In a new report released today, which is based on the experiences of the three organizations with farming communities in Vietnam, India, and Mali, SRI is shown to increase yields by 50% or more using 25-50% less water and almost 25% lower costs. As a result, farmers, in particular women, saw significant income improvements. In Vietnam, farmers introduced to SRI saw their income increased by about 50%, while in Mali farmers almost doubled their income.

“SRI can be a game changer helping to increase farmer incomes and reduce hunger for millions of poor people around the world,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America.  “This can be a win-win-win for donors, poor farmers and our planet.  Even modest investments can lead to immediate and impressive results, improving farmer livelihoods and community food security.  This shouldn’t be a question of ‘if’, but ‘how-much’ to invest in SRI.”

The report calls on all major rice-producing countries promote adoption of SRI, with a goal of at least 25% of their current irrigated rice cultivation systems converted to SRI by 2025 and all new irrigation schemes designed to support SRI farming.  Additionally, bilateral and multilateral aid agencies are urged to significantly increase their investment, through aid or loans, in supporting farmers toward SRI and complementary technologies and practices.

“This is a no-brainer,” said Offenheiser.  “SRI is a low-cost, high-impact strategy to address food security needs, improve rural livelihoods and increase resilience to a changing climate. USAID and other international donors should move fast to support and implement SRI wherever they can.” 

SRI addresses one of the major challenges of this century: how to increase the amount of food necessary to feed the world’s growing population as climate provokes more erratic weather patterns and water shortages. Current rice production practices are highly water intensive, accounting for one-quarter to one-third of the planet’s annual freshwater use, an unsustainable practice given predicted impacts of climate change.

Rice is the major source of calories for half the world’s population and the single largest source of employment and income for people, especially women, who live in rural areas.  Around 80% of the world’s hungry live in rural areas, thus, any viable solution to eliminating hunger must address the challenges of small-scale farmers, particularly rice producers.  Global warming and more extreme weather conditions are making farming more uncertain, as evidenced by recent droughts in India and the floods in Pakistan.

Implementing SRI is simple, and once learned can be spread farmer to farmer to achieve rapid impact with only modest initial investments from donors. Farmers transplant younger single seedlings into un-flooded soils and space them in a square pattern wider than in traditional practices. Soils are kept moist rather than continuously flooded.  The plants develop with higher grain yield and more resistance to climate extremes, pests and diseases.  Farmers, who are often primarily women, require less time for transplanting seedlings and can harvest their crop 1-2 weeks sooner. This allows additional time to diversify production with higher value fruits and vegetables or livestock to further enhance their diets and incomes.

“I have experienced the benefits of SRI, this simple, easy to use farming practice that has made my life and the lives of my fellow farmers better,” said Le Ngoc Thach, a Vietnamese farmer and president of the Dai Nghia Cooperative who traveled to Washington, DC for the report release. Mr. Thach introduced SRI practices to his fellow cooperative members in 2006 and after only four cropping seasons, all households had seen the obvious benefits and adopted SRI methods on the cooperative’s 420 acres, reducing their use of water and agrochemical inputs and increasing their incomes.

The benefits of SRI have been documented in 42 countries, where more than one million farmers are using some or all of the recommended SRI practices. Increasingly, the principles are being applied with success to other crops such as sugar cane, teff and wheat. Private sector partners such as retailers, wholesalers, distributors and international food brands can accelerate conversion to SRI practices by targeting their rice purchases and designating, for example, that 10-25% should be SRI-grown.

“SRI is a ready opportunity that can benefit everyone from farmers to businesses to consumers immediately,” said Offenheiser. “We cannot wait 10 or 20 years for research and development efforts to deliver new tools to improve food security.  SRI does not require major investments in infrastructure or research and once implemented can quickly bear results.  If we are serious about increasing the impact of our aid dollars and making development work to bring people out of poverty, we will get serious about SRI.”

