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Page 1: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Photo by W.Carter via, Wikimdeia Commons

Climate Smart AgricultureYouth Curriculum

Page 2: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Introduction to Climate Change

Module 1

Page 3: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Weather vs. Climate

● Weather is what we feel when we are outside on a given day. Weather events are the atmospheric fluctuations in variables that last hours, days, or up to two weeks.

● Climate is a “symphony of weather,” or the ranges of weather conditions in a region. This could be the average rainfall or temperature, including the extremes, which are “normal” over a long period of time.

● Weather tells you what clothing to wear on a certain day, while climate tells you what clothing to own in general.

Page 4: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

What is the Greenhouse Effect?● Greenhouse gases (GHGs) control the

Earth’s climate system by making the atmosphere warmer. Without greenhouse gases, the earth would be in an eternal ice age!

● These GHGs form a blanket over the Earth -- they retain heat that comes from the Earth’s surface. This heat originally comes from the sun in the form of visible light and is re-radiated from the Earth’s surface in the form of infrared radiation. Otherwise, this heat would pass through the atmosphere and be lost to space!

Page 5: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Meet the Greenhouse Gases!(Ordered from most impactful to least impactful)

● Carbon Dioxide (CO2)○ A gas that contains carbon and oxygen and part of the Carbon

Cycle. Carbon is found in all living things, the air, oceans, and land. CO2 is used by aerobic organisms - absorbed by plants for photosynthesis, exhaled by animals in respiration.

● Methane (CH4)○ A gas that forms from fermenting organic matter by bacteria that

doesn’t need oxygen under heat and pressure. Methane is 100x more potent than CO2 in heating the atmosphere, but only lasts for about 10 years before breaking down

● Ozone (O3)○ A gas in the Stratosphere (one layer above the atmospheric layer

we use to breathe and where weather happens, the troposphere!). It is a pollutant when it’s close to the Earth because it can cause “smog” (smoke and fog) and irritate our lungs.

● Water Vapor○ The oceans contain about 97% of the water found on the Earth and

water holds a higher amount of heat compared to land. This is not a negative pollutant, but still is important in warming the Earth!

Page 6: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

What’s the issue with Carbon?● Carbon is found almost every living thing, so when that

living thing dies and decomposes into the soil, its carbon is stored deep in the Earth’s crust in the form of oil, natural gas, and coal. These are called fossil fuels.

● Humans decided to dig up these fuels, put them into engines, and burn them to produce fire, which creates heat and electricity for homes, factories, and cars.

● Unfortunately, fossil fuels are a non-renewable energy, so we will run out of them one day.

● The Keeling Curve, recorded at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii measured atmospheric CO2 concentrations over time and compared it with data from air bubbles trapped in Ice Cores from the Arctic. This data shows that CO2 has exponential increased since the Industrial Revolution of the 1800’s, where fossil fuels became popular sources of energy.

Page 7: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

What is Climate Change?● We talked about the Greenhouse Effect, but

why is a natural process such a big concern?● Looking back into the history of the Earth, CO2

is part of the natural cycles of the Earth. However, when we take carbon out of the ground and burn it, we produce too much of a greenhouse gas...Carbon Dioxide!

● Remember what we said about GHGs? They heat up the atmosphere like a blanket would warm you up. If there’s too much GHGs, then we have a very thick blanket that makes the Earth too hot.

Page 8: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

What are the effects of Climate Change?● If the Earth is too hot, what happens?

○ Melting Ice■ The Arctic land ice has been steadily shrinking each summer and

leading to sea-level rise○ Sea-level Rise

■ The water from ice melt flows into the ocean to make the ocean bigger, but over time it becomes even warmer, causing “thermal expansion,” since warmer water expands in volume.

○ Ocean Temperatures and Acidity Increase■ The Ocean is a “carbon sink” and holds about half of the carbon

in the air in the form of carbonic acid, which makes the marine environment too acidic for aquatic wildlife, such as Coral Reefs.

