Overcoming barriers to the adoption of climate-friendly practices in agriculture

Description

Climate change poses a dual challenge for agriculture, as the sector produces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is also vulnerable to the effects of a changing climate. Considerable research efforts have been devoted to understanding and developing effective technologies and practices that can reduce the sector’s GHG emissions, leading to an expanding range of viable options. Similarly, agriculture in many countries has developed a significant capacity to use a range of measures to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Considerable efforts have been devoted to understanding and developing technologies and practices that can help the agricultural sector reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The uptake of these "climate-friendly" technologies and practices, however, remains low. This report, based on a comprehensive review of the literature, analyses barriers that may prevent farmers from adopting climate-friendly practices. A multitude of potential barriers exist, some associated with farm-level constraints, others operating at the sector level, or created by existing policies. A series of recommendations are made to properly identify these types of barriers and to select the right instruments that would work to implement effective policy solutions. These can be summarised as follows:

•  First, governments should identify and tackle the existing barriers before designing and implementing new policy measures. Overcoming existing barriers early on increases the likelihood that the policy successfully achieves its aim or at least ensures that new barriers are not created. Many of the barriers identified in the literature are linked to whether the measures’ benefits are a private or public good; if farmers are unable to identify any benefits to changing their practices, they will be reluctant to adopt the measures without a policy imperative. Barriers that stem from farmers’ values and attitudes towards the environment and climate change may call for additional engagement.
• Second, a multitude of potential barriers exist that may prevent farmers from adopting climate-friendly practices. While their relative importance will vary depending upon specific circumstances –including socio-economic characteristics, farming systems, bio-physical conditions, existing infrastructure, regulations and institutions–bbarriers are evaluated and prioritised in this report based on their reported strength and the degree of agreement they gather in the reviewed literature.
• Third, several of the identified barriers are created by existing policies: first, through misaligned policies targeting other aims, such as input subsidies designed to support production in marginal areas; second, by creating resentment and stress among farmers regarding their ability to meet the regulations; and third, by exacerbating existing financial vulnerabilities that weaken farmers’ adaptive capacities.

Reference information