Climate Change Adaptation Specialist with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Gernot Laganda, provides some impressions of the UN climate talks in Doha on IFAD’s blog.

He says there is now general acceptance of the need to adapt to climate change rather than an earlier belief that the only approach would be to reduce the greenhouse gases that drive it. Laganda points to scientific studies that provide evidence of a world that is warming and the difficulties associated with negotiating a post-Kyoto agreement.

“Rather than complaining that they are heading into a train wreck, [many countries] have started to check the location and specifications of their seat belts,” writes Laganda.

IFAD has established the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) which will assist countries to scale up tried and trusted adaptation approaches such as agroforestry, conservation agriculture, land restoration, mixed crop-livestock systems, watershed management and integrated coastal zone management.

ASAP will involve better seasonal forecasting, access to insurance, training on risk analysis and GIS, robust infrastructure that is protected from extreme weather, and empowerment of small local institutions to engage with national policy processes.

Read the full story: First impressions from the UN climate change conference in Doha #Cop18