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Climate

Ensuring environmental sustainability and building resilience to climate change

Smallholder farmers and poor rural people bear the brunt of climate change and the degradation of natural resources. Extreme weather events, such as droughts, storms and floods, are putting pressure on the ecosystems that farmers depend on, as are gradual processes such as rising sea levels and melting glaciers.

Crop failures and livestock deaths are causing economic losses and undermining the food security of rural people with ever-greater frequency, especially in parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

At the same time, the rapidly growing global population demands higher levels of food production. To meet the world’s growing needs, agricultural production must double by 2050, food waste must be reduced and value chains have to become sustainable and efficient.

The ecosystems on which smallholder farmers rely are increasingly undermined. Access to suitable agricultural land is declining, and forest, soil and water resources are increasingly restricted and degraded. 

Many farmers produce on marginal, rainfed land, where water is increasingly scarce. Pollution and overexploitation are causing a serious decline in fish populations, threatening essential sources of income and nutrition.

Improving farming practices and safeguarding the environment

Poor farmers and fishers are guardians of natural resources. With targeted assistance, agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors can play a key role in tackling environmental degradation and climate change.

Improving land management and adjusting farming practices can help alleviate pressure on the environment and lower greenhouse gas emissions. 

Farming systems that embrace sustainable intensification practices can increase crop tolerance, diversify production and hinder environmental degradation.

Sustainable agricultural intensification

IFAD promotes agricultural growth that is environmentally sustainable and integrated into ecosystems. We help farmers and fishers become more resilient to the impact of climate change.

IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme is the largest global climate adaptation programme for smallholder farmers. We channel climate and environmental finance to smallholder farmers, helping them to reduce poverty, enhance biodiversity, increase yields and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

IFAD is also an executing agency of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). These are among the main financial mechanisms for addressing the intertwined issues of poverty alleviation, sustainable ecosystem management and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Through these programmes, IFAD works with our partners to scale up successful approaches to sustainable agricultural production and green value chains. These approaches build climate resilience by managing competing land-use systems while reducing poverty, enhancing biodiversity, increasing yields and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

In depth

In depth

Renewable energy

More than 2.5 billion people rely on biomass, such as fuel wood, charcoal, agricultural waste and animal dung to meet their energy needs for cooking. In many countries, these resources account for over 90 per cent of household energy consumption.

Spotlight

Spotlight

Learning from El Niño

El Niño is back, and its effects are expected to have dire consequences for rural people. Oliver Page explains why we must do more to create a resilient, sustainable future in the face of this devastating climate phenomenon.

Experts

Asset Publisher

Pierre Yves Guedez

Senior Technical Specialist, GCF focal point

[email protected]

Hisham Zehni

Senior Technical Specialist - SECAP, Environment, Climate, Gender and Social Inclusion Division

[email protected]

Jahan-Zeb Chowdhury

Lead Technical Specialist - Environment & Climate Cluster Coordinator

[email protected]

Janie Rioux

Senior Climate Finance Specialist, GEF coordinator

[email protected]

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Stories and news

Stories and news

Learning from El Niño

September 2023 - BLOG
El Niño is back, and its effects are expected to have dire consequences for rural people. Oliver Page explains why we must do more to create a resilient, sustainable future in the face of this devastating climate phenomenon.

Why the Sustainable Development Goals matter: your questions answered

September 2023 - STORY
As countries meet to evaluate how much progress has been made towards the Sustainable Development Goals, find out more about these 17 objectives and why they’re important for the rural communities we work with.

North Africa is struggling to cope. The terrible events of this week will become all too familiar unless we invest in resilience

September 2023 - BLOG
IFAD’s Regional Director for the NEN region, Dina Saleh, reacts to the disastrous events that have occurred in the region this week.

Investing in a better future: Asia and the Pacific

September 2023 - BLOG
The Asia Pacific region is one of dizzying contrasts and incredible scale