Forests and trees – on or near agricultural land but also hundreds of kilometres away – can provide a range of water-related ecosystem services critical for agriculture, including freshwater supply, regulation of water flows, local climates and temperatures, as well as water damage mitigation, and water purification.
The water-related ecosystem services from trees and forests to agriculture are insufficiently monitored and valued, which means that they are under recognized in the agricultural sector and agriculture-related policies, resulting in economic losses for farmers and countries.
An integrated approach to landscape and natural resource management – forests and water – at various scales is essential for ensuring that the benefits of forests and trees for agriculture are optimized. Decision-support systems that consider trade-offs and synergies among the forest ecosystem services provided are emerging as key tools to facilitate this.
Tag: agriculture
Carbon markets and food systems
Carbon markets are increasingly recognized as a central instrument of international climate cooperation, yet their potential to support the decarbonization of food systems remains largely untapped. Food systems—spanning agriculture, land use and land-use change and forestry, energy, industry, and waste—account for around one third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, while offering substantial mitigation opportunities across production, value chains, and consumption. This paper provides one of the first comprehensive assessments of how food-system-related mitigation activities are represented in international carbon markets. Drawing on an original merged database covering more than 9,200 projects from both UNFCCC mechanisms (notably the Clean Development Mechanism) and major independent standards, it analyses nearly 4.9 GtCO₂e of issued carbon credits through a food- system lens. The study introduces a simplified typology of project scopes and types and examines the geographical, sectoral, and technological distribution of food-system-related projects. It shows that while food systems account for a significant share of credits—especially in independent mechanisms— carbon market activity remains highly concentrated geographically and skewed toward a limited number of project types, notably large-scale REDD+ and refrigeration projects. By contrast, major sources of food-system emissions at the farm gate and along food value chains—such as livestock methane, rice cultivation, food loss and waste, and household energy use—remain largely overlooked. The paper discusses the implications of these gaps for the environmental integrity and effectiveness of carbon markets and highlights the need for adapted methodologies, improved integration of small-scale projects, and greater alignment between compliance and voluntary markets. It concludes by outlining how carbon markets could more effectively contribute to food-system decarbonization while supporting sustainable development and food security.
CGIAR Agroecology Initiative Outcome identification workshop Kiambu ALL
Since 2023, the Agroecology Initiative has engaged with diverse stakeholders in Makueni ALL to co-design and implement innovative agroecological practices in three priority areas: soil, water, and integrated pest management. To assess the Initiative’s impact on various food system actors, an outcome evidence workshop was held on September 3, 2024, at DNRC, Makueni. This workshop involved 35 participants from diverse sectors, including farmers, government officials, and the private sector, agro-input service providers, NGOs, implementing organizations.
Synthesis report on the co-design of agroecological innovations in the Agroecological Living Landscapes (ALLs) in Kenya
In Kenya, the CGIAR Agroecology Initiative (AE-I) has two agroecological living landscapes (ALLs), one in Kiambu County and a second in Makueni County. Work package 1 (WP1) of the AE-I entailed two key components: ALL establishment, and innovation co-design. In line with broader agroecology approaches and ontologies, both were to be achieved through transdisciplinary co-design processes. This report provides an overview of the innovation co-design process, its results, the scientific performance of co-designed practices and related reflections. First, the report introduces the three-pronged co-design approach, which included a preparatory phase, a co-design phase, and a trial phase; and outlines the many different steps involved in the process. It then provides details of the specific practices co-designed across the three identified focus areas in which most attention was required: soil management, water management, and integrated pest management. The respective practices for the Kiambu ALL included the use of compost manure, mulch, and chili-based biopesticides, and farmyard manure, planted terraces, and neem-based biopesticides in Makueni. In the first cycle of trials, each of these practices was put under trial on 10 farmers’ fields. The experimental design included on 5×6 m controlled test trial plot, and a second 5×6 m “uncontrolled” control plot. While the inputs used (including seeds, seedlings, and treatments) were centrally provided, and kept constant, the trial participants used their conventional practice in the