○ Extreme Weather Events■ Heat Waves - human health, diseases■ Droughts - lack of rainfall for crops, dust storms■ Forest Fires - soil is not wet enough, too much leaf litter■ Floods - rainfall is too heavy and too infrequent■ Higher Storm Surges and Increased Frequency of Hurricanes

Page 9: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Carbon Sources vs Carbon SinksSources

● Natural○ Forest Fires○ Volcanoes○ Animal/Plant Respiration (Breathing out)

● Human-Caused (Anthropogenic)○ Deforestation/Cutting Down Trees○ Agriculture (Slash and Burn - cutting

down trees and burning the land, tillage - opening up the soil)

○ Transportation (cars/trucks)○ Factories and House Energy Usage from

Fossil Fuels○ Land development○ Cement production

Sinks - places carbon is stored

● Forests/Trees● Grasslands● Oceans● Soils

Page 10: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

How do we reduce our Ecological Footprint?Ecological Footprint is a measurement of the natural resources that an individual uses and how much waste is produced after consumption.

It is broken down into Carbon Footprint, Built-Up Land, Forest Products, Cropland, Grazing land, and Fishing grounds.

● Use Renewable Energy instead of Fossil Fuels● Use Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices to grow food● Eat less meat, and more plant-based foods by being a Vegetarian

or Vegan● Use less electricity and heat

○ Turn off lights when not in use○ Use transportation less or drive less

● Recycle plastic, paper, glass, and metal!● Assignment: Find out your Ecological Footprint!

○ https://www.footprintcalculator.org

Page 11: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

International Climate ActionUNEP: United Nations Environment Program

UNFCCC: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

COP: Conference of the Parties

IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

SPM: Summary for Policymakers, written by the IPCC

Paris Agreement: The Protocol that arose from COP21 in Paris, France in 2015

NDCs: Nationally Determined Contributions

Page 12: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Links and Further Reading● https://www.footprintnetwork.org/our-work/ecological-footprint/

● Ch. 3, "What is Climate?" in Teacher Friendly Guide to Climate Change by Don Duggan-Haas and Ingrid Zabel

Excerpt from pp. 27-41

● https://www.drawdown.org

● "Climate Change: Causes, Impacts, and What Humans are Doing About it" from Climate Change Communication: A

Guide for Educators by Armstrong, Krasny, and Schuldt. In publication.

● https://ww2.kqed.org/quest/2014/12/12/the-keeling-curve-explained/

● https://cop23.com.fj/talanoa-dialogue/

Page 13: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Introduction toClimate Smart Agriculture

Module 2

Page 14: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Module 2 Goals

This module will introduce students to the goals of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), as well as the global challenges that drive the need for CSA. Much of the learning content has been adapted from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations’ Climate-Smart Agriculture Sourcebook.

Photo by Hansueli Krapf via Wikimedia Commons [1].

Page 15: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

What is Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA)?● CSA has three central goals:

○ To sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes

○ To adapt and build resilience to climate change

○ To reduce and/or remove greenhouse gas emissions

Source: FAO Climate-Smart Agriculture Sourcebook and CSA Guide (CGIAR, CCAFS)

Photo by Elina Mark, via Wikimedia Commons [2].

Page 16: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Why is CSA important? The Challenges:● Implementing climate smart agriculture is a necessity because of the following

conditions and challenges:○ Addressing food security. By 2050, the Earth will be home to 9 billion

people. The FAO estimates that agriculture productivity will have to increase 60% to accommodate this change in population.

○ Climate Change will have adverse effects on agriculture yields and productivity.

○ Agriculture and land use, as practiced now, are major contributors to Climate Change.

Source: FAO CSA Sourcebook: pp. ix, 5-8.

Page 17: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Why is CSA important? The goal:● To address the challenges listed on the previous

slide as well as others, we need agriculture “to address simultaneously three intertwined challenges: ensuring food security through increased productivity and income, adapting to climate change and contributing to climate change mitigation” (FAO CSA Sourcebook)

● In other words: increase agricultural yields, adapt to the impacts of climate change, increase community resilience, and mitigate as much CO2 emissions as possible.

Source: FAO CSA Sourcebook: pp. ix-8.