Note: the report is available in its entirety online: http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/more-rice-for-people-more-water-for-the-planet

“The Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force’s recommendation to support communities in the US and developing countries who are vulnerable to climate change is an essential step to further the administration’s commitment to build climate change resilience and prevent short and long term catastrophe.  It’s critical that existing US government programs at home and abroad help protect the communities and people on the front lines of climate change.
 
“Climate change has been called a major threat to global security by military experts who warn that as increased droughts, floods, storms and disease grow worse, poverty and hunger, water scarcity, mass migration, and armed conflicts over resources are likely to present major challenges to American security interests.   Already small farmers who grow our food from Iowa to Mozambique are being pushed to the brink of subsistence as climate change impacts have made land, water and other resources increasingly scarce.

“If we’ve learned anything from the horrific images of this summer’s extreme weather, it’s that we need to prepare for the consequences of climate change now or pay the expensive and punishing price later.  Failing to prioritize climate adaptation would be costly to American taxpayers and drive millions more poor people abroad into extreme hunger and desperation.”

“There is still a lot to play for in Cancun,” said Kelly Dent, Senior Climate Change Advisor for Oxfam, in Tianjin, referring to the upcoming UN climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico in December. “Establishing a climate fund that helps the world’s poorest men and women adapt to a changing climate will save lives and could help salvage hopes for a global deal.”

World leaders promised in Copenhagen to establish a new climate fund to help poor countries tackle climate change.  Climate finance is one of a handful of issues where concrete progress is possible by Cancun. Getting an agreement on financing will help rebuild trust in the talks and pave the way to the fair ambitious and binding deal, which is still urgently needed.

Reaching agreement on a new Fund at Cancun is entirely possible, but it is crucial that developed countries in particular do not hold it hostage to decisions in other areas of the negotiations. Moreover, it is urgently needed and a necessary part of any global agreement, treating the new Fund as a bargaining chip will only deliver deadlock.

“Negotiators in Tianjin don’t need to go far to see what climate change is doing to the lives of the world’s poorest people. Millions of poor Chinese are already struggling to feed their families because of increasingly unpredictable weather. And there are millions more like them across the world and they need help to adapt,” added Dent.

China is home to 20% of the world’s poor people and is one of the countries most at risk from a changing climate. According to the Beijing Climate Center extreme weather events have increased in recent years. Earlier this year, almost 20 million people in south-west China were left without adequate water supplies as a result of the worst drought in a century. In June, 800,000 people were displaced and an estimated 1.24 million acres of farmland was affected after torrential rain led to the worst floods in a decade.

The Tianjin Climate Change Conference marks the first time a Chinese city hosts a UN international meeting on the subject of climate change and the last week of negotiations before Ministers gather for a Climate Summit in Cancun, Mexico in December.

As a major emerging economy China is responsible for a growing share of global emissions but is also the world’s biggest investor in green growth:

• China is the world’s biggest emitter of carbon dioxide but its per capita emissions are less than a quarter those of the US

• China accounts for nearly three-quarters of the net global growth in energy consumption but was the largest investor in green energy in 2009. The Chinese government dedicated one-third of its economic stimulus package (US $221 billion) to infrastructure that will promote energy efficiency, making it the largest green stimulus package in the world.

Oxfam is calling on world leaders to establish a new $100 billion Climate Fund in Mexico and for funds to start flowing by 2013. They must also ensure the fund gets money to the poor and vulnerable communities that need help adapting to a changing climate.
Cancun must also outline a process for deciding how the $100 billion in climate finance should be raised. A significant proportion of this money should come from innovative sources.  Charges on pollution from the global shipping and aviation industries or a financial transaction tax on the banking sector will raise billions without putting the squeeze on tax payers.

Oxfam is calling on government officials and international shipping regulators to consider measures to reduce uncapped and rising shipping emissions, while at the same time raising billions of dollars a year in new climate funding through emissions trading systems. Progress on this would bring the world closer to raising the $100 billion per year pledged by developed countries at last year’s UN climate talks to help poor countries protect themselves from the impacts of climate change and develop in a low carbon way.

