Background
The Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA) was launched in 2014 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). GACSA describes itself as an โinclusive, voluntary and action-oriented multi-stakeholder platform on Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA).โ1โGACSA โ Global Alliance on Climate-Smart Agriculture,โ Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/NUITq
The concept of โclimate smart agricultureโ was originally developed by the FAO in 2010 where it was presented for the first time at the Hague Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change.2โAbout CSA,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/DTybn
GACSA says its vision is to โimprove food security, nutrition and resilience in the face of climate change.โ However, according to non-profit organisation GRAIN, the alliance is โthe culmination of several years of efforts by the fertiliser lobby to block meaningful action on agriculture and climate change.โ3โAbout CSA,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/DTybn 4โThe Exxons of Agriculture,โ GRAIN, September 30, 2015. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/JSc6q
Organisations can become members of GACSA by agreeing to the groupโs voluntary framework document.5โGlobal Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA) โ Framework,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture, September 2014. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. As of August 2020, there were 465 members of the alliance, including Syngenta, Yara International, Cool Farm Alliance and the World Farmers Organization (WFO).6โMember List,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/2PMuS
Prior to the allianceโs official launch at the UN climate talks in 2014, civil society groups and farmer organisations wrote an open letter expressing concerns about GASCA. The letter, which was signed by groups including Greenpeace International, Pesticide Action Network (Asia-Pacific) and ActionAid International, said โwithout clear standards for adaptation and mitigation that ensure environmental integrity, the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture could serve as a green-washing and policy-influencing platform for the planetโs worst offenders.โ7โOpen Letter from Civil Society On the Global Alliance For Climate-Smart Agriculture – July 2014,โ Climate Smart Agriculture Concerns. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/OcKR4
The letter also called into question the corporate alliances in GACSA, saying: โAs civil society groups we often challenge the power and practices of agribusiness corporations. We do not wish our presence in the Alliance to effectively legitimise those that we criticise.โ8โOpen Letter from Civil Society On the Global Alliance For Climate-Smart Agriculture – July 2014,โ Climate Smart Agriculture Concerns. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/OcKR4
Stance on Climate Change
The FAO, the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, reportedly first coined the term โclimate smart agricultureโ in 2010 โas a means to attract climate finance to its agricultural programmes in Africa.โ9โThe Exxons of Agriculture,โ GRAIN, September 30, 2015. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/JSc6q The FAO supports governments to introduce climate-smart policies.10โPolicy Support โ Climate-Smart Agriculture,โ Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/FZWz9 It presents climate-smart agriculture as a solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions whilst also increasing productivity. 11โRT @FAOKnowledge: Climate-smart #agriculture can sustainably increase productivity while reducing greenhouse gases. #climatechange,โ Tweet by user @FAOclimate, January 29, 2018. Retrieved from Twitter.com. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
The FAO says its aim with climate-smart agriculture is โachieving sustainability, increasing food security and responding to climate changeโ. The FAO โseeks to catalyze and rally action to accelerate the scaling up of climate-smart agriculture through its membersโ own initiatives, engagements and programsโ.12โClimate Smart Agriculture Sourcebook,โ Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/yYg6y
In a document laying out its strategic vision for 2018 โand beyondโ, GACSA states: โThe impacts of climate change are reducing the capacity of natural resources (soil, water and biodiversity) to sustain food demand of the world`s increasing population. Food security and climate change are therefore interlinked challenges that need to be addressed simultaneously. Increasing resource efficiency in agriculture and building resilience to climate risks are the key actions for undertaking these challenges. This implies a significant transformation of agriculture and food systems.โ GACSA goes on to state that, among its key objectives, is working with stakeholders towards โenhancing agricultural, forestry and fisheries practices and systems that sustainably increase productivity, improve resilience and adaptation and, where possible, reduce or sequester emissions.โ13โStrategic Vision 2018 and Beyond,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
As GACSA lays out in its โAnnual Forum 2017 Summary Reportโ: โClimate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) aims to make agriculture part of the solution by achieving three related outcomes: (1) increasing productivity in a sustainable manner; (2) enhancing adaptation and resilience to climate change factors and (3) reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions / sequestering greenhouse gases.โ14โSummary Reportโ GACSA Annual Forum 2017,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
In a guidance document for policy makers and investors on โclimate-smart pest managementโ GACSA states that climate change is โhaving a significant impact on global crop yields and food securityโ including influencing crop pests. With better climate and pest monitoring, it says, โfarmers will be able to proactively implement pest prevention practices (e.g. use of pest resistant varieties, careful selection of planting, pruning and harvesting times, push-pull techniques, etc.) in order to prevent the occurrence and/or build-up of expected pest problems.โ15Lucia Heeb, Emma Jenner, โClimate-Smart Pest Management โ Implementation Guidance for Policymakers and Investors,โ Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
Charity Action Aid released a report in 2014 that said: โThere are no meaningful criteria for what can โ or cannot โ be called โClimate Smart.โ Practices or corporations that are destructive to the climate, the environment, and to farmers, are free to use the term. Furthermore, there are no social safeguards to prevent so-called โClimate Smartโ activities from carrying out land grabbing, undermining farmersโ livelihoods, pulling farmers into debt, or even suing them for seed saving.โ16โClever Name, Losing Game? How Climate Smart Agriculture is sowing confusion in the food movement,โ ActionAid, September 2014. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
