The Durban Agreement -- A bigger opening for agriculture

As I discussed in previous blogs, the agricultural community were out in force in side events in Durban, lobbying for the SBSTA to be mandated to undertake a work program on agriculture. The report of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Coooperative Action (AHWG-LCA) (see link below) shows that significant progress was achieved, with a clear opening for agriculture to be discussed by the SBSTA.

Section D on "Cooperative sectoral approaches and sector-specific actions" includes the following statement on agriculture.

"69. Requests the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice to consider issues related to agriculture at its thirty-sixth session, with the aim of exchanging views andthe Conference of the Parties adopting a decision on this matter at its eighteenth session;

70. Invites Parties and accredited observer organizations to submit to the secretariat, by 5 March 2012, their views on the issues referred to in paragraph 69 above;

71. Requests the secretariat to compile submissions referred to in paragraph 70 above byParties into a miscellaneous document for consideration by the Subsidiary Body forScientific and Technological Advice at its thirty-sixth session;"

Agencies and countries most interested in getting action on agriculture through the COP process now have until 5 March 2012 to have their say in formal submissions to the SBSTA, for real discussion during the SBSTA meeting in June 2012, and toward a decision at COP18 a year from now.

Lets see how the Climate Smart Agriculture idea fares through that process.

http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2011/awglca14/eng/l04.pdf