control plots. With a few exceptions, this conventional practice is largely organic in Kiambu, and followed permaculture principles in Makueni. Third, the agronomic assessment of two consecutive experimentation cycles (October 2023-March 2024; May 2024-September 2024) revealed generally positive performance of the co-designed practices. A preliminary contextual climate analysis showed that both areas received excessive rainfall in the second cycle, with more than twice the long-term average in April and May. Experienced flooding and water logging considerably influenced agricultural production during that cycle. Considering gross productivity, yields only significantly improved in the Makueni ALL, while differences in Kiambu ALL were not significant. In Makueni, only farmyard manure had a significant effect on maize yields, while all three practices significantly improved bean yields. Considering pest and disease pressure, pests were significantly lower for cabbages in the IPM trials in Kiambu, but not for compost or mulch. In Makueni, pests were significantly lower for both maize and beans in the IPM trial, as well as for beans in the manure trial. Despite experiencing difficulties related to planting timing, the climatic conditions, the quality of the inputs used, and market constraints, the participating farmers evaluated the practices and their participation in the trials very positively. In the last two sections, the report discussed adoption and scaling approaches, and broader reflections on successes and challenges with the co-design process, and recommends a continuation of highly methodical and structured transdisciplinary innovation co-design. This report complements the detailed co-design report prepared by the WP1 Kenya team in 2023 (Fuchs et al., 2023b).
CGIAR Initiative on Agroecology inter-ALL farmer knowledge exchange visit and innovation co-design workshop
The CGIAR Agroecology Initiative (AE-I) aimed at supporting the emergence of a practical and collectively agreed action plans for each Agroecological Living Landscape (ALL) and its key stakeholders through a vision-to-action process. This plan entailed jointly identified behavioral changes for various actors that could facilitate a multi-actor, multi-strategy, multi-level agroecological transition from their current situation to the desired future changes they envisioned for their respective ALL. The action plans developed in both ALLs contained pathways related to innovative agroecological on-farm practices, including their testing and rigorous participatory monitoring. Following their prioritization, the WP1 team engaged a broad co-design process that included (1) a preliminary rapid innovation mapping, (2) a structured co-design workshop that brought about three practices that would be tested in each ALL, while defining criteria for participant selection, indicators to monitor etc., (3) technical training in the identified practices, and finally (4) the trial establishment and continuous rigorous monitoring.
Towards low-emission food systems in Guinea: A country profile
Food systems—spanning agriculture, land use and land-use change and forestry (LULUCF), energy, industrial processes and product use (IPPU), and waste—account for about one third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, yet they remain an often underreported component of the climate challenge. This country profile on Guinea is part of a broader series that applies a food-system lens to national emissions by combining international datasets with official country reporting. It provides an integrated overview of land use, forests and agriculture, food security and diets, and food system emissions in Guinea, where agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and food processing and distribution are central to livelihoods, and where waste management is an increasingly important urban activity. Drawing on FAOSTAT data and Guinea’s 2024 Biennial Update Report, the profile compares international and national estimates to identify the main sources of food system emissions and areas of convergence between datasets. The analysis shows that Guinea’s food system emissions are dominated by farm-gate sources—particularly livestock methane, rice cultivation, and manure-related emissions—followed by land-use change driven largely by shifting cultivation and agricultural expansion, while emissions beyond the farm gate remain smaller but are increasing in urban areas due to waste disposal and energy use. The profile situates these emissions within a context of rapid population growth, persistent poverty, strong reliance on smallholder rainfed agriculture, and diets heavily dependent on rice and starchy staples, with low overall protein intake. It identifies a set of no-regret mitigation priorities that combine emissions reduction with food security and development objectives, including improved livestock productivity, methane-smart rice cultivation and loss reduction, forest regeneration and frontier control, and urban waste management solutions. By making food system emissions more visible and policy-relevant, this publication aims to support policymakers, researchers, and development partners in identifying climate actions aligned with Guinea’s development priorities and future climate commitments.
