This book starts with an overview of major themes including the evolution of CSA, mechanisms of innovation and institutional change that will influence CSA, and the aspects of climate change that may addressed by CSA. The main part of the book consists of case studies from many regions around the world that analyse adaptation decisions, as well as document barriers to adoption of effective adaptation actions.

While the case studies demonstrate the diversity of challenges facing farmers around the world, they also indicate unifying characteristics imposed by climate change on agricultural decision making and the potential for the CSA approach to address them.

The analyses throughout the book emphasize the importance of designing effective policies. Climate smart policies will develop mechanisms to monitor climate and other conditions, assess situations, and be able to respond to changing realities. Furthermore, policies need to enhance resilience and capacity to adapt to changing agro-climatic conditions. These policies will be part of an overall policy environment that aims at sustainable development, namely assuring that the current generation will continue experiencing increased food security while the next generation will not be worse off than the current one.

Adaptation capacity begins with investments in and incentives for innovation. This implies both access and utilization of new technologies and management practices developed throughout the world. Access to new technologies means establishing policies and institutions to reduce intellectual property rights and regulatory barriers. In particular, regulations need to balance gains from emerging technologies with risk considerations. Further, local research and outreach capacity is needed to fit technologies and management practices to local conditions.

Climate smart policies will emphasize incentives and capabilities to encourage improved decision-making at the farm-level. This includes the adoption of best feasible technologies, improved input use, and post-harvest practices. Establishment of extension and improved supply chains may go a long way to meet this objective.

Governments may also consider introducing insurance schemes with low transaction costs and moral hazard potential to reduce the cost of risk and risk aversion. Further, governments may provide input subsidies in short-term situations in which learning-by-doing is needed, as well as insured and subsidized credit. These activities should be designed to induce transition to sustainable and economically viable practices.

These policies may be costly and one of the major challenges is to optimize the use of funds given budget and credit constraints. Developing evaluation procedures to assess outcomes on efficiency and equity measurements will allow for creating targeting criteria. Thus policies will vary across location and over time to reflect differences in expected net benefit. Furthermore, one of the challenges of climate smart policies is to develop financial mechanisms and political initiatives that will expand the range of resources available for investment.

This book aims to present the state of the art of CSA, both conceptually and by bringing together case studies and perspectives that will improve the management of agriculture in the era of climate change. The efforts to adapt to climate change in developing countries are in their infancy, and hopefully CSA will be a major contributor to these efforts. But CSA itself is evolving, and there is a growing need to refine and adapt it to the changing realities.