Photo by NASA [3].

Page 18: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

A wider view of CSA

● Watch the following video from the World Bank to learn more about how CSA is a triple-win and to view some examples of CSA.

● Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0V2xzEw44Y

Page 19: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

In-class Activity● Explore the CSA Guide, particularly

the examples of CSA (listed under “View case studies of CSA interventions”)

● https://csa.guide/csa/what-is-climate-smart-agriculture

● Discuss your findings.

Screenshot of CSA Guide example section.

Page 20: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Assignment (in class or at home)

● Learn about the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by going to their website. ○ https://sustainabledevelopment.u

n.org/?menu=1300 ● Choose one and research it further. ● (Prompt continued on next slide)

The Sustainable Development Goals. Photo by the United Nations [4].

Page 21: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Assignment prompt (continued)● Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the

SDGs impact your community.○ Which SDGs are you excited about?○ Do you see any of the SDGs being

implemented now?○ What are the SDGs your community seeks

to address more/better?○ What are some of the strategies/policies

that can be put into place to try to achieve those SDGs?

The Sustainable Development Goals. Photo by the United Nations [4].

Page 22: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Outside resources / Interesting Links● The FAO Climate-Smart Agriculture Sourcebook

○ http://www.fao.org/3/a-i3325e.pdf○ In particular Module 1, which goes over the need for CSA.

● CSA Guide○ https://csa.guide/csa/what-is-climate-smart-agriculture

● UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)● https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300

● Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network○ http://csayn.org/

● Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions○ https://climatechange.cornell.edu/

Page 23: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Sources● FAO Climate-Smart Agriculture Sourcebook, pp. ix-8

○ http://www.fao.org/3/a-i3325e.pdf

● World Bank video○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0V2xzEw44Y

● CSA Guide○ https://csa.guide/csa/what-is-climate-smart-agriculture

● Photos:○ [1] Hansueli Krapf, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2011-06-25_13-36-36_Mauritius_Grand_Port_Deux_Bras.jpg○ [2] Elina Mark, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecologically_grown_vegetables.jpg ○ [3] NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Blue_Marble.jpg○ [4] United Nations, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sustainable_Development_Goals.jpg ○ Last slide photo by Basile Morin, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blond_and_green_rice_fields.jpg

● Sources assembled by Matthew Ferraro, Rhea Lopes, Julie Kapuvari, and Tarannum Sahar for CSAYN and CICSS.

Page 24: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Selected CSA PracticesModule 3

Page 25: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Irrigation and water management

Strategies:• On farm water storage: water harvesting• Ground water development• Modernization of Irrigation infrastructure• Improved drainage• Improve soil moisture retention capacity• Alternate wet and dry rice production system• Supplementary irrigation• Deficit Irrigation

Goal:Improving resilience of farming to rainfall variability and extreme weather events like droughts and floods.

Page 26: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Water Harvesting

Water harvesting means capturing rain where it falls

Even small scale water harvesting systems like terraces, dams and ditches can hold the equivalent of a few rainy-season deluges, enough to bridge month-long dry spells.

Example: Fanya-juu terraces of Machakos, Kenya

Watch video

Source: http://b4fa.org/kenya-fanya-juu-terraces-restore-soils-yields-and-optimism/

Page 27: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Supplemental Irrigation

This is the addition of limited amounts of water to essentially rainfed crops to improve and stabilize yields when rainfall fails to provide sufficient moisture for normal plant growth

It is simple but highly effective technology that allows farmers to plant and manage crops at the optimal time, especially in dry areas.

Example: Kupulima Community in Ghana

• Seasonal shallow wells (1-5m) to store runoff water

• Water collected using ropes and buckets

• Water used for key periods of crop growth cycle: seeding, growing, flowering and grain filling

Maize and rice productivity under supplemental irrigation (SI) and rainfed production in Northern Savannah agro-ecological zone of Ghana (Year 2015).

