This brief is based on the key messages of a conference held on January 23, 2009 at the World Bank to review the state of the art on 'agriculture and climate change, investing now for a productive and resilient future.' It is not the formal position of any one academic institute or organization, but sets out the key issues on: a) carbon as an integral part of sustainable land, water and biodiversity management in developing country agricultural landscapes and in any post-2012 framework and market mechanisms. Agricultural emissions reductions are already eligible under the Kyoto mechanisms for annex one (industrialized) countries
b) agricultural soil carbon measurement, modeling, and monitoring capabilities
c) challenges and opportunities in estimating soil carbon stocks and changes
d) a robust and integrated measurement and monitoring system
and e) further action steps to ensure objective consideration of agricultural soil carbon in post-2012 climate change solutions.