Although agriculture accounts for only 8.2% of the Republic of Zambia’s gross domestic product (GDP), almost half of the country’s economically active population works in the sector. Climate change poses a grave risk to the growth and sustainability of Zambian agricul ture.

In the United Republic of Tanzania, CSA has rapidly become a key mechanism for addressing both climate change and food security. Since 2011 more than nine CSA-related policies, programmes and projects have been implemented by the government and development partners. Outcomes from CSA projects, however, have not yet been tracked or reported on.

Agriculture is critical to Malawi’s future. It accounts for 80% of employment, more than 80% of foreign exchange earnings, and 64% of total income among the rural population. Due to the importance of agriculture to livelihoods and the economy, Malawi is among the countries most at risk from climate change and variability.

The Republic of Zimbabwe recognizes the need to take action to harmonize agricultural development with environmental protection and to reduce vulnerability to climate change. At least 22 unique projects and policies relevant to CSA were underway in 2014, and more have started since then.

Key messages Multi-lateral development banks (MDBs) have committed to financing climate change mitigation in agriculture and have adopted a harmonized methodology for attributing and reporting climate finance; however, design (including practice selection) and measurement of project impacts remains ad hoc.

In the agricultural sector there is an especially urgent need to develop and disseminate adaptation prioritization tools given the prominence of the sector in INDCs to the Paris Climate Agreement.

Climate change in Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) is projected to have significant impacts, including rising sea-levels, more violent tropical cyclones and droughts. Fish stocks in the tropical regions of the Pacific are expected to be directly affected by any changes that may occur in the ocean’s ecosystem.

The policy brief, titled "Recalibrating food production in the developing world: global warming will challenge more than just the climate," notes that climate impacts are more complex than simply heat and water tolerance for plants, and that there are feedback cycles in how natural resource are managed and their resilience to climate change.

There is growing recognition that successful adaptation of agricultural production systems to changes in climate will depend upon the improved access to, and use of, genetic diversity.

Understanding the cost associated with climate change adaptation interventions in agriculture is important for mobilizing institutional support and providing timely resources to improve resilience and adaptive capacities.