Submission for Koronivia joint work on agriculture (KJWA) on topics 2(b) and 2(c) for SBI/SBSTA 50

Summary

Background
At this Koronivia joint work on agriculture (KJWA) in-session workshop in Bonn (SBI/SBSTA 50), adaptation, adaptation co-benefits and resilience (2(b)), as well as the role of soils and integrated agricultural systems in particular (2(c)), will be at the centre of discussions.
This submission provides first insights on these topics based on an ongoing scientific review of the empirical evidence for agroecology to tackle climate change in agriculture. The rationale for this review is the need for increased evidence on agroecology’s potential to build resilience to climate change. Its objective is therefore to assess the state of scientific knowledge on this question. Agroecological agricultural systems, for short, are characterised by following and combining priciples such as closed nutrient cycles, increasing soil fertility and diversity as well as building on natural ecosystem processes and services (e.g. for plant protection). Some examples of agroecological practices are organic fertilisers (compost), biological nitrogen fixation, crop rotations, cover crops, agroforestry, or mixed crop and livestock farms. Agroecology also emphasizes social aspects, focusing on e.g. equity issues, collaborative development, farmers to farmers research and education, and bottom-up organisations of value chains.
The still ongoing review is conducted in a collaborative effort by Biovision Foundation for ecological development, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO. It is based on an encompassing compilation of peer-reviewed literature published in English (number of studies identified: 193), Spanish (23), French (35), Portuguese (3) and Italian (4). The requirement for comparative studies, i.e. to provide data on both agroecological and some baseline farming system restricted the available studies considerably. This review is complemented with results from meta-analyses on the performance of specific agro-ecological practices and related approaches, such as conservation tillage, permaculture, organic agriculture or silvopastoral systems. The full review is planned to be be published for COP25.