BUILDING CLIMATE RESILIENT AGRICULTURE
There
has been renewed interest and firm international commitment to address the
devastating impacts of climate change. The virtual Leaders Summit on Climate
hosted by US President Joe Biden last week captured the world’s attention with
40 global leaders participating and Chinese President Xi Jinping and others
agreeing to take stronger collective action to address the climate crisis. And
as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, 2021 is a critical year to
address the climate emergency.
It
is widely recognized that those who have the most to lose as a consequence of
climate change are poor rural people, especially smallholders who rely on
agriculture for survival. Small-scale farming produces half of the world’s food
calories, but it is often entirely reliant on natural resources, including
rain. Global warming, extreme weather events (including droughts and floods),
and rising sea levels are threatening the ecosystems these farmers depend on.
To
illustrate, a 1.5 degrees Celsius increase in global temperatures will likely
have a disastrous effect on many of the world’s most important crops. The fight
against poverty requires building resilience against climate change, too. Even
in countries that have succeeded or will soon succeed in eradicating rural
poverty, such as China, a part of the population remains vulnerable. Climate
change is one of the main factors that increases the risk of people newly
lifted out of poverty slipping back into poverty.
Moreover,
agriculture is also often considered a contributing factor to climate change,
as it accounts for about one-fourth of all greenhouse gas emissions.
There
is a need to urgently build green and climate resilient agriculture but,
unfortunately, the stark reality is that only 1.7 per cent of global climate
finance goes to adaptation, that is, to actions to prepare for and adjust to
the impacts of climate change. The International Fund for Agricultural
Development (as both a UN specialized agency and development finance
institution) was an early mover on climate adaptation when development
organizations were focusing mainly on climate mitigation.
Over
the past decade, the IFAD has accumulated a wealth of practical knowledge and
techniques to better serve small-scale producers in building climate
resilience. About US$500 million has been mobilized to invest in climate-smart
solutions in 62 countries. This has made the IFAD one of the largest actors in
smallholder agriculture adaptation resources.
In
China, almost half of the total IFAD financing in the IFAD-supported Yunnan
Rural Revitalization Demonstration Project and the Hunan Rural Revitalization
Demonstration Project (US$74.78 and US$60.2 million respectively) are in
activities that directly contribute to improving the capacity of farmers to cope
with the current and future effects of climate change.
The
project in Yunnan province will help bring 1,800 hectares of land under
climate-resilient practices, while the one in Hunan province will improve
climate information and adaptation guidance, providing 14,700 people with
climate information services.
Much
of the IFAD’s climate financing has been through the Adaptation for Smallholder
Agriculture Programme launched in 2012, or with the Global Environment
Facility, the Least Developed Countries Fund, the Special Climate Change Fund,
or the Adaptation Fund. The Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme is
a direct conduit of climate and environmental finance to smallholder farmers,
helping them to reduce poverty, enhance biodiversity, increase yields and lower
greenhouse gas emissions.
The
Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme delivers more systematic
climate risk and vulnerability analyses, and boosts the capabilities of
farmer-based organizations to manage climate risks. For example, the
IFAD-funded programs include the development of a flash flood early warning
system in Bangladesh, a salinity monitoring system in Vietnam, a stronger
weather station network in Mozambique, and more robust building codes for
post-harvest processing and storage facilities in Rwanda.
Green
and climate resilient agriculture is also a key focus of the IFAD’s South-South
and Triangular Cooperation. And a lot is being done through the China-IFAD
South-South and Triangular Cooperation Facility — for instance, Vietnam,
Cambodia, China and Laos are benefiting from a grant to help identify and
develop climate-resilient value chains between farmers groups, processing units
and enterprises in the context of the IFAD-supported projects in these
countries.
While
these are important investments, we need to do more. For this reason, the
IFAD’s efforts to address environmental and climate issues, and to facilitate
social inclusion will be expanded. The IFAD has committed to increasing climate
finance for small-scale agriculture to 40 per cent of its investments during
the 2022-24 period, and 90 per cent of the IFAD-funded projects will aim to
include activities that build climate-related adaptive capacity across multiple
dimensions, aiming to increase the resilience of 28 million people.
In
leading up to the UN Food System Summit in September and COP26 (UN Climate
Change Conference) in November this year, the global community needs to build
on the strong momentum and raise multilateral collaboration to a higher level.
Much can be learned from the IFAD’s experience, which is uniquely placed to
ensure rural communities receive the support and financing they need to adapt
to the threats posed by climate change.
This
will help to better target climate finance and ensure it reaches the most
vulnerable people and groups, as well as to address the complex and
interrelated challenges of food security and nutrition, rural development and
climate change. To that end, enhanced partnerships among governments,
multilateral organizations and the private sector are critical.
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