Climate smart agriculture: A critical review

Abstract

Climate change is already having a significant impact on agriculture through greater weather variability and the increasing frequency of extreme events, both of which are expected to increase over the coming decades (IPCC, 2014). As a largely human-made adjunct to the natural environment, the sector is highly exposed to these changes and much of the international climate discourse has focused on the sector's vulnerability, resilience and adaptive capacity for given projected climate scenarios (Fellmann, 2012; Nelson et al., 2009; Parry et al., 2004). As in other sectors the agricultural adaptation agenda has highlighted the uncertainty of impacts, the role of research and development, and the likelihood that there will be winners and losers (Atteridge and Remling, 2013; Nelson et al., 2009). It has also emphasised the specific vulnerabilities of low-income smallholders in developing countries and ethical reasons why the developed world should invest more to help low-income countries adapt (Atteridge and Remling, 2013).