ROME, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Tackling climate change and ensuring food security represent a dual challenge and thus require a unique solution, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) urged in a policy brief issued on Tuesday.

    The paper has been prepared for the Copenhagen summit on climate change set to kick-off on Dec. 7.

    The Rome-based agency has repeatedly called for a joint solution to global warming and food security, highlighting the many existing opportunities in agriculture which can mitigate the impact of climate change and should therefore not be missed.

    The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, opening the FAO World Summit on Food Security on Nov. 16 urged a coordinated approach to be found at the Copenhagen conference.

    According to the paper, farming practices that capture carbon and store it in agricultural soils, more efficient fertilizer use and management of livestock systems offer some of the most promising options for early and cost-effective action on climate change and food production in developing countries.

    The FAO urged world leaders uniting in Copenhagen to take into account these opportunities, lamenting that agriculture has been largely excluded from the main climate financing mechanisms under discussion in Denmark.

    Despite the fact that agriculture is responsible for 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, it has the potential to be an important part of the solution to global warming through mitigation techniques. Some 70 percent of its potential for reducing emissions could be realized in developing countries, the FAO added.

    Agriculture is thus part of the solution to curb gas emissions and ensure food security in the future. According to the FAO, food production will have to increase by 70 percent to feed an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050 but it is threatened by climate change effects such as higher temperatures and natural disasters.

    Poorest regions with the highest levels of chronic hunger are thus likely to be among the worst affected by global warming. "We hope the UN summit in Copenhagen will send a clear signal that agriculture in developing countries should play a vital role in responding to this global challenge," said Alexander Mller, FAO Assistant Director-General.

    "There are strong synergies between climate change mitigation, adaptation and food security that will be captured, if we do this right."

    The policy brief called for funding to help "vulnerable" developing nations respond "more comprehensively to the dual challenges of climate change and food security."

    It suggested exploring synergies between Official Development Assistance (ODA) and new additional climate investment-schemes.

    The FAO urged as well the launch of a global work program so as to build confidence on agriculture's role in global warming adaptation and mitigation.