North American Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (NACSAA)

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General

Name of initiative North American Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (NACSAA)
LPAA initiative No
NAZCA Initiative No
Website address http://www.nacsaa.net
Related initiatives
Starting year 2015
End year
Secretariat Ernie Shea; President, Solutions from the Land, E-mail: eshea@SFLdialogue.net, phone: 410-252-7079
Organisational structure The North American Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance operates under the wing of Solutions from the Land (SfL), a not-for-profit corporation focused on land based solutions to global challenges. SfL functions as the fiduciary agent for the Alliance and serves as the NACSAA Secretariat.

The Alliance is guided by a self-directed Steering Committee comprised of industry leaders, farmers, conservation representatives, government officials, equipment providers, and value chain partners. This nucleus of leadership represents interests from all three countries across the North American continent, Canada, Mexico and the United States. The Steering Committee is directed by a chair person elected by its members. The chair person will facilitate Steering Committee meetings and help with member engagement.

Geographical coverage North America
Name of lead organisation Solutions from the Land
Type of lead organisation NGO/Civil Society
Location/Nationality of lead organisation United States of America

Description

Description The North American Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance is a platform for knowledge sharing, and application of climate science to agriculture and forestry. The Alliance enables farm, ranch and forestry leaders, while also involving their value chain partners, to collaborate in developing ways to improve the resiliency of production systems, as well as adapt and mitigate present and future risks from changing climatic conditions. The Alliance advocates solutions for agricultural landscapes, under variable weather and climate, to maintain sustainable productivity of food, feed, fiber and energy, and ensure the integrity of our natural resource base.
Objectives Alliance partners have set forth four objectives to guide the Alliance:

● Inspire agricultural and forest sector leaders to become leaders in the broader discussion of climate change, including adaptation and mitigation;

● Educate agricultural and forestry leaders on the potential impacts of climate change in ways relevant to their daily lives;

● Equip leaders and producers with the tools and knowledge they need to make informed decisions and manage new risks under changing conditions; and

● Mobilize thought leaders to advocate for needed changes in land use practices, research, education and policy.

Activities Among other activities the members of North American Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance will (i) review latest information on what science is telling us about changing climatic conditions and the impact they will have on agriculture and forestry industries; (ii) formulate and prioritize recommendations on adaptation needs, priorities and policies to reduce risk and enhance the resilience of agricultural operations; (iii) support and comprise farmer/forester leadership teams that will share and discuss real-world adaptation and resiliency strategies with their peers at national, regional and local forums; and (iv) be active participants in the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture and the UNFCCC's climate workflow.
One or two success stories achieved NACSAA's Guiding Principles for the KJWA:

● As affirmed in the communique from the 8th Meeting of G20 Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS), science-based decision making should be the foundation for the adoption of climate smart technologies and practices for sustainable agriculture and global food production.

● Production and production efficiency per unit of land must increase going forward to meet the food needs of the future while incurring no net environmental cost.

● As reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, outcomes (rather than means) applicable to any scale of enterprise must be emphasized, without predetermining technologies, production type or design components.

● Adaptation strategies must be recognized to require system approaches that utilize a combination of improved efficiency, substitution (e.g. new crop varieties and breeds), and redesign/system transformation to reflexively respond to continuous short- and long-term changes in climate’s impacts on cultivated and natural ecosystem conditions.

● Peer reviewed academic, business and farmer climate smart agriculture research and knowledge sharing recommendations outside of the UNFCCC should be considered by the SBI and SBSTA and integrated into the final KJWA report.

● There is no silver bullet solution for enhancing the resilience of agriculture: KJWA must embrace a systems approach that recognizes the tremendous diversity of agricultural landscapes and ecosystems and enables producers to utilize the systems and practices that best support their farming operations.

● Farmers must be at the center of all discussions and decision-making; significant input will be needed from a wide range of agricultural stakeholders, including technical agricultural experts drawn from farmer organizations, academia, industry, and international and regional organizations, especially those outside of the UNFCCC structure.

● Context-specific priorities and solutions must be aligned with national policies and priorities, be determined based on the social, economic, and environmental conditions at site (including the diversity in type and scale of agricultural activity), and be subject to evaluation of potential synergies, tradeoffs, and net benefits.


See more on the NACSAA website about the Alliance's contributions to the KJWA process.

