Agricultural biodiversity in climate change adaptation planning

To guide climate adaptation policies and investments, the majority of least developed countries (LDCs) have developed National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs). Agricultural biodiversity is an important, but often overlooked, element in climate adaptation; new crop varieties, cropping and farming systems will be important under future climates. This paper analyzes the extent to which agricultural biological diversity is included as part of national adaptation planning in the 50 NAPAs developed by LDCs as of December 2014. The paper presents an analytical framework that was used for the analysis of the NAPAs. It identifies 48 activities included in the NAPAs that do (or at least could) increase biodiversity in agricultural production systems or in research and development chains as part of strategies to adapt to climate change.