โCorporations such as Syngenta, Yara (the worldโs largest fertiliser manufacturer), McDonalds and Monsanto, which promote synthetic agrochemicals, intensive factory farming of livestock, and promote industrial scale mono-cropping are all jumping on the โClimate Smartโ bandwagon, claiming that they offer solutions to address climate change,โ it continues.17โClever Name, Losing Game? How Climate Smart Agriculture is sowing confusion in the food movement,โ ActionAid, September 2014. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
โThere is growing confusion and debate over what the term really means, what it can achieve, what is new about it, and whether it really can benefit food systems in the face of climate change,โ Charity Action Aid adds.18โClever Name, Losing Game? How Climate Smart Agriculture is sowing confusion in the food movement,โ ActionAid, September 2014. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
A 2015 report by ETC Group and Heinrich Bรถll Stiftung likewise criticised the vagueness of climate smart agriculture concept. It said:19โOutsmarting nature? Synthetic biology and climate smart agriculture,โ ETC Group and Heinrich Bรถll Stiftung. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
โNone of the promoters of CSA delineate the specific techniques involved. FAO states that CSAGACSA, then even the most carbon-intensive, resource-wasting ones make the grade.โ20โOutsmarting nature? Synthetic biology and climate smart agriculture,โ ETC Group and Heinrich Bรถll Stiftung. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
The report also outlines how the big six agricultural companies at the time – Monsanto (now Bayer), DuPont and Dow (now Corteva), Syngenta, Bayer, and BASF – were driving the concept of climate smart agriculture.21โOutsmarting nature? Synthetic biology and climate smart agriculture,โ ETC Group and Heinrich Bรถll Stiftung. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
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Funding
The Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture uses a โFacilitation Unitโ which is hosted by the FAO. Donors make financial contributions into a โmulti-donor trust fundโ and the Facilitation Unit supports GASCA members to implement activities and provides key services like communication, information and knowledge management, and exchange processes.22โFAQs,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/QcMua
Affiliations
GACSA has an extensive members list, which includes Governmental and Development Agencies, Inter-Governmental Groups, Non-Governmental Organizations, Farmers Organizations, Research and Academic Institutions, Private Sector, Non-profit Organizations, Civil Society Organizations and Regional Alliances.23โMember List,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/2PMuS
Its list of private sector members includes Syngenta.24โMember List,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/2PMuS
The group has 12 regional alliances:25โMember List,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/2PMuS
- Africa CSA Alliance
- Asia Pacific CSA Alliance
- Central Asia CSA Alliance
- East Africa CSA Alliance
- International Cooperative Alliance Asia-Pacific
- Latin America CSA Platform
- North American Climate-Smart Agriculture Alliance (NACSAA)
- Regional Alliance in Asia
- Regional Alliance in Europe
- Regional Sustainable Energy Centre of Excellence for Sub Saharan
- Southern Africa Coalition on Climate Change (SACCC)
- Southern Africa CSA alliance 26โMember List,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/2PMuS
Other Resources
Resources
- 1โGACSA โ Global Alliance on Climate-Smart Agriculture,โ Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/NUITq
- 2โAbout CSA,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/DTybn
- 3โAbout CSA,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/DTybn
- 4โThe Exxons of Agriculture,โ GRAIN, September 30, 2015. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/JSc6q
- 5โGlobal Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA) โ Framework,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture, September 2014. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 6โMember List,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/2PMuS
- 7โOpen Letter from Civil Society On the Global Alliance For Climate-Smart Agriculture – July 2014,โ Climate Smart Agriculture Concerns. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/OcKR4
- 8โOpen Letter from Civil Society On the Global Alliance For Climate-Smart Agriculture – July 2014,โ Climate Smart Agriculture Concerns. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/OcKR4
- 9โThe Exxons of Agriculture,โ GRAIN, September 30, 2015. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/JSc6q
- 10โPolicy Support โ Climate-Smart Agriculture,โ Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/FZWz9
- 11โRT @FAOKnowledge: Climate-smart #agriculture can sustainably increase productivity while reducing greenhouse gases. #climatechange,โ Tweet by user @FAOclimate, January 29, 2018. Retrieved from Twitter.com. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
- 12โClimate Smart Agriculture Sourcebook,โ Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/yYg6y
- 13โStrategic Vision 2018 and Beyond,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 14โSummary Reportโ GACSA Annual Forum 2017,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 15Lucia Heeb, Emma Jenner, โClimate-Smart Pest Management โ Implementation Guidance for Policymakers and Investors,โ Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 16โClever Name, Losing Game? How Climate Smart Agriculture is sowing confusion in the food movement,โ ActionAid, September 2014. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 17โClever Name, Losing Game? How Climate Smart Agriculture is sowing confusion in the food movement,โ ActionAid, September 2014. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 18โClever Name, Losing Game? How Climate Smart Agriculture is sowing confusion in the food movement,โ ActionAid, September 2014. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 19โOutsmarting nature? Synthetic biology and climate smart agriculture,โ ETC Group and Heinrich Bรถll Stiftung. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 20โOutsmarting nature? Synthetic biology and climate smart agriculture,โ ETC Group and Heinrich Bรถll Stiftung. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 21โOutsmarting nature? Synthetic biology and climate smart agriculture,โ ETC Group and Heinrich Bรถll Stiftung. Archived November 10, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 22โFAQs,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/QcMua
- 23โMember List,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/2PMuS
- 24โMember List,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/2PMuS
- 25โMember List,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/2PMuS
- 26โMember List,โ Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. Archived November 10, 2020. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/2PMuS