Closing the gender gap in climate-smart agriculture

Abstract

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has become a central
concept shaping action and bringing together
constituencies at the global level on agriculture and
climate change. In essence, climate-smart agriculture
pays explicit attention to how interventions in agriculture
and food systems affect each of three key outcomes: food
security, adaptation and mitigation (FAO 2013). The
climate-smart agriculture movement is not prescriptive
about how best to achieve these outcomes, nor how to
manage the inevitable trade-offs – the idea is that locally
appropriate priorities and solutions will be generated. A
key question arises as to the winners and losers from
these processes, in terms of gender as well as other
social dimensions, and whether climate-smart agriculture
help transform agriculture and rural development in ways
that achieve major gains for gender equity.