“This is a chance for shipping to go from scourge to solution when it comes to the climate crisis,” said Heather Coleman, senior climate change policy advisor for Oxfam America.  “The industry could help vulnerable communities access the resources they need to fight climate change by both controlling a rising source of emissions and generating desperately needed funding to cope with their devastating effects.”

The global shipping sector was responsible for 847 million tons of CO2 emissions in 2007 – this is higher than Germany and 15 of the top 20 emitting countries including the U.K., France and Saudi Arabia.   Emissions from the shipping sector have doubled since 1990 and the upward trend is predicted to continue at a rate of 2.5 per cent per year.  Mid-range emissions scenarios show that, by 2050, in the absence of policies, ship emissions may grow by 150% to 250% (compared to the emissions in 2007) as a result of the growth in shipping. 

“Shipping plays a vital role in maintaining vibrant global trade but it is also a major cause of climate change. The International Maritime Organization could implement a fair system to control emissions, that won’t penalize trade from developing countries and will provide some of the vital resources needed to tackle climate change.”

The IMO is a specialized agency of the UN that governs international standards to regulate the shipping industry. Members are gathering for a five-day meeting from Monday 27th September – Friday October 1st.  Among other agenda items, the meeting will consider an internal expert report into possible mechanisms to control greenhouse gas emissions and raise revenues which could be used as climate finance.   The IMO is meeting just ahead of the next round of UN climate talks in China (4th–9th October) and the last gathering of the Advisory Group on Finance (AGF), which was established to identify ways to raise the $100 billion per year pledged at Copenhagen. The group’s recommendations are due to be published in October.

“Despite continuing economic struggles, developed governments can raise the funding required to help poor countries cope with climate change without dipping into their cash strapped budgets,” said Coleman. “The shipping industry can’t do it alone, but it can be part of a package of innovative finance-raising measures including those addressing uncapped emissions from international aviation, grants from developed countries and a re-direction of fossil fuel subsidies. No stone should be left unturned in the search for new climate funding and the shipping industry must play its part to ensure poor communities get the resources they need.”

“We are pleased to see the release of comprehensive climate and energy legislation today by Senators Kerry and Lieberman, and we commend them for their tireless efforts to move forward on such an urgent issue.

“The bill’s inclusion of a program to build the resilience of those hardest hit by climate impacts around the world and to promote global security is vital. However, we are deeply disappointed that the funding is inadequate and is not set to begin until 2019.  As the bill moves forward, it is crucial for international adaptation programs to receive the necessary resources now, as well as down the road.

“Climate change is already taking its toll on poor and vulnerable communities around the world and adequate investments for climate resilience and adaptation are needed today. The number of people likely to be affected by climate-related disasters each year will increase by 50% by 2015, to over 375 million. That’s more than the entire population of the United States.

“In the words of President Obama, ’any effort that fails to help the poorest nations both adapt to the problems that climate change have already wrought and help them travel a path of clean development simply will not work.’  

“Moreover, a bill that includes resources for the world’s poor to tackle the climate challenge is more likely to garner the momentum and public support from the wide array of constituents needed to pass it.

“The rest of the world is watching to see whether the United States will join in global efforts to combat the climate crisis. But American legislation must invest more in adaptation and low carbon development to deliver on the international stage.

“Such investments are not only morally imperative, they are also cost effective. Preparing for climate-related disasters before they strike prevents greater costs in the future – as much as seven times greater. Given the human toll of climate change and the global instability it can bring, such investments are also crucial to our national security.

“Investments in international adaptation will also expand opportunities for American businesses and workers to meet the growing demand for adaptation-related technologies and services, as well as protect the supply chains of many major US businesses, from coffee to apparel companies.

“We urge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to work with other Senators to build on this discussion draft and urgently deliver a climate change bill that reduces emissions, creates jobs, protects our national security and invests in the resilience of poor communities on the front lines of climate change.”

