Assessment of programme level costs and benefits of implementing nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation in smallholder agricultural systems.

Abstract

Abstract Background: Climate change poses a serious threat to the world's 475 million smallholder farms and to the ability to feed the world's growing population. Climate-driven natural hazards, such as droughts, floods, pests, invasive plants and diseases, are increasingly impacting yields and damaging the natural resource base upon which farmers' livelihoods depend, while also threatening the return and impact capacity of private and public agricultural investments (IPCC, 2021). Apart from being extremely vulnerable to climate change, agriculture is one of the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for around a quarter of all emissions annually (IPCC, 2019). Nature-based solutions (NBS) are "actions to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use and manage natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems which address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services, resilience and biodiversity benefits" (UNEA/EA.5/Res.5). NBS can therefore be considered as a systemic solution that offers multiple benefits, including sustainable agriculture, mitigating and adapting to climate change and reducing biodiversity loss. To meet the challenges of decarbonizing the agricultural sector, enabling it to adapt to climate change, and to function in a nature-positive way, it is critical to look at ways for making NBS accessible, affordable and scalable, particularly for smallholder farmers. As a first step, this research aims to understand the extent to which the costs and benefits of supporting NBS in the agri-food sector have been evaluated and how effective nature-based solutions have been in delivering environmental, social and economic benefits for climate change adaptation and mitigation.