Source: http://www.fao.org/3/I9022EN/i9022en.pdf

Page 28: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Minimizing Soil ErosionSoil erosion due too runoff• Planting cross slope vegetation• Soil and water conservation structures like terraces, earth bunds, tied

ridges• Creating grassed waterways to convey excess water off the slopes

Soil erosion due to wind• Cultivating drought resistant species• Rotational grazing to sustain rangeland vegetation quality• Planting wind breaks

Page 29: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Wind Breaks

A windbreak is a plantation usually made up of one or more rows of trees or shrubs planted perpendicular to the prevailing wind direction as to provide shelter from the wind and to protect soil from erosion

They are of particular interest in locations with low precipitation and more intense winds during the winter or dry environments, where it is necessary to conserve moisture and regulate climate conditions.

Example: Beefwood, eucalyptus & pine trees are historically very popular in South Africa

Source: https://www.treetrays.co.za/trees/windbreaks/

Page 30: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Soil ManagementStrategies:• Direct seeding• Integrated soil fertility management• Precise management of nitrogen• Herbicides and other weed management• Integrated pest management• Rotational grazing to sustain rangeland vegetation quality• Physical conservation structures (bunds, drains)• Controlled Grazing• Pasture cropping

Page 31: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Integrated Soil Water management

Soil and water are intrinsically linked to crop and livestock production. For this reason, an integrated approach to soil and water management is vital for increasing efficiency in the use of resources, adapting to climate change mitigating green house gases and sustaining productivity.

Many crop management practices like increasing water infiltration, reducing evaporation and increasing storage of rainwater in soils, will help land users in areas projected to receive lower levels of precipitation adapt to climate change.

Soil Water evaporation can be reduced through better management practices like maintaining crop residue, mulching, deficit irrigation and so on.

Example: Zaï practice in Burkina Faso

• Digging pits for water and fertilizer concentration combined with timely sowing and weeding.

• Select larger seeds and to treat them with a mix of pesticides and fungicides before sowing.

• An accurate distribution of fertilizer in the pits can double the production.

• The pits can hold water and prevent erosion if they are dug well before the sowing day.

Watch video

Source: http://thefieldstheyflow.blogspot.com/2013/08/zai-reversing-desertification.html

Page 32: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Energy ManagementStrategies:• Replacing synthetic fertilizers with biofertilizers like manure• Renewable energy sources like solar, wind, biofuels, biomass,

geothermal• Adopting fuel efficient engines• Heat management of greenhouses• Insulation of cool stores• Less input demanding crop species• Review of food storage strategies

Page 33: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Bioenergy

Bioenergy is energy from biofuels. Biofuel is fuel produced directly or indirectly from biomass. Biomass is material of biological origin, for example wood, dung or charcoal and it excludes material embedded in geological formations and transformed to fossils.

Watch video

Example: Prosopis biomass as energy source in Djibouti

• Prosopis tree species are fast-growing and very tolerant to drought and can grow in poor and saline soils but if left unmanaged are invasive and represent a challenge for the native vegetation.

• This project provides a source of energy to refugees and the prospect of income generating activities for host communities.

For further information, read article.

Source: http://www.fao.org/africa/news/detail-news/en/c/903653/

Page 34: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Climate Smart Crop Production SystemsStrategies:• Mulch cropping• Cover cropping• Alterations in cropping patterns and rotations• Crop diversification• Using high quality seeds and adapted varieties• Landscape level pollination management• Organic agriculture• Promotion of legumes• Crop insurance

Page 35: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Conservation Agriculture

Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a set of soil management practices that minimize the disruption of the soil's structure, composition and natural biodiversity. CA has proven potential to improve crop yields, while improving the long-term environmental and financial sustainability of farming.

- Minimum mechanical soil disturbance (i.e. no tillage) through direct seed and/or fertilizer placement.- Permanent soil organic cover (at least 30 percent) with crop residues and/or cover crops.- Species diversification through varied crop sequences and associations involving at least three different crops.

