The Lima-Paris Action Agenda set out within the framework of the Paris Agreement on climate change seeks to boost the number of specific projects aimed at meeting the commitments made during the climate negotiations. However, these initiatives need to demonstrate that they are truly transformational, and that the risks that could be incurred in their implementation are taken into account.
This Policy Brief focuses on the “4/1000 Initiative: Soils for Food Security and Climate” in the field of agriculture and food security. The issues are particularly acute here, since although the agricultural sector is responsible for 18 to 20% of global emissions, it is also one of the most exposed to climate change, with significant risks for food security. In this context, this Policy Brief proposes a certain number of reference criteria that clarify how the projects developed within the initiative take account of and, where necessary, arbitrate between these three issues (mitigation, adaptation and food security).
RECOMMENDATIONS
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1) Two types of indicators need to be distinguished by the consortium:
a) Those that can be considered as safeguards, which will help to assess the possible negative impacts of a project on crucial social and environmental aspects, and that will serve as exclusionary principles.
b) And those for which projects will be asked to clarify the hypothesis they rely upon regarding the intended changes and the expected impacts they will have on the three objectives of the initiative.
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2) Safeguards indicators should cover the following issues:
a) Land tenure.
b) Human rights.
c) Ecosystems integrity.
- 3) Indicators should help to uncover how 4 per 1000 projects intend to impact upon: a) Soil carbon stocks and global GHG emissions at the project level. b) Agrarian structures and the four pillars of food and nutrition security.
