COP26: Sweden will help small-scale farmers
Sweden has today signaled its strong commitment to help some of the world’s poorest small-scale farmers adapt to climate change, by promising SEK 100 million (almost USD 11.7 million) to the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The announcement was made at the UN Climate Conference (COP26) in Glasgow.
The commitment, made through the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will direct funding to the Enhanced Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture (ASAP +) program, a climate financing mechanism launched by IFAD in January. It is intended to be the largest fund dedicated to channeling climate finance to small-scale producers to help them adapt to climate change and combat hunger and malnutrition.
“For small-scale farmers, climate change is a matter of survival. We need to invest more as soon as possible to help them adapt. If they can not produce food, hunger and poverty will escalate, “said Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of IFAD. “With this timely and generous funding from Sweden, we will be able to support rural producers who experience lower harvests and livestock deaths to become more resilient and be able to continue to feed their communities.”
“The world’s poorest farmers are hardest hit by the effects of climate change, but have contributed least to its cause. At the same time, efforts to strengthen agriculture and food production are crucial for sustainable development. By increasing the financial support to small-scale farmers for increased climate adaptation, we can support climate-resistant food systems and ensure food security for the most vulnerable, says Per Olsson Fridh, Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation.
While small-scale farms produce about a third of the world’s food, they run a significant risk from rising temperatures, irregular rainfall, rising sea levels and extreme events such as floods, droughts, landslides, typhoons and heat waves.
New research supported by IFAD shows that the yields of basic crops such as maize may decrease by as much as 80 percent by 2050 in parts of Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe due to climate change, resulting in increased hunger and poverty. If nothing changes, climate change could cause more than 140 million people to migrate by 2050.
IFAD aims to mobilize $ 500 million for ASAP +. The programme’s objectives include: building the resilience of 10 million people in rural areas to cope with the effects of climate change, binding more than 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents and introducing more than four million hectares of land under climate-resistant methods. ASAP + will focus on low-income countries facing the greatest challenges in food insecurity and rural poverty as a consequence of climate change.
IFAD has already committed $ 300 million in climate finance through the first phase of ASAP launched in 2012. To date, more than 6 million small-scale farmers have been helped to manage the effects of climate change in 41 countries with investments in climate-smart agriculture and nature-based solutions, rural improvements infrastructure (such as small-scale irrigation systems and rainwater collection systems) and climate information systems.
Sweden is one of the founders of IFAD and has committed more than $ 476 million to the fund since 1978. With a specific focus on helping small-scale farmers adapt to climate change, Sweden has made a significant contribution to building the resilience of more than 30 million rural people. .