Watch video

Source: http://www.fao.org/in-action/sustaining-future-agriculture-in-rwanda/en/

Example: Intensification of Agriculture in Rwanda

Read article

Page 36: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Climate Smart LivestockStrategies:• Grazing management• Pasture management and nutrition• Animal breeding• Disease control and feeding strategies• Vaccines• Early warning systems and insurance• Agroforestry practices• Feed management• Manure management• Improved feed conversion• Sourcing low emission feed

Page 37: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Climate Smart Fisheries and AquacultureStrategies:• Increase fishing capacity of targeted species• Improved weather warning systems• Improved farm siting and design• Use indigenous or non-reproducing stocks to minimize biodiversity

impacts• Introduce marine species (wide salinity tolerance)• Regular monitoring• Genetic improvement for higher resistance

Page 38: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Assignment

Do a case study of a successful example of CSA practice.

The case study should cover the following points:1. Name of the technique and definition2. Place used- brief climate history, challenges in agriculture3. Description of the practice4. Systemic benefits5. Limitations (if any)

No two students should select the same case study. All case studies must be presented to the class and compiled for future reference.

Page 39: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Economic Impacts of Climate Smart Agriculture

Module 4

Page 40: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Module 4 Goals

This module will focus on the agricultural productivity and economic benefits of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices and technologies. We will explore general topics on entrepreneurship and the avenues via which new jobs can be created.

Photo by Joachim Huber via wikimedia commons

Page 41: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Economic Analysis of CSAThe economic analysis indicates that all the CSA practices have a cost-benefit ratio greater than 1, that is, the benefits outweigh the costs.

Main economic benefits:

● Sustainable and equitable increases in agricultural productivity and income

● Increased resilience to negative and uncertain economic impacts

● Greater availability of food resources for family and community members

Source: The Economist

Page 42: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Profitability of CSA Unlike traditional farming, smallholdersadopting CSA are utilizing agricultural practices that:• Have been carefully studied• Have demonstrable productivity increases• Lead to reduced crop losses due to climate impacts

The figure shows how farmers who adopt CSA practices are significantly more profitable under adverse weather conditions, compared to those using traditional farming methods.

Page 43: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Challenges faced by youth in CSA

● Lack of access to appropriate skills training programs or opportunities

● Limited availability of information such as market and pricing data

● Inadequate supply of inputs such as seeds, fertilizer and water

● Minimal access to technologies such as irrigation, planting methods and mobile services

● Lack of access to arable land and financial services

Source: African Entrepreneurship Startup Project

Page 44: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Types of intervention to make CSA viable1) Policy changes: Governments may consider policy shifts to encourage

greater production, more-resilient agriculture, or lower emissions 2) Direct farmer support programs: Programs aimed at improving farmer

productivity, income, resilience, or emission reductions through interventions such as farmer education, training, technological transfer, agricultural extension on new management practices, or crop and livestock insurance.

3) Infrastructure investments: This includes traditional infrastructure investments such as building a dam, an irrigation system, or micro-hydro infrastructure to increase access to water; improving storage or warehousing; building infrastructure to reduce post-harvest waste.

Watch this video about the importance of policies to support CSA.

Page 45: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

AgribusinessAgribusiness is the application of business principles to agricultural production. It is the farming, management, production, and marketing of agricultural commodities and is made up of three components:

● the agricultural input sector ● the production sector● the processing-manufacturing sector.

Through its various value chains, agribusiness boosts employment and poverty reduction. It further enhances diversification of production to broaden the economy, transforming the agricultural sector towards an agro-industrial development and leading to increase in economic growth.

Page 46: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Innovative Financing MechanismMobilizing private adaptation finance: The private sector offers a huge opportunity for mobilizing adaptation finance and implementing priority actions, including in the agricultural sector.

Impact investment: Impact investors fund projects with social and environmental benefits, and can be an important source of funding for projects in the agriculture sector, considering the multiple benefits that investments in this sector can realize.

Blended finance: Involves the strategic use of development finance and philanthropic funds to mobilize private sector capital that can accelerate investments in climate-resilient agriculture. Source: Express Tribune

Page 47: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?
Page 48: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Current Energy Use in Farming SystemThe relationship between energy and food production have evolved and grown stronger over time with fossil fuels becoming a major input in modern agricultural production. Biomass also plays a role as an important traditional source of energy as it can be exported outside the agrifood chain through the sale of biogas produced on farms to local households, or through the generation of electricity from agricultural residues to feed into the national energy grid.

