Open AccessClimate‐Smart Landscapes: Opportunities and Challenges for Integrating Adaptation and Mitigation in Tropical Agriculture
Author(s) -
Harvey Celia A.,
Chacón Mario,
Donatti Camila I.,
Garen Eva,
Hannah Lee,
Andrade Angela,
Bede Lucio,
Brown Douglas,
Calle Alicia,
Chará Julian,
Clement Christopher,
Gray Elizabeth,
Hoang Minh Ha,
Minang Peter,
Rodríguez Ana María,
SeebergElverfeldt Christina,
Semroc Bambi,
Shames Seth,
Smukler Sean,
Somarriba Eduardo,
Torquebiau Emmanuel,
Etten Jacob,
Wollenberg Eva
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
conservation letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.153
H-Index - 79
ISSN - 1755-263X
DOI - 10.1111/conl.12066
Subject(s) - food security , environmental resource management , agriculture , adaptation (eye) , context (archaeology) , climate change , business , scope (computer science) , natural resource economics , environmental planning , climate change mitigation , adaptive capacity , scale (ratio) , poverty , geography , economics , ecology , economic growth , computer science , programming language , physics , cartography , archaeology , optics , biology
Addressing the global challenges of climate change, food security, and poverty alleviation requires enhancing the adaptive capacity and mitigation potential of agricultural landscapes across the tropics. However, adaptation and mitigation activities tend to be approached separately due to a variety of technical, political, financial, and socioeconomic constraints. Here, we demonstrate that many tropical agricultural systems can provide both mitigation and adaptation benefits if they are designed and managed appropriately and if the larger landscape context is considered. Many of the activities needed for adaptation and mitigation in tropical agricultural landscapes are the same needed for sustainable agriculture more generally, but thinking at the landscape scale opens a new dimension for achieving synergies. Intentional integration of adaptation and mitigation activities in agricultural landscapes offers significant benefits that go beyond the scope of climate change to food security, biodiversity conservation, and poverty alleviation. However, achieving these objectives will require transformative changes in current policies, institutional arrangements, and funding mechanisms to foster broad‐scale adoption of climate‐smart approaches in agricultural landscapes.