6 October 2022
Agriculture faces a complex and unique challenge in the context of climate change. One the one hand, it is particularly vulnerable due to its dependence on weather and climatic conditions. On the other hand, it is a major source of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, both directly (through on-farm emissions linked to production) and indirectly (through land use change due to agricultural expansion). Overall, agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) represents around one-fifth (22%) of global anthropogenic GHG emissions.
There are ample opportunities for agriculture to reduce both direct and indirect emissions, and to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, through carbon sequestration in biomass and soils. Some options could be achieved through practices that raise productivity, which would help to agriculture to mitigate climate change and maintain food security and nutrition for consumers, and livelihoods for producers. Despite this potential, agriculture lags behind other sectors in terms of climate change commitments and actions. By mid-2022, only 16 countries of OECD and key major emerging economies had set emissions reduction targets specific to the agricultural sector.
The Global Forum on Agriculture 2022 provided the opportunity to build a shared understanding among countries and experts about the policies needed for the agriculture sector to substantially ramp up its contribution to global climate stabilisation commitments. Policy makers and other stakeholders were invited to exchange views and experiences from various contexts to identify scalable solutions in the lead up to the OECD Agriculture Ministers meeting being held 3-4 November 2022, the week before the COP27.
Materials from the event:
Annotated Agenda | Background Note | Presentations |
The OECD Global Forums on Agriculture foster an informed dialogue between OECD member and non-member economies on agricultural policies issues. This dialogue is based on regular monitoring and analysis to evaluate and strengthen the process of policy reform and trade liberalisation through forward-looking analysis, and addresses emerging agricultural policy issues.
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