A Short History of the Evolution of the Climate Smart Agriculture Approach and Its Links to Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture Debates

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an approach to guide the management of agriculture in the era of climate change. The concept was first launched in 2009, and since then has been reshaped through inputs and interactions of multiple stakeholders involved in developing and implementing the concept. CSA aims to provide globally applicable principles on managing agriculture for food security under climate change that could provide a basis for policy support and recommendations by multilateral organizations, such as UN’s FAO. The major features of the CSA approach were developed in response to limitations in the international climate policy arena in the understanding of agriculture’s role in food security and its potential for capturing synergies between adaptation and mitigation. Recent controversies which have arisen over CSA are rooted in longstanding debates in both the climate and sustainable agricultural development policy spheres. These include the role of developing countries, and specifically their agricultural sectors, in reducing global GHG emissions, as well as the choice of technologies which may best promote sustainable forms of agriculture. Since the term ʻCSA’ was widely adopted before the development of a formal conceptual frame and tools to implement the approach, there has been considerable variation in meanings applied to the term, which also contributed to controversies. As the body of work on the concept, methods, tools and applications of the CSA approach expands, it is becoming clearer what it can offer. Ultimately, CSA’s utility will be judeged by its effectiveness in integrating climate change response into sustainable agricultural development strategies on the ground.