Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture and Forestry (UPAF) is recognized as having high potential for improving the urban environment and urban adaptation to climate change. UPAF is often credited with providing as series of benefits, such as:

• Reducing “food miles” by producing fresh food close to urban markets
• Reducing fertilizer use and energy consumption by productive re-use of urban organic wastes
• Recycling wastewater and freeing up water for other uses
• Enhancing rainwater infiltration
• Reducing the urban heat island effect by increasing the surface of green areas
• Enhancing carbon sequestration (urban forests)
• Providing better diets, urban food security, jobs and income

However, for UPAF to be promoted as an effective component of climate compatible development strategies and plans, and for it to benefit from climate change financing, there is a need for greater empirical evidence and quantification of these benefits.

This CDKN-supported project consisted of a multi-partner alliance, including northern and southern research institutions and content experts, decision-makers and international organisations and networks. Together, they jointly designed and tested indicators and tools to measure the various impacts of climate change mitigation, adaptation and other developmental co-benefits of Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture and Forestry.

The first phase of the project involved multi-stakeholder engagement, policy-research dialogue, exchange and learning with key research organisations and international organisations from Kenya, India, Ghana, China, Argentina, the Netherlands the and USA to engage in a consultation process with decision-makers in China, Sri Lanka and Argentina.In Phase 2, the developed draft monitoring framework was field tested and refined in cooperation with local and provincial authorities, NGOs and universities in Kesbewa (Sri Lanka), Rosario (Argentina), Kathmandu (Nepal) and Bobo Dioulassou (Burkina Faso).

Project outputs and resources

The CDKN Inside Story Integrating urban agriculture and forestry into climate change action plans – Lessons from Sri Lanka, illustrates how the Western Province in Sri Lanka is promoting urban and peri-urban agriculture and forestry as a strategy to reduce vulnerability to climate change, while enhancing urban liveability and livelihoods. This report is one of CDKN’s Inside stories on climate compatible development, and was produced as part of the CDKN-ICLEI project on Subnational climate compatible development.

The project produced the following resources:

Lwasa and Dubbeling (2015) Chapter 8: Urban Agriculture and Climate Change, in Zeeuw and Drechsel (Eds.) Cities and Agriculture: Developing resilient urban food systems. RUAF Foundation and International Water Management Institute.

Coronel et al (2015) Effects of urban green areas on air temperature in a medium-sized Argentinian city, AIMS Environmental Science, 2(3): 803-826. (open access)

Di Leo et al (2015) The role of urban green infrastructure in mitigating land surface temperature in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, Environment, Development and Sustainability, 1-20.

The project's case studies are also discussed in several articles in the Urban Agriculture Magazine Issue 27: Urban agriculture as a climate change and disaster risk reduction strategy.

Other project reports

• Monitoring the climate change impacts of urban agriculture in Rosario, Argentina
• Potential Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture and Forestry impacts on climate change
• Needs and requirements for monitoring urban agriculture impacts on climate change
• A first framework for monitoring the impacts of urban agriculture on climate change
• Surface temperature variations in Kesbewa Urban Council, Sri Lanka
• UPAF and run-off and infiltration of storm water in Kesbewa
• Land surface temperature variations in Kesbewa

Posters

• Monitoring climate change impacts of a UPAF project in Bobo Dioulasso (French)
• Monitoring the impacts of UPAF on climate change

Project Lead: RUAF Foundation
Contact: Marielle Dubbeling

Partners: 

Applied Plant Research International of the Wageningen University and Research Centre
School of Forestry of the University of Florida
The International Water Management Institute (Sri Lanka)
The Ministry of Agriculture, Agrarian Development, Minor Irrigation, Industries and Environment of Western Province (Sri Lanka)
Kesbewa Urban Council (Sri Lanka)
The Ministry of Water, Public Services and Environment, Santa Fe Province (Argentina)
Municipality of Rosario (Argentina)
Institute of Physics – CONICET Rosario (Argentina)
The National University of Rosario (Argentina)
Commune de Bobo Dioulasso (Burkina Faso)
L'Institut d'Application et de Vulgarisation en Sciences (Burkina Faso)
Kathmandu Metropolitan City Office (Nepal)
Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (Nepal)

CDKN Funding: Phase 1 - £98,370; Phase 2 - £200,299

Dates:
Phase 1: March 2012-August 2012
Phase 2: February 2013 - November 2014
Regions/Countries: Argentina, Burkina Faso, Nepal, Sri Lanka

For more information please also visit the RUAF Foundations's project website.

Photo credit: IRRI