Source: http://www.fao.org/

Page 49: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Energy Efficient Farming SystemAs the climate changes, some agricultural practices may no longer be able to provide a reliable source of income. Increases in productivity achieved through feed and/or pasture management, irrigation and the increased use of fertilizers and pesticides imply an increase in the use of energy. Energy-smart strategies can involve making trade-offs but are none-the-less important because:

● Improve access to modern energy services ● Increase energy diversity ● Contribute to energy security● Strengthen resilience Source: FAO Source Book

Page 50: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Possible Energy Solutions for CSA

In farming communities, a mix of appropriate energy technologies, equipment and facilities is necessary to make the gradual shift to food chains that are both energy-smart and climate-smart. The nature of this mix will depend on biophysical conditions, infrastructure and the capacities of the labour force. There are many technologies that can be part of energy-smart food chains. This includes:

● Windmills and solar collectors ● Photovoltaic panels ● Biogas production units● Power generators ● Equipment for bio-oil purification ● Fermentation and distillation facilities

● Hydrothermal conversion equipment ● Solar, wind or bioenergy-operated water pumps ● Renewable energy-powered vehicles● Monitoring information and communication tech● Fuel-efficient cooking stoves● Efficient equipment for water distribution

Page 51: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

The Story of Allan AhimbisibweCEO of Allan Spark Initiative, Allan Ahimbisibwe is from Uganda and only 24 years old. He graduated with a Bachelor’s’ Degree of Science in Business Statistics from Makerere University.

He started farming out of passion from his mother’s compound and later developed the concept of urban farming which led to the birth of Spark Agro-Initiatives in early 2017. Through his venture, he start up over 60 backyard gardens for corporate and high end customers.

Now that his business is functioning smoothly, on an average day, over 10 people pass by to get farming knowledge from him and his five employees. They offer advisory services for optimum utilization of land, draw business plans for production, management and marketing, applying best agronomic practices, feeding soils with fertilizers and adopting mixed farming.

Allan displaying sukumawiki in his backyard farm.Source: Daily Monitor

Page 52: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

AssignmentFind methods for successfully financing Climate Smart Agriculture in your community. Interview 1 agripreneur in your area to:

● Learn about their business model● Analyze sustainable practices ● Understand the financing mechanisms ● Recognize the successes of the agribusiness● Study the challenges they are facing ● Think about possible solutions

Write a two-page paper on your findings.

Page 53: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Environmental & Social Benefits of CSA

Module 5

Page 54: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Environmental Benefits of CSAProtecting the environment and conserving natural ecosystems is a crucial part of saving humanity, so we must do our part for Mother Nature.

Climate Smart Agriculture can...

● Improve Soil Health● Preserve Biodiversity and Forests● Reduce Water Pollution● Reduce Air Pollution & Greenhouse

Gases

Page 55: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Improving Soil HealthSoil health is a measure of the quality and capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that can sustain plants with nutrients and minerals, animals with habitat, and humans with food.

We can improve soil health by...

● Reducing tillage and mechanization that disrupts the structure of the soil layers

● Reducing wind and water erosion using agroforestry methods (as mentioned in Module 3) to provide barriers

● Increasing microbial diversity○ Bacteria and worms allow for decomposition○ Nutrient Cycling of Carbon, Nitrogen, and

Phosphorous● Improve Soil Organic Matter and fertility by planting

legumes and refraining from synthetic fertilizers

Page 56: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Preserving Biodiversity and Forests

● Diversify your crop species instead of planting a monoculture

● Don’t use “Slash and Burn” agriculture, cultivate crops among the trees using agroforestry

● Build an Apiary and become a beekeeper for native bee species to increase pollination

● Refrain from using pesticides that reduces the microbiota in the soil

We are currently facing the Earth’s Sixth Mass Extinction, which is attributed to human interference and appropriately called the “Anthropocene.” Deforestation and land development have significantly damaged the world’s biodiversity, but humans use the instrumental value of about 40,000 species every day.