Opportunities for a low-emission transformation of African food systems
Food systems – spanning agriculture, land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF), energy, industrial processes and product use (IPPU), and waste – account for about one-third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, yet they remain difficult to identify in national reporting because they are dispersed across UNFCCC sectors. This working paper provides a continent-wide overview of food security and diets, economy-wide emissions, and food system emissions in Africa, and identifies no-regret priorities for mitigation action that support food security and sustainable development. It combines FAOSTAT agrifood system emissions with national inventory estimates submitted to the UNFCCC as Common Reporting Tables, analysed through the updated FSE-CRT model, which aligns national sectoral reporting with food-system boundaries while enabling cross-country comparability. The analysis situates mitigation opportunities within Africa’s structural context of rapid demographic growth, persistent poverty and undernutrition, and fast urbanization, while recognizing that the continent has the world’s lowest per-capita emissions and therefore requires context-appropriate mitigation pathways. Across datasets, agriculture and waste emerge as priority sectors for mitigation when excluding LULUCF, with livestock management (enteric fermentation and manure) identified as a leading farm-gate source and unmanaged organic waste as a major urban emissions driver; by contrast, energy- and industry-related food emissions are smaller and often underreported in national inventories. The paper highlights quick-win options—such as improved livestock management, better nutrient-use efficiency, reduced food losses, and enhanced organic waste management—alongside second-tier priorities requiring longer-term investment, including sustainable land-use planning and forest protection, climate-smart intensification, low-carbon food-system infrastructure, and strengthened national GHG inventories to improve targeting and access to climate finance.
Towards low-emission food systems in Cameroon: A country profile
Food systems—spanning agriculture, land use and land-use change and forestry (LULUCF), energy, industrial processes and product use (IPPU), and waste—account for about one third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, yet they remain an often underreported component of the climate challenge. This country profile on Cameroon is part of a broader series that applies a food-system lens to national emissions by combining international datasets with official country reporting. It provides an integrated overview of land use, forests and agriculture, food security and diets, and food system emissions in Cameroon, a country characterized by exceptional biophysical diversity, rapid demographic growth, and persistent development challenges. Drawing on FAOSTAT data and Cameroon’s 2024 Biennial Update Report, the profile compares international and national estimates to identify the main sources of food system emissions and areas of convergence between datasets. The analysis shows that food system emissions in Cameroon are dominated by land-use change and forest fires, followed by livestock management—particularly enteric fermentation and manure—and, to a lesser extent, waste management and post-harvest losses. While methodological gaps and data limitations remain, especially for disaggregated supply-chain emissions, available evidence already provides clear signals on priority mitigation opportunities that are compatible with the country’s financial, technical, and institutional constraints. The profile identifies a set of no-regret mitigation pathways that combine emissions reduction with food security and development objectives, including zero-deforestation agricultural development, improved fire management, more efficient livestock systems, and reductions in starchy root-crop losses through improved storage, processing, and value-chain infrastructure. By making food system emissions more visible and policy-relevant, this publication aims to support policymakers, researchers, and development partners in identifying climate actions that align with Cameroon’s Nationally Determined Contribution and emerging international market requirements.
Towards low-emission food systems in Côte d’Ivoire: A country profile
Food systems—spanning agriculture, land use and land-use change and forestry (LULUCF), energy, industry, and waste—account for about one third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, yet they remain an often underreported component of the climate challenge. This country profile on Côte d’Ivoire is part of a series of national analyses that apply a food-system lens to emissions by comparing FAOSTAT estimates with official national data from the country’s Biennial Transparency Report and Nationally Determined Contribution. It provides an integrated overview of land use, forests and agriculture, food security and diets, and food system emissions in Côte d’Ivoire, a country where rapid population growth, cocoa-driven deforestation, and rising urban demand interact with significant mitigation opportunities. The profile identifies a set of no-regret priorities for mitigation action that can reduce emissions while supporting food security and sustainable development, including forest-positive cocoa systems, improved livestock productivity, conservation of wetlands and organic soils, climate-smart rice cultivation, low-emission aquaculture and fisheries, and modern waste management. By making food system emissions more visible and policy-relevant, this publication aims to support national and international stakeholders in identifying mitigation pathways that deliver climate, food security, and development benefits in Côte d’Ivoire.