AFRICA – The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has partnered with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to accelerate the development of innovations benefiting smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, aiding their resilience and adaptation to climate change.
This collaboration involves new commitments totaling US$200 million to counter immediate and long-term threats impacting food security and nutrition due to climate change.
The announcement was made at the World Climate Action Summit by foundation Co-Chair Bill Gates, accompanied by H.E. Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Almheiri, UAE’s minister of climate change and environment.
Gates urged global leaders to prioritize agriculture within global climate finance initiatives and to support the global agriculture research network, CGIAR.
The partnership comes at a time when over 60% of the sub-Saharan Africa population relies on agriculture for sustenance and income, contributes only 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Nevertheless, extreme climate events such as severe droughts in East Africa and devastating floods in West Africa have curtailed economic growth and heightened income inequality.
These events have disproportionately affected wealthy countries, primarily by reducing crop and livestock production. Despite the presence of various innovations for smallholder farmers in the region, less than 2% of global climate finance caters to their needs.
“We must make substantial investments in innovation to equip smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia with the tools to adapt their practices, feed their communities, and foster resilience against climate change,” said Gates.
“The agricultural sector’s needs are an essential component of the global climate agenda.”
CGIAR, the largest publicly funded agriculture research network globally, plays a pivotal role in supporting resilient and sustainable food production in a climate-affected world.
Recently, it unveiled a three-year investment case aimed at securing US$4 billion by 2027. This initiative aims to assist CGIAR in reaching 500 million farmers by 2030 with climate adaptation innovations.
Additionally, it aims to reduce emissions from the agriculture sector by 1 gigaton annually, equivalent to eradicating emissions from more than 200 million cars.
“We are poised to rapidly scale up proven innovations that are already aiding farmers in vulnerable regions like Africa and South Asia to adapt to increasingly challenging climate conditions,” stated Professor Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, chair of the CGIAR System Board.
“This includes enhancing access to improved varieties of naturally stress-tolerant crops like cassava and millets, employing new tools and strategies to support healthy ecosystems by reviving degraded lands, and providing long-range climate forecasts that help farmers anticipate and navigate weather extremes and changing rainfall patterns.”
The foundation’s US$100 million investment, announced in tandem with the UAE’s commitment, will bolster organizations such as CGIAR at the forefront of agricultural innovation development.
Additional funding from the foundation will support the AIM4Scale, a new climate adaptation initiative launched by the UAE.
Furthermore, the foundation aims to collaborate with partner countries, philanthropies, and financial institutions to eliminate policy and funding-related barriers, hastening access to high-impact agricultural innovations for small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
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