Many experts believe that low-cost mitigation opportunities in agriculture are abundant and comparable in scale to those found in the energy sector. They are mostly located in developing countries and have to do with how land is used. By investing in projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), countries can tap these opportunities to meet their own Kyoto Protocol obligations.

The scale of investment needed to slow greenhouse gas emissions is larger than governments can manage through transfers. Therefore, climate change policies rely heavily on markets and private capital. This is especially true in the case of the Kyoto Protocol with its provisions for trade and investment in joint projects.

Research at the World Bank on climate change and agriculture has gained momentum in recent years, recognizing both the important role agriculture plays in the economies and the livelihoods of the poor in developing countries, as well as the vulnerability of the agricultural sector to climate change. Major research efforts have been focusing on the agricultural sectors of India, Africa, Latin America, and China. This article focuses on recent research dealing with the impact of climate change on African agriculture.

Several studies addressing the supply and demand for food in China suggest that the nation can largely meet its needs in the coming decades. However, these studies do not consider the effects of climate change. This paper examines whether near future expected changes in climate are likely to alter this picture. The authors analyze the effect of temperature and precipitation on net crop revenues using a cross section consisting of both rainfed and irrigated farms.