Monitoring and Impacts

Sustainable Development Impact:
E SDG goals icons-individual-rgb-02.png   E SDG goals icons-individual-rgb-03.png   E SDG goals icons-individual-rgb-06.png   E SDG goals icons-individual-rgb-07.png   E SDG goals icons-individual-rgb-08.png   E SDG goals icons-individual-rgb-11.png   E SDG goals icons-individual-rgb-13.png   E SDG goals icons-individual-rgb-15.png  
Function of initiative Political dialogue, Technical dialogue
Activity of initiative Knowledge dissemination and exchange, Policy planning and recommendations
Indicators
Goals Desired Outcomes:

Productivity is increasing in ways that allow landscapes to provide the full range of needed ecosystem services. Production systems are becoming more resilient. Landowners and managers are making more efficient use of inputs, reducing waste and overall consumption of natural resources. Farmers, ranchers, foresters and other land managers are supported and compensated for their stewardship of ecosystems and the ecosystem services the land provides, such as clean air and water, wildlife habitat preservation, promotion of biodiversity and carbon sequestration.

Goals will be achieved via participation in continental and global initiatives surrounding climate smart agriculture.

Comments on indicators and goals
How will goals be achieved
Have you changed or strenghtened your goals
Progress towards the goals In addition to organizing an enabling policies team and updating members on CSA developments monthly, NACSAA has successfully engaged in the UNFCCC Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA) by developing submissions on modalities, priority areas of focus, soil health and manure & nutrient management.
How are you tracking progress of your initiative Progress is measured by our reach via a growing, diverse alliance and the percentage of the group developing CSA knowledge sharing for their members.
Available reporting

Participants

Participants Number Names
Members 68  
Companies 0
Business organisations 0
Research and educational organisations 0
Non-governmental organisations 0
National states 0
Governmental actors 0
Regional / state / county actors 0
City / municipal actors 0
Intergovernmental organisations 0
Financial Institutions 0
Faith based organisations 0
Other members 68 25x’25 Alliance (USA),  Advanced Biofuels USA (USA),  Agricultural Retailers Association (USA),  American Coalition for Ethanol (USA),  American Farm Bureau Federation (USA),  American Farmland Trust (USA),  American Seed Trade Association (USA),  American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (USA),  American Society of Agronomy (USA),  American Soybean Association (USA),  Association of Equipment Manufacturers (USA),  Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (USA),  Bayer(Germany),  BIO (USA),  Business for Social (USA),  Canadian Federation of Agriculture (Canada),  Canadian Forage and Grassland Association (Canada),  CAST (USA),  Cater Communications (USA),  Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (USA),  Conservation Technology Information Center (USA),  Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions (USA),  Crop Science Society of America (USA),  CropLife America (USA),  EcoAgriculture Partners (USA),  Environmental and Energy Study Institute (USA),  Environmental Defense Fund (USA),  Farmers Conservation Alliance (USA),  Family Farm Alliance (USA),  Farm Foundation (USA),  Farm Journal Foundation (USA),  Farm Management Canada (Canada),  Fertilizer Canada (Canada),  Field to Market (USA),  Florida Climate Institute - FCI (USA),  Genscape Inc. Un of Illinois Chicago (USA),  ILSI Research Foundation (USA),  Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy (USA),  Iowa Soybean Association (USA),  Iowa State University (USA),  Irrigation Association (USA),  Kellogg Company (USA),  National Association of Conservation Districts (USA),  National Corn Growers Association (USA),  National Farmers Union (USA),  National FFA Foundation (USA),  National Pork Producers Council (USA),  Native Pollinators in Agriculture Project (USA),  OCP North America (USA),  Ontario Federation of Agriculture (USA),  Soil Science Society of America (USA),  Soil and Water Conservation Society (USA),  Soil Health Institute (USA),  Solutions from the Land (USA),  Southeast Climate Consortium - SECC (USA),  Sustainable Corn Coordinated Agriculture Project (USA),  Syngenta (USA),  The Fertilizer Institute (USA),  The Mosaic Company (USA),  The Samuel Smith Noble Foundation (USA),  The Toro Company (USA),  United Soybean Board (USA),  University of Florida (USA),  U.S. Department of Agriculture (USA),  U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USA),  Western Growers Association (USA),  World Business Council for Sustainable Development (Switzerland),  World Wildlife Fund (USA).
Supporting partners 0
Number of members in the years
2020
71
Have only national states as participators No


Theme

Transport Agriculture Forestry Business Financial institutions Buildings Industry Waste Cities and subnational governments Short Term Pollutants International maritime transport Energy Supply Fluorinated gases Energy efficiency Renewable energy Supply chain emission reductions Adaptation Other Resilience Innovation Energy Access and Efficiency Private Finance
No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No
Last update: 13 August 2020 11:11:03

Not only have national states as participators