Cropping and cashing: institutional solutions for synergetic climate finance for mitigation and adaptation in agriculture

Abstract

In responding to climate change, the integration of mitigation, adaptation and food security elements is a conceptual puzzle. This is fuelled by a significant fragmentation of international funding sources and domestic implementation processes aiming at a climate-resilient and low-carbon development in the agricultural sector. To overcome those barriers, the article proposes the establishment of a new institutional set-up, namely a domestic gatekeeper. This institutional concept can act as a mediator linking the global finance architecture with the domestic and local levels, particularly small-scale farmers, thereby promoting food security through climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. Main design features of the gatekeeper concept would be: (i) a high level of organizational capacity to be able to manage access to funds and disbursement of resources to a variety of scattered recipients; (ii) high fiduciary standards; (iii) adequate knowledge of national agricultural settings and appropriate mitigation and adaptation measures; (iv) the ability to maximize synergies and potentially resolve trade-offs between mitigation, adaptation and food security. It is recommended to build gatekeepers on existing institutions in order to make use of existing capacity and to not increase institutional fragmentation. Depending on the country's institutional structure, gatekeepers can be established as single, centralized institution or as a network of several partner organizations.