Speeches

Lord Donoughue – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Donoughue on 2016-01-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of any changes in agricultural yields due to sustainable agricultural projects funded, in whole or in part, by the UK International Climate Fund.

Earl of Courtown

Agriculture projects receiving ICF support are assessed against a number of performance indicators, including improvement in people’s resilience to climate change, and how they help improve farmers’ incomes and yields. While the evidence on effective climate change actions is still growing, the DFID funded CGIAR Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security has reviewed in 2015 the impact of 19 climate smart case studies on agriculture productivity, people’s resilience to climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. It found that climate smart approaches clearly have the potential to meet our development expectations: all of the 19 case studies contributed towards sustainably increasing agricultural productivity, and related increases in farm incomes, food security and development. 18 cases helped build resilience of agricultural and food security systems to climate change, and 15 cases clearly contributed to reducing greenhouse gases from agriculture.