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Browsing by Author "Clements, C."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Agricultural carbon finance projects: Can they be sustainable?
    Clements, C.; Moore, Keith M. (2014)
    Agricultural carbon schemes are purported to constitute a ‘triple win’ for sustainable development. Practices such as agroforestry, reduced tillage, and grasslands management can increase yields and improve resilience while mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and providing revenues through the sale of carbon credits. Scaling up carbon credits involves complex institutional structures for promoting practices and aggregating carbon monitoring, reporting and verification. Scaling occurs across three scales of analysis: micro, meso, and macro. This presentation focuses on an analysis of the meso scale, where multiple levels of intermediaries are involved in governance and management. In the case of most agricultural carbon schemes, an external organization functions as a higher-level intermediary while pre-existing local associations are enrolled as lower-level intermediaries. Two case studies are evaluated based on stakeholder engagement, market linkages, and the generation and use of carbon revenues. This evaluation leads to questions which serve to guide evaluation of the sustainability of agricultural carbon finance projects.
  • Exploring the meso-level of agricultural carbon finance projects
    Clements, C.; Moore, Keith M. (New York, NY: Springer, 2015)
    Agricultural carbon schemes are intended to mitigate climate change and provide carbon revenues while facilitating sustainable development. This is accomplished through practices which simultaneously increase yields, improve resilience, and store carbon, such as agroforestry, reduced tillage, and grasslands management. Proper monitoring, reporting, and verification of these activities enable the generation and sale of carbon credits. However, this requires linking smallholder farmers at the micro-level with carbon credit buyers operating at the macro-level. These vastly distinct scales are bridged by intermediaries operating at the meso-level, which influence, incentivize, monitor, and aggregate production decisions made by smallholders. Multiple levels of intermediaries may be involved, often including external initiating agencies, such as non-governmental organizations, as well as local-level units, such as farmer groups or local governance associations. Here, we frame evaluation of agricultural carbon schemes with this three-tiered approach, and describe parameters for appraising participation and power, as well as assessing financial feasibility, verifications and market linkages. This is applied to two case studies: the Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project and The Sofala Community Carbon Project.
  • Framing small farmer choices for sustainable soil management
    Moore, Keith M.; Clements, C.; Myers, J. (2013)
    Sub-Saharan African agriculture is limited by degraded soils, yet there is no universally predictive factor for the adoption of soil management practices. This PowerPoint frames small farmer decision making by exploring the differences in perceptions of scientists and farmers, elaborating on economic factors influencing adoption, and considering the religious context which impact decision-making. Starting from Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations, it describes the progression in perspective on social learning, and recognizes the importance of imitation, time dynamics, and the process of innovation. This leads to a discussion of agricultural innovation systems, networks, and platforms which aims to develop a new framework with which to approach the promotion of integrated soil fertility management.
  • Small-farmer choice and decision making for sustainable soil management
    Moore, Keith M.; Myers, J.; Clements, C. (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2015)
    Sub-Saharan African agriculture is limited by degraded soils, yet there is no universally predictive factor for the adoption of soil management practices. This chapter frames small farmer decision making by exploring the differences in perceptions of scientists and farmers, elaborating on economic factors influencing adoption, and considering the religious context which impact decision-making. Starting from Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations, it describes the progression in perspective on social learning, and recognizes the importance of imitation, time dynamics, and the process of innovation. This leads to a discussion of agricultural innovation systems, networks, and platforms which aims to develop a new framework with which to approach the promotion of integrated soil fertility management.