Finland will provide an initial support of around 3.9 million U.S. dollars for a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) program in the
period of 2010-
2011, FAO announced Tuesday in the context of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
According to the organization, Finland is the first country to contribute to a 60- million-
dollar FAO program to support climate change mitigation in agriculture in developing countries.
FAO will approach other donors for further funding.
The program aims to promote sustainable low-emission agriculture in developing countries
over the coming five years, in partnership with countries and other relevant organizations.
"The overall challenge we are facing is to transform the technical mitigation potential of
agriculture into reality," Alexander Mller, FAO Assistant Director-General said in a statement.
The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs underlined that the effects of climate change on
agricultural production and on the rural population are becoming increasingly evident, especially in the developing countries.
According to the ministry, rural development, food security and climate
change are all top priorities of Finland's Development Policy. This new program is able to
integrate all the relevant dimensions in a sustainable way, giving every country the needed
capabilities to develop their agricultural sector, increase their food security and mitigate climate change at the same time.
FAO's policy brief said that the sector of agriculture is a key source of global greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for 14 percent. But the sector also has a high potential to
reduce greenhouse gases by removing CO2 from the atmosphere and sequestering it in soils and plants and by reducing its own emissions.
The program will create a global database on current and projected GHG emissions in land
and agriculture for the most important agricultural commodities, countries and regions.
There are currently no data on GHG emissions from individual agricultural commodities by
country or by region available, FAO said.