PR92797

GLASGOW, Scotland, Nov. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

-- Adaptation investments urgently needed for agriculture-dependent regions

like Africa that have done the least to cause the climate crisis but suffer the

most

Facing mounting evidence (

https://reliefweb.int/report/world/what-can-smallholder-farmers-grow-warmer-world-climate-change-and-future-crop

) that climate change will fall hardest on agriculture-dependent regions like

sub-Saharan Africa, a coalition of funders at the United Nations climate summit

pledged $575 million today to deliver climate-smart solutions to farmers in

low-income countries via the CGIAR global network of agricultural research

partnerships. Combined with the $256 million recently pledged at the Global

Citizen Live event, and other commitments from Sweden and Belgium, CGIAR now

has secured $863 million this year to confront a host of rapidly intensifying

climate challenges that could upend the global fight against hunger and

poverty.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1677024/COP26.jpg

There is also the potential for significant additional investments in CGIAR to

emerge later this week at COP26.

"This critical investment surge is a welcome down-payment for accelerating

CGIAR's climate adaptation efforts that already are providing millions of

farmers with innovations like stress-tolerant crop varieties and new strategies

to restore degraded lands," said Kundhavi Kadiresan, Managing Director, Global

Engagement and Innovation at CGIAR. "We have a deep understanding of the many

ways climate change is affecting food production in fast growing regions like

sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and a commitment to building resilience

through integrated, environmentally sustainable solutions that rebalance

agriculture's relationship with nature."  

CGIAR is the world's largest public sector research partnership serving the

needs of more than 500 million smallholder farmers who are responsible for

feeding billions of people in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The effect of

climate change on crops, fish and livestock is a key factor behind a steady

rise in hunger that is eroding years of progress.

The trajectory of the climate threat is particularly daunting in sub-Saharan

Africa, where most people work in agriculture and impacts on food production

are a key reason climate change could cost African countries up to 15 percent

of their GDP (

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X1930347X ) by

2030. There are also fears that absent aggressive efforts to help farmers

adapt, climate impacts on agriculture in regions already suffering high rates

of  poverty and malnutrition will make it impossible to achieve the global

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) pledging zero hunger and an end to extreme

poverty (

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/34555/Revised-Estimates-of-the-Impact-of-Climate-Change-on-Extreme-Poverty-by-2030.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

) by 2030.

In today's funding announcement, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged

$315 million over the next three years to support CGIAR's climate-related work.

Half of the US $315 million investment from the Gates Foundation will support

climate adaptation initiatives undertaken through the new CGIAR portfolio,

which is streamlining CGIAR partnerships, knowledge and assets to accelerate

the pace of innovation flowing to smallholder farmers.

In addition, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

pledged $215 million over the next five years and Canada $45 million.

They were joined by other funders who also have committed to support CGIAR's

Research and Innovation strategy for 2022 onwards. Sweden has pledged $18

million and Belgium, noting that it wants to continue its strong partnership

with CGIAR, put forth plans to release an additional $14 million pending

approval of the 2022 budget by its federal parliament.  

The investments announced today are on top of $256 million pledged to CGIAR by

the European Commission, the Netherlands and Belgium at the September Global

Citizen Live event. That pledge included $162.4 million from European

Commission; $87 million from the Netherlands; and $7 million from Belgium.

"Climate impacts on food production are an existential threat for several

hundred million people who depend on agriculture to support their families,"

said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "CGIAR has

been delivering high-impact solutions to smallholder farmers for half a century

(https://www.cgiar.org/cgiar-at-50/ )  and I'm confident they can lead a global

effort to develop the innovations needed to adapt to a changing climate."

"As one of CGIAR's founding donors, USAID is proud to continue our longstanding

partnership by committing at least $215 million over five years to CGIAR's

critical agriculture research and innovation," said Dr. Jim Barnhart, Assistant

to the Administrator at USAID's Bureau for Resilience and Food Security.

"Climate change is threatening the lives and livelihoods of families and

communities, particularly in the least developed countries. This funding will

contribute to raising agricultural productivity for 200 million people in South

Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa by 25 percent by 2030. CGIAR is an important

partner in our work to build a food secure, climate-resilient future."

"For 50 years, CGIAR has delivered critical research and innovation to address

hunger," said Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International

Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development

Agency of Canada. "Canada has been a partner since the very beginning because

we believe scientific research and innovation is necessary in making food, land

and water systems more sustainable, equitable and efficient. Today, we are

pleased to further support the work of CGIAR by contributing CAD $55 million

over three years to help end hunger and build climate smart and sustainable

food systems, and put gender equality at the forefront of global agricultural

research for development."

The new investments are building on an already strong foundation of

CGIAR-supported climate work. For example, in recent years, CGIAR partnerships

have provided about eight million farming households with 200 varieties of

climate-smart maize (https://www.cgiar.org/innovations/climate-smart-maize/ )

and some 18 million farmers with new varieties of flood and salt-tolerant rice

(https://www.cgiar.org/innovations/climate-smart-rice/ ). CGIAR is also leading

efforts to integrate a host of climate-smart food production practices across a

network of climate-smart villages and valleys

(https://www.cgiar.org/innovations/climate-smart-villages-and-valleys/ ) in

Africa, Asia and Latin America that are home to millions of farming families.

In addition, CGIAR's pioneering work on low-emission, high-nutrition

(https://www.cgiar.org/news-events/news/diversifying-aquaculture-systems-to-nour

ish-nations/ ) food production like aquaculture is opening up new sustainable

pathways for improving diets and incomes in rural communities.    

The quest at COP26 to secure more support for smallholder farmers is getting a

significant lift from the launch of the new Agriculture Innovation Mission for

Climate or AIM4C (https://aimforclimate.org/ ). The coalition, which now

includes more than 30 countries, was formed by the United States and the United

Arab Emirates to generate new funding for basic breakthrough agriculture

research, international partnerships and national agricultural research systems

in low-income countries. A key focus of AIM4C is to significantly increase

investments in "innovation sprints" – projects primed to translate new

investments into immediate impact for smallholder farmers.  

A $40 million innovation sprint led by CGIAR, in partnership with the

Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and the Gates Foundation,

will unlock key climate-resilient traits from CGIAR's vast global collections

of crop diversity. This sprint will supply crop breeders with the raw materials

they need to provide farmers with a wide array of climate-smart crop varieties.

"The urgency is clear: if the global community is truly committed to ending

hunger and poverty, then it must act now to support smallholder farming

communities that are already being hit hard by climate change," said Claudia

Sadoff, Executive Management Team Convener, and Managing Director, Research

Delivery and Impact at CGIAR. "There are many exciting innovations available.  

But even with today's announcements there is still a large gap between the

magnitude of the climate threat to smallholder farmers and investments required

to help them adapt."  

Sadoff noted that investing in adaptation is also a "historic opportunity to

implement nature-positive approaches to food production across some of the

world's most valuable and vulnerable ecosystems."

"Adaptation in agriculture is about pursuing a greener pathway," she said.

"That includes providing technologies that help farmers grow more food with

less water and revitalizing degraded landscapes through holistic strategies

that support both food production and ecosystem services."

Notes to editor:

About CGIAR

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR science

is dedicated to transforming food, land and water systems in a climate crisis.

Its research is carried out by 13 CGIAR Centers/Alliances in close

collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional

research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development

organizations and the private sector. www.cgiar.org

SOURCE  CGIAR