“We commend the White House for releasing this progress report at a key moment in the climate debate. Climate change is already forcing vulnerable communities in poor countries to face unprecedented climate stress, including water scarcity and reduced food supplies. The poorest communities in the United States and around the world are often the most vulnerable to climate change and need support to build climate resilience. These communities have the knowledge and experience to craft their own innovative solutions, from early warning systems  to coastal tree buffers, but they need support,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America.

The Obama administration’s commitment to addressing climate adaptation and resilience is amply demonstrated by its wide-ranging engagement to develop effective strategies both domestically and internationally, involving more than 20 federal agencies. An effective and comprehensive response to climate change must address both the causes and the impacts of climate change. Even the most ambitious emissions reductions plans leave us with an increasingly variable and changed climate where livelihoods will depend on a range of resilience strategies – from better water supply management to new types of insurance. 

“Reducing emissions is essential, but it won’t be enough. Even if the world stopped polluting today, we would still feel the effects of climate change for decades to come. And while all of us will be affected, those facing the most extreme risk are the poorest with the fewest resources to cope, despite contributing the least to the crisis,” said Offenheiser.

Tackling these challenges can also pay important dividends for global security and for our economy. Building resilience to climate impacts is essential to promoting stability in many already volatile regions of the world. For our economy, protecting vulnerable supply chains and bolstering investments in climate resilience technologies and services – from water technologies to coastal restoration – will be a boon for workers and businesses. 

“We know proactive responses to climate impacts can yield enormous benefits for global security and for our economy. President Obama has already highlighted the importance of adaption by including funding in his FY 2011 budget proposal to begin fulfilling our international commitments and help spur global solutions to climate change.”

“We also look forward to working with the White House and Congress to ensure that climate change legislation supports meaningful resources and funding for adaptation for the most vulnerable communities that are on the front lines of climate change,” said Offenheiser.

That’s the message from Oxfam’s Sisters on the Planet Climate Leaders Summit. Held in Washington, DC, on International Women’s Day, the event brought together 94 women leaders from 33 US states—plus “climate witnesses” from Mississippi, Peru, Uganda, and Senegal—to honor women who are tackling climate change at the community level. In an effort to bring women’s voices to the forefront, these leaders met with 125 members of Congress and officials from the Obama administration, where they called for US climate legislation that helps poor people adapt to the crisis.

Environmental justice advocate Majora Carter delivered the keynote address at the summit. Carter is president of The Majora Carter Group, LLC, a consultancy specializing in environmental justice and sustainable economic development, as well as host of The Promised Land on NPR and the Sundance Channel’s Eco-Heroes.

In an exclusive interview with Oxfam, Carter talked about poverty here and abroad, the need for climate change adaptation, and why women can lead the way in coming up with solutions.

Oxfam: Why did you get involved with Oxfam and the Sisters on the Planet initiative?

Majora Carter: The similarities between people living in poverty anywhere—including the "developed" world—are very often greater than similarities between rich and poor in the same country.  It mostly boils down to inequality within societies, and I am very familiar with what that looks like in the US.  I want to learn more from the solutions that are being developed elsewhere, where different conditions have inspired creativity; and see how our work can play out in scenarios that may look different, but are really quite similar just under the surface.

How does climate change affect women in particular, especially women living in poverty? How can women lead in coming up with solutions?

Decades of dirty energy infrastructure … has been disproportionately burdening poor people in various ways. One way in particular is the public health of children, and care for these kids almost always falls on women—a mom, a grandmother, an older sister. The same holds true in places where water is scarce—women are the ones who have to travel further to transport it back home.

The good news is that because women are so in touch with the effects of climate change and its causes, they are in an excellent position to devise local solutions. But we have to use this unfortunate moment that history has cast our way. It is easy to shine a light on the mistakes of the past and where they have delivered us. We can't be afraid to use this position and contrast past practices against new ideas. The old arguments of inertia which say: "that's how it's always been done before..." are very vulnerable at the moment. Women (who have been excluded from any of the decision-making processes that brought us here) represent the possibility of new vision—but only when they realize that command is taken, not given.

