The UNFCCC treaty of 1992 conceived of the agriculture sector primarily as a site of adaptation. However, there has been increasing pressure in the global climate regime to reconfigure agriculture into a site of deep emission cuts to meet the Paris temperature targets. Land-based mitigation measures—as opposed to adaptation measures—are prioritised and promoted by influential sections, including developed countries and international development and climate organisations. The emphasis on mitigation is an extension of the strategy of developed countries to transfer the responsibility of deep emission reductions to developing countries in the context of the failure of the former to undertake deep emission reductions in the decades following the establishment of the UNFCCC.
