For my thesis project, I looked into which countries had national or sub-national policies in place to support agroecology. Then, I analyzed their National Determined Contributions (NDCs), which were submitted as part of each country’s commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement. NDCs are meant to be documents outlining what steps countries will take to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change, so taking a look at whether agroecology featured in NDCs provided some interesting insights about agricultural policies in international policy agreements, and policy coherence between national policies and international climate agreements.
Countries with National or Sub-National Agroecology Policies – from my thesis research.
A search in the FAO’s AgroecologyLex Database showed 44 countries with agroecology policies at the national or sub-national level.
However, reading these and other countries’ NDCs showed that very few mentioned agroecology. 11 countries mention agroecology in their NDC documents as a central feature of their climate agreements.
Countries with Agroecology in their NDCs – from my thesis research.
I found that of the 44 countries with agroecology policies at the national or subnational level, only 4 also include agroecology in their NDCS – Venezuela, Mexico, Uruguay, and Burundi.
Countries with Agroecology in NDCs and in National or Sub-National Policies – from my thesis research.
Digging deeper into the stories behind what processes led to the inclusion – or lack of inclusion – of agroecology in national and international policy agreements provided interesting insights into the varied nature of the policy process, and also pointed to important leverage points for further engagement by stakeholders committed to agroecology.
Leverage Points for Agroecology Stakeholder Engagement in the NDC Process – from my thesis research, adapted from Hermwille, et. al., 2019.
Policy actors in countries with existing national and sub-national policies supporting agroecology are poised to encourage the inclusion of agroecology in future NDCs, and push for enhanced policy coherence, implementation, and scaling up of agroecologically-aligned policies. The time is now for transformative action in the food system and beyond, and promoting agroecology in policies aimed at addressing climate change has the potential to engender the types of changes in economic and livelihood systems so needed throughout the world.
References
Hermwille, L., Siemons, A., Förster, H., & Jeffery, L. (2019). Catalyzing mitigation ambition under the Paris Agreement: elements for an effective Global Stocktake. Climate Policy, 19(8), 988-1001.