G20 for greater climate finance support for farmers, suggests incentives

G20 for greater climate finance support for farmers, suggests incentives

Subject : Environment

Section: Climate Change

Context: The G20 meeting also discussed the impact of climate change on agriculture and its productivity.

• The G-20 members have stressed on the need to boost climate finance to support farmers who make an effort to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change on the farm sector
• farmers can be financially incentivised if they adopt climate-friendly farming or green agriculture.
• The carbon farming programme in the country has been initiated by a private entity Grow Indigo, a joint venture between seed major Mahyco and US-based Indigo
• Farmers who adopt farming techniques – direct seeded rice, which improves water use efficiency and no tillage practice which conserves soil organic biomass, prior to planting of paddy could register for the programme for getting carbon credit.
• India shared the measures taken towards ‘climate smart agriculture’ like mapping the vulnerable areas and conducting research in the meet.
• On the issue of food security and nutrition, agriculture secretary Ahuja said, there was a discussion on achieving one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of ‘zero hunger’ by 2030.

Carbon farming :

Carbon farming (also known as carbon sequestration) is a system of agricultural management that helps the land store more carbon and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that it releases into the atmosphere. Sustainable forest management practices do similar good by minimizing greenhouse gases and accumulating carbon dioxide in wood. For example, Indian agriculture producers can manage their grazing lands to conserve and restore vegetation, including tree cover along waterways. This practice helps the land store carbon and remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, as well as provides benefits to nearby water sources. Landowners can also implement fertilizer reduction strategies, such as applying compost or biochar (charcoal used as a soil additive to improve crop yield), that reduce the amount of greenhouse gases tied up in vegetation.

Carbon farming is a system of agricultural management that helps the land accumulate and store more greenhouse gases instead of releasing those gases into the atmosphere.

Common Methods

Forest Management

Healthy forests absorb and hold carbon dioxide emissions produced from other sources and are an important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) sequestration. Carbon offsets can be created through a variety of strategies including: avoided deforestation and permanent land conservation, reforestation and replanting activities, and improved forest management and stewardship in working forests where harvesting occurs. Improved forest management focuses on long-term, sustainable practices to ensure that forests continue to remove CO2 from the atmosphere since deforestation accounts for between 15 and 20 percent of the global increase in GHG levels. Activities include thinning out, selective harvest, regeneration and planting, and fertilization to enable productive and sustainable forest growth.

Grasslands Conservation

Similar to forestry, native grasses and other vegetation provide a natural source of greenhouse gas (GHG) absorption and sequestration. Carbon offsets from this category focus on maintaining native plant life through permanent land conservation and avoided conversion for commercial development or intensive agriculture.

Renewable Energy Production

Renewable energy facilities, such as wind or solar, generate carbon offsets by displacing fossil fuel-based electricity production sources within the power grid. The carbon offsets derived from a certified third-party project generates the carbon credit, which is owned by the entity that develops the project..