Interestingly, some relief from today’s woes may come from ancient human practices. While current agri-food production models rely on abundant supplies of water, energy, and arable land and generate ...significant greenhouse gas emissions in addition to forest and biodiversity loss, past practices point toward more affordable and sustainable paths.
Different forms of insect farming and soilless crop farming, or hydroponics, have existed for centuries. In this report the authors make a persuasive case that frontier agriculture, particularly insect and hydroponic farming, can complement conventional agriculture. Both technologies reuse society’s agricultural and organic industrial waste to produce nutritious food and animal feed without continuing to deplete the planet’s land and water resources, thereby converting the world’s wasteful linear food economy into a sustainable, circular food economy.
As the report shows, insect and hydroponic farming can create jobs, diversify livelihoods, improve nutrition, and provide many other benefits in African and fragile, conflict-affected countries. Together with other investments in climate-smart agriculture, such as trees on farms, alternate wetting and drying rice systems, conservation agriculture, and sustainable livestock, these technologies are part of a promising menu of solutions that can help countries move their land, food, water, and agriculture systems toward greater sustainability and reduced emissions. This is a key consideration as the World Bank renews its commitment to support countries’ climate action plans.
This book is the Bank’s first attempt to look at insect and hydroponic farming as possible solutions to the world’s climate and food and nutrition security crisis and may represent a new chapter in the Bank’s evolving efforts to help feed and sustain the planet. We hope the book will ignite further discussions and inspire concrete actions toward fully capturing the vast opportunities provided by insect and hydroponic farming as part of revamped, high-performing food systems that provide healthy and sustainable diets for all.
This report assesses climate risks and opportunities and proposes actions. It provides a synthesis of evidence of climate variability and change, impacts, and uncertainties associated with climate ...change that may affect Tunisia s water, land, agriculture, and coastal zones. The report then provides a detailed analysis of the potential impacts of climate change on food security and gross domestic product (GDP) as well as on local populations looking in particular at seven governorates. The report goes on to discuss possible policy options for reducing human vulnerability and for better adapting to climate variability and change. The report provides guidance to policy makers in Tunisia in three ways. First, it provides a Framework for Action on Climate Change Adaptation, represented by an adaptation pyramid. Second, it puts forward a typology of policy approaches that are relevant to the region in order to facilitate the formulation of effective policy responses by decision makers. Finally, a matrix is provided, which outlines key policy recommendations. Actions align with the World Bank s 2012 Interim Strategy Note (ISN) for Tunisia, which guides the World Bank investments in Tunisia over the next two years and is focused on three main areas of intervention: (1) sustainable growth and job creation, (2) the promotion of social and economic inclusion by improving access to basic services for underserved communities and improving the efficiency of social safety net programs, and (3) strengthening governance through improved access to public information as the basis for increased social accountability and transparency.
Adapting to climate change is not a new phenomenon for the Arab world. For thousands of years, the people in Arab countries have coped with the challenges of climate variability by adapting their ...survival strategies to changes in rainfall and temperature. Their experience has contributed significantly to the global knowledge on climate change and adaptation. But over the next century global climatic variability is predicted to increase, and Arab countries may well experience unprecedented extremes in climate. Temperatures may reach new highs, and in most places there may be a risk of less rainfall. Under these circumstances, Arab countries and their citizens will once again need to draw on their long experience of adapting to the environment to address the new challenges posed by climate change. This report prepared through a consultative process with Government and other stakeholders in the Arab world assesses the potential effects of climate change on the Arab region and outlines possible approaches and measures to prepare for its consequences. It offers ideas and suggestions for Arab policy makers as to what mitigating actions may be needed in rural and urban settings to safeguard key areas such as health, water, agriculture, and tourism. The report also analyzes the differing impacts of climate change, with special attention paid to gender, as a means of tailoring strategies to address specific vulnerabilities. The socioeconomic impact of climate change will likely vary from country to country, reflecting a country's coping capacity and its level of development. Countries that are wealthier and more economically diverse are generally expected to be more resilient. The report suggests that countries and households will need to diversify their production and income generation, integrate adaptation into all policy making and activities, and ensure a sustained national commitment to address the social, economic, and environmental consequences of climate variability. With these coordinated efforts, the Arab world can, as it has for centuries, successfully adapt and adjust to the challenges of a changing climate.
The increasing resilience to climate change in the agricultural sector report presents local-level priorities, informed by stakeholder input, to build agricultural resilience in both countries. The ...objectives of this study were threefold: (1) to improve the understanding of climate change projections and impacts on rural communities and livelihoods in selected regions of Jordan and Lebanon, specifically the Jordan River Valley and Lebanon's Bekaa Valley; (2) to engage local communities, farmers, local experts, and local and national government representatives in a participatory fashion in helping craft agricultural adaptation options to climate change; and (3) to develop local and regional climate change action plans that formulate recommendations for investment strategies and strategic interventions in local agricultural systems. The climate challenges confronting development in the Middle East are particularly stark. This region, and in particular its rural people, face what might be called a `triple threat` from climate change. First, the Middle East is already one of the driest and most water-scarce regions of the world (World Bank 2011) and faces severe challenges posed by high temperatures and limited water supplies. This report to assist Jordan and Lebanon in understanding the specific challenges and opportunities posed by climate change in the agricultural sector.
In the Arab countries, climate change is a risk to poverty reduction and economic growth, threatening to unravel many of the development gains that have been achieved. The Arab Region is already ...suffering adverse consequences from climate variability and change. This book provides information on climate change and its impact in the Arab Region, as well as technical guidance on climate adaptation options for policy makers. The areas addressed include the economic impacts of climate change (as measured by the reduction in household income and GDP); the impacts of climate change on the water, health, and tourism sectors; livelihoods and well-being in rural and urban areas; biodiversity; disaster risk management; as well as gender and other social relations.
The report is written through a participatory and collaborative process, led by the World Bank in partnership with the League of Arab States, incorporating both regional and international experts on the topics.
This book takes both a global as well as a local perspective in assessing the impacts of climate change on the economy, agricultural sector, and households in three of the MENA countries; Syria, ...Tunisia and Yemen. The major channels of impact for global climate change are through changing world food (and energy) prices, especially since all the countries under analysis are or have become net importers of oil and petroleum products and many food commodities in recent years. The impacts of local climate change decrease crop yields in the longer run and through them, productivity in the agricultural sector and all the implications this may have on both, the livelihoods of those dependent on the sector as well as the rest of the economy. The analysis also covered what happens when both global and local climate changes work simultaneously for each country. Findings show that in all three countries the effects of climate change are negative for people and the economy-GDP falls and livelihoods suffer. Furthermore, the prevalence of extreme variations in climate-such as the droughts affecting Syria and the floods impacting Yemen-draws attention to the potentially significant drawbacks that are likely to not only affect any strides towards economic growth and development, but may also reverse such strides if appropriate policies are not in place to weather this storm. The analyses in this book apply CGE models.
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