Page 57: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Reducing Water Need and Pollution

Cultural Eutrophication: when too many nutrients enter a body of water and causes an algae bloom. When those algae die, a “hypoxic” low dissolved oxygen zone is created, causing the death of aquatic plants and fish in the area.

● Create buffer strips and protection zones around the field to block run off

● Use drip irrigation to reduce water use, erosion, and the risk of fertilizer and pesticide migration.

● Adopt more organic principles and reduce general use of synthetic fertilizers by planting legumes to rotate and fix biological nitrogen

Water pollution is created when agriculture that has livestock manure or uses an excess of fertilizer is not contained and “runs off” into local bodies of water or into the groundwater aquifers.

Page 58: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Reducing Air Pollution/Greenhouse Gas MitigationIn Module 1, we discussed how Greenhouse Gases cause climate change. Through CSA, we can not only adapt to these impacts, but also reduce our contribution to them!The agricultural sector is the 2nd largest contributor to GHGs globally due to its use of energy, industry, and land use, according to the IPCC.

We can mitigate GHGs and other pollutants such as NO2 and Particulate Matter by…

● Sequestering Carbon in the soil by reducing tillage, soil disruption, and refraining from deforestation

● Using renewable energy on-site instead of gas, oil, or diesel that produces particulate matter

● Recycling nutrients instead of industrially producing nitrogen fertilizers that cause NO2

Page 59: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Social Benefits of CSAClimate Smart Agriculture provides social benefits to vulnerable and marginalized groups that do not have the best access to financial resources and government support.

Adopting CSA can…

● Strengthen adaptive capacity● Improve food security● Build a sense of community and

increase youth participation

Page 60: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Stronger Adaptive CapacityAdaptive Capacity is the potential and resiliency of a system to bounce back and change in the face of the various climatic impacts that we discussed in Module 1.

To reducing vulnerability to extreme weather events and improve resiliency after a disaster, farmers can diversify their crops, use more drought or flood tolerant species,

But more importantly, we need institutional change to increase access to education for women in particular, global markets for food export, and technologies that assist in conservation agriculture.

Learn how farmers in Malawi are adapting to flooding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJegLmWQ4uA

Page 61: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Improved Food Security

Food Security is guaranteeing equitable access to a healthy and stable food supply.

We can increase this access by…

1. Closing the Yield Gap between land potential and crop yield

2. Using farm resources more efficiently3. Grow food crops used for direct

consumption, rather than for animals or biofuels

4. Reduce Food Waste

The first two United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are eliminating poverty and hunger. When 836 million people live in extreme poverty and over one third of the world’s food is wasted, we must globally redistribute wealth and resource access by challenging our socio-economic, racial, and gender power structures.

Page 62: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Build Communities and Engage YouthIn Africa, over 200 million people are between the ages of 15 and 24 due to the continent’s demographic stage and will continue to grow exponentially.

Climate Smart Agriculture has the potential to build a sense of community and allow any person of any age to participate, especially younger people who will be the most affected by climate change impacts in the future.

We can engage younger generations by... ● Creating agriculture networks on social

media for information sharing and community connections

● Including youth in advisory groups and policy discussions

● Add agriculture to school curricula● Increasing the profitability of agriculture

Page 63: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Assignment: Organize a Talanoa DialogueA Talanoa Dialogue is a roundtable discussion where each person in the group aims to answer these three questions:

1. Where are we?2. Where do we want to go?3. How do we get there?

Developed and introduced by the Fiji government during COP23, these dialogues have been conducted throughout the world to put a story to climate change impacts and provide qualitative data to influence climate policy.

Any local municipality, NGO, or institution can submit Talanoa Dialogues to the UNFCCC to be reviewed before the next annual COP.

Page 64: Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Curriculum · 2018-11-30 · Assignment prompt (continued) Write 2-3 paragraphs on how the SDGs impact your community. Which SDGs are you excited about?

Photo by Basile Morin, via Wikimedia Commons