CGIAR Challenge Programme: Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security
The CGIAR Challenge Programme "Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security" (CCAFS – www.ccafs.cgiar.org) is a major collaborative endeavour between the international agricultural (CGIAR) and global environmental change (ESSP) research communities, and their respective partners. Research is aimed at overcoming the additional threats posed by a changing climate to achieving food security, enhancing livelihoods and improving environmental management in the developing world. The main objectives are to:
- Overcome critical gaps in knowledge of how to enhance and manage the tradeoffs between food security, livelihood and environmental goals in the face of a changing climate.
- Develop and evaluate options for adapting to a changing climate to inform agricultural development, food security policy and donor investment strategies
- Assist farmers, policymakers, researchers and donors to continually monitor, assess and adjust their actions in response to a changing climate.
The programme was launched in 2009 and will run till 2019. It comprises six main research themes:
- Diagnosing vulnerability and analysing opportunities (Research leader: Philip Thornton – ILRI)
- Unlocking the potential of macro-level policies (Research leader: Jerry Nelson, IFPRI)
- Enhancing engagement and communication for decision-making or linking knowledge with action (Research leader: Patti Kristjanson, ICRAF)
- Adaptation pathways based on managing current climate risk (Research leader: Jim Hansen, IRI, Columbia University)
- Adaptation pathways under progressive climate change (Jointly led by Andy Jarvis, CIAT and Andy Challinor, University of Leeds)
- Poverty alleviation through climate change mitigation (Research leader: Lini Wollenberg, University of Vermont).
The current CCAFS director is Bruce Campbell, and he is based at the CCAFS secretariat in Denmark at the University of Copenhagen.
