Table 1 Biophysical and socio-political conditions of the three case study countries
From: Brazil, Ethiopia, and New Zealand lead the way on climate-smart agriculture
Brazil | Ethiopia | New Zealand | |
|---|---|---|---|
Biophysical conditions | ■ Land area: 8.5 M km2 | ■ Land area: 1.1 M km2 | ■ Land area: 0.3 M km2 |
■ Large biodiversity reserves | ■ Highly diverse agri-ecosystems | ■ Geographically isolated island nation with highly diverse climate zones | |
■ 13.5% of the world’s potential arable land | ■ Land degradation affects >40 M ha | ||
■ Significant non-forested land with agricultural potential | ■ Annual soil erosion loss of ~ 1.9 B tons | ■ Of total land area, 39% is in pasture, 1.6% in horticulture and cropping, and 6.6% in planted production forest; 33% is legally conserved | |
■ 80% of cultivated land yields <1 ton/ha | |||
Socioeconomic conditions | ■ Population: ~203 M people | ■ Population: ~88 M people | ■ Population: ~4.5 M people |
■ GDP: 2.2 T USD | ■ GDP: ~45 B USD | ■ GDP: ~180 B USD | |
■ Major agri-commodity exporter | ■ Heavy economic dependence on agricultural exports | ■ Heavy economic dependence on agricultural exports | |
■ Population living on < $2 USD/day: ~7% | ■ Population living on < $2 USD/day: ~70% | ■ Population living on < $2 USD/day: N/A | |
Climate change | ■ 3.2% of total global GHG emissions (2010); 70% of national GHG emissions related to agriculture and deforestation | ■ >40% of national GHG emissions related to livestock | ■ 47% of national GHG emissions related to agriculture; agricultural emissions increased by 15% during 1990–2012 although emissions intensity declined |
■ High vulnerability of rainfed agriculture to climate change | |||
■ 23% of global forest carbon stored in Amazon, which is threatened by climate change | ■ Increasingly variable weather threatens agriculture sector |