Conservation Agriculture: Making Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Real in Europe

This report highlights the potential of European agricultural soils to respond to climate change through the implementation of Conservation Agriculture (CA) techniques. The study, launched by the European Conservation Agriculture Federation (ECAF), shows that European farmers could remove nearly 200 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere by implementing Conservation Agriculture techniques.

The report is based on literature review and experiences of implementing Conservation Agriculture in Europe acquired in several European (LIFE) public-funded projects. Conservation Agriculture is a good strategy not only to mitigate climate change, but also to adapt agricultural ecosystems to their effects, by increasing crop resilience facing climatic variations.

This document aims to serve as a basis for decision making based on science and agricultural experimentation in Europe.