challenging public health conditions and impact not just people, but also the infrastructure, trade, and community support on which society depends. Through “Adapting Agriculture to Climate Today, for Tomorrow” (ACToday), the first of Columbia University’s Columbia World Projects, proactive interactions in six developing countries help identify and create the local climate service ecosystems needed to address food security, agricultural sustainability, and nutrition goals. In times of crisis and uncertainty, such as the current global pandemic of COVID-19, the preparation for climate impacts often turns toward reaction and response. However, climate risks remain unabated despite the COVID crisis; systems that make it easier for already-stressed decision-makers to understand and manage climate risks – and opportunities – are critical. Together, society must prepare for and manage the challenges that it can anticipate in order to be more resilient to those it cannot, and climate services ecosystems can help in this regard