Given the unique opportunity for sustainable rice landscapes to deliver solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation, nature recovery, and improving farmer livelihoods while contributing to food and nutrition security, there is an urgent need to target finance and scale up actions in high-impact landscapes.

Key findings

The Mission paper provides information about the significant climate, nature and equity positive impact potentials, and emerging opportunities to scale private sector investments and collective action for sustainable rice. It also identifies the range of challenges that currently limits the acceleration of the rice sustainability transition at the scale needed, which include: customized support for rice farmers, transition costs and long-term agreements, sustainability target-setting guidance gaps, barriers to engaging in Voluntary Carbon Markets, and public and private sector investment gaps.

The objective of the RICE+ Hub for Regenerative Ricescapes Mission Paper is to serve as an action plan to facilitate pre-competitive private sector collective actions and investments across the entire rice value chain. These investments and collective actions will accelerate rice-related carbon, climate, nature and Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) investments and project implementation to scale sustainable rice in priority countries and landscapes, starting with a focus on the major rice-producing regions of South and Southeast Asia.

To accelerate the transition of rice production systems and landscapes to be equitable, regenerative and resilient, the RICE+ hub will focus on and facilitate 3 priority Action Areas through mobilizing our members and partners:

1. Forging public-private investment alliances
2. Promoting high-integrity rice carbon and sustainability standards
3. Expanding knowledge exchange and promoting innovations by the private sector across the rice value chain

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) launched the Mission paper for the RICE+ hub for regenerative ricescapes, in collaboration with member companies and partners, under the auspices of the Sustainable Rice Landscapes Initiative (SRLI).  Link to other WBCSD related work:

• Long, I. et al. (2023). Asia Rice Nature-Based Solutions Accelerator Baseline report. Climate Focus. 
• Sustainable Rice Landscapes Initiative (SRLI)
• SRLI Report: Scaling private sector investment in sustainable rice: Needs and opportunities

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Bhutan has targeted becoming the world’s first country with an entirely organic agricultural production. As well as aligning with the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), achieving 100% organic agriculture would support Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) index by benefiting human health and improving ecological diversity.

The goal includes Bhutan’s most important cereal crop, rice, which accounts for around 22% of the country’s total crop production by value. Currently, Bhutan produces only about 47% of its domestic rice consumption, relying on imports for the rest. Given rice’s importance in the national diet, and supply vulnerabilities exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Bhutan’s government has prioritized improving self-sufficiency in rice, with a 60% target.

This policy brief discusses how feebate policies could upscale organic agriculture and food self-sufficiency in Bhutan, specifically looking at rice production.

The simulations show that a feebate (fee and rebate) policy coupled with promotion and training in agroecological farming methods could incentivize widespread adoption of agroecology, achieving both 100 percent organic production and greater self-sufficiency for rice in Bhutan.

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