Scaling up climate-smart agriculture: lessons learned from South Asia and pathways for success

Abstract

The world is changing rapidly. A burgeoning global population, with direct impacts on food insecurity, poverty, climate change and environmental degradation, is constantly changing the stakes. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can help overcome hunger while supporting rural populations adapt to climate change, managing natural resources sustainably and curbing rising temperatures. But as the challenges build and intensify, climate-smart solutions will need to be implemented on a much greater scale. This paper aims to aid policy makers and rural development practitioners in strategically planning scaling up of successful CSA practices. We provide the context for scaling up CSA, identify practical elements to guide thinking and planning around scaling up and map pathways for taking CSA to scale. Building on a series of workshops and eight case studies from South Asia, we identify widely applicable ingredients for scaling up CSA and how they must be connected to achieve impact