Funding Organisation: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
Timeline: 2021-2025
Budget: 811'818 CHF

Abstract

Agriculture is paradoxically positioned in relation to climate change - contributing significantly to the problem, while being immediately and directly threatened by it.  This project examines how the mitigation of agricultural greenhouse gases is emerging as a sphere of knowledge and an arena of management through the development of accounting practices and protocols. To date, mitigation has largely been a technical undertaking, dominated by scientific and economic disciplines that rely heavily on accounting methodologies. Social scientific research on the relation of agriculture and climate change has predominantly focused on advancing understandings of the impacts of climate change on agricultural livelihoods. Yet, agriculture is estimated to account for 25-40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with projections rising over the coming decades (Smith P. et al. 2014; Sanderman, Hengl, and Fiske 2017). Given the sizeable emissions that are also generated by agricultural activities, there is surprisingly little literature within the social sciences that investigates efforts to mitigate greenhouse gases (GHG) in agrarian settings.

This project uses the theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches of anthropology to develop a more holistic understanding of climate change mitigation and address several important lacunae in current knowledge. It directs focus on the role of accounting practices in mitigation, which have received little attention within the anthropological literature on climate change. In doing so, it explores how accounting shapes and conditions the way that both climate change, and the work of mitigation, is apprehended within agriculture. The focus on agriculture is also deliberate. Agricultural activities have long remained on the margins of mitigation efforts and have proved controversial within climate negotiations. Preliminary research conducted for this project indicates, however, that agriculture’s potential in achieving future emissions reductions is increasingly recognized.

Project Outcome

The project was successfully completed and surpassed its original objectives. Through extensive ethnographic research in Canada, India, Argentina, and Colombia, as well as participation in international fora, it advanced understanding of how carbon accounting frameworks and climate mitigation interventions shape agrarian landscapes and rural livelihoods. The project produced a publicly available FAIR-compliant dataset mapping international agricultural mitigation networks, generated multiple peer-reviewed publications, supported the completion of doctoral research, and fostered new international collaborations. Findings have contributed to policy dialogue with international organizations and civil society actors and continue to inform research, teaching, and public debate on climate change, agrarian transformations, and environmental justice.