During the summit, “climate witnesses” from places like Uganda told firsthand stories about how climate change has affected their lives. Why should Americans support their efforts to fight back against the crisis?

The dire situations that the "climate witnesses" described—in terms of literally losing their ability to support themselves, and in some cases, their land—represent a clear moral concern. However, my personal experience growing up in the South Bronx has made me skeptical about the strength of moral arguments in our society.  It's usually the economic argument that carries the day.

How we embrace climate adaptation here, and the practices we influence abroad, will affect our global economic systems in many ways. … All the choices we make as a society can be thought through a little better than we have been; but putting the environmental equality of all people at the forefront of any process will guarantee better climate adaptation and better economic health for everyone. …

Climate change mitigation strategies are important too, and will have positive or negative effects on our economic health as well—depending on whether we lead, or back into the issues as they become impossible to ignore. We want to lead, even if it looks like it costs more up front; the advantages of leadership outweigh disadvantages of playing catch-up in matters big and small. I am proud to be associated with Oxfam and its very pro-leadership stance.

This was the direct outcome of two years of negotiations and preparation by governments, added to in critical ways by civil society mobilization. The negotiated outcome at Copenhagen very clearly left the job undone, with a low level of ambition and many gaps left to be filled. But it did create some forward movement, and it should most importantly be seen as a moment that crystallized a global focus on climate change in historic ways.

The task now is to capture that energy and mobilize our public and political power for a fair, ambitious, and legally binding deal by the next major UN climate summit in Mexico City at the end of 2010. As Copenhagen demonstrated, this will not be an easy task, but there is no credible alternative. We try to capture here what happened at Copenhagen, as well as what is necessary to do in the coming year.

Some 400 people representing a cross sector of society in Cambodia gathered under the hot, sunny sky at a tcktcktck campaign event in Phnom Penh this week. They were calling on world leaders to reach a fair, ambitious, and binding global climate deal at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen later this week.

“Time to Act is Running Out! It’s Time for Climate Action!,” chanted the crowd.  

Many people could hear the loud chants from the Royal Palace and the Independence Monument, which stand a few hundred meters away. Some stopped by and watched while the campaigners formed an hourglass and the earth that’s trapped in the hourglass. It got more exciting when the campaigners ran down from the top to the bottom of the hourglass to demonstrate that the earth is dissolving like sand.

“World leaders are going halfway through the UN climate negotiations, but they are doing nowhere near enough to tackle the climate crisis,” said Brian Lund, East Asia regional director of Oxfam America. “So, we are calling on world leaders, especially leaders of rich countries who have more resources and technology, to increase their commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to provide more financing for poor countries like Cambodia to adapt to climate change.”

While the UN climate conference in Copenhagen has largely centered on emissions reductions, poor countries like Cambodia are focusing more on financing that could help their communities adapt.

“We are demanding that climate negotiators in Copenhagen press countries with major greenhouse gas emissions to take their fair shares and put money on the table to tackle the crisis,” said Boonny Tep, Executive Director of Save Cambodia Wildlife, and a participant of the event. “It is a crucial moment to join this global force to demand for a climate justice, and I hope today’s event as well as events like this around the world will encourage world leaders to reach a fair and safe climate deal at the UN conference.”

At the tcktcktck campaign event, Lund said that rich countries including America, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and some European countries must meet their global climate responsibilities and provide financing for developing countries like Cambodia, so that poor communities, especially small-scale farmers can protect themselves from the unavoidable consequences of climate change.

Cambodia is striving to rebuild itself after three decades of civil wars, which left almost two million Cambodians dead. Its development efforts are often hampered by natural disasters. Cambodia has been identified as one of the most vulnerable countries in Asia to climate change due to its (currently) low adaptive capacity and limited resources to address the issue. One in three Cambodians lives on less than a dollar a day and 80 percent of the population make their living in the agricultural sector.