Introduction

The twenty-second session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) and the twelfth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 12) will be held in Bab Ighli, Marrakech, Morocco from 7-18 November 2016.The UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech is the crucial next step for governments looking to operationalize the Paris Climate Change Agreement adopted last year. While the Paris Agreement gave clear pathways and a final destination in respect to decisive action on climate change, many of the details regarding how to move forward as one global community in that common direction still need to be resolved. With the entry into force of the Agreement happening on 4 November just days before COP 22, the dialogue and decisions in Marrakech hold immense potential to accelerate and amplify the immediate response to the challenge recognized in the Paris Agreement.

The Conservation Agriculture side event

One of the side events during the COP22 this year, is the meeting on “Climate Change Mitigation and Sustainable Food Security with Conservation Agriculture in Africa and the Mediterranean Region” . This side event has been organized by four International networks that have come together to address the development of Conservation Agriculture in Africa and the Mediterranean. Rèseau Innovation Agro-systèmes Mèditerranèens, www.rcmed.org, African Conservation Tillage network, www.act-africa.org, European Conservation Agriculture Federation, www.ecaf.org, Global Conservation Agriculture Community of Practice -Global CA-CoP linked to FAO, www.fao.org/ag/ca. The event will bring together, farmers, CA promoting organizations, researchers, teachers, the private sector as well as decision makers. The platform will provide an opportunity to present practical experiences, to identify the constraints limiting the development of conservation agriculture and to make recommendations to support these new practices that are positive for farmers and the environment and which contribute to the climate change adaptation.

Climate change adaptation

Climate change will impact future food production and availability. Although adaptation strategies differ according to the regions, there are still some promising basic principles that can help to reduce the vulnerability of the respective agricultural systems in extreme conditions. Climate change adaptation for agricultural cropping systems means a higher resilience against both high intensity rainfall and extended drought periods. Key elements to respond to both problems are soil organic matter and the permanent cover of the soils by plants or their residues. Soil organic matter improves and stabilizes the soil structure so that the soil can absorb higher amounts of water without causing surface runoff. It also improves the water absorption capacity of the soil during drought. Soil cover protects the soil surface from the destructive impact of rainfall and further reduces the loss of soil water through unproductive evaporation.

The simultaneous application of the three principles of conservation agriculture namely minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop diversity and associations would thus contribute decisively to the adaptation to climate change. Indeed innovative agricultural practices like conservation agriculture already implemented on a large scale in other parts of the world, have been a tested and put into practice in certain regions of Africa and the Mediterranean. Once adapted to local agro- climatic and socio-economic constraints, agricultural practices based on the three principles have shown certain direct advantages to farmers which include mitigating erosion, improving soil fertility, regularity of the yields and to a certain extent lower costs for crop establishment. Conservation agriculture is promising for food production and security within the framework of more agro- ecological approaches for agriculture.

The African and the Mediterranean regions have for several years felt the effect of climate change and the rural populations are the more particularly affected. In this context, farmers are at the frontline of facing the severe consequences of climatic changes and can play a very important role in developing locally adaptable and sustainable solutions. The objective of this side event therefore is to create awareness, raise policy issues, share practical experiences based on innovative production systems like Conservation Agriculture especially from countries that have supportive agricultural policies.

More information about COP22 can be accessed at http://www.cop22-morocco.com/ , http://unfccc.int/meetings/marrakech_nov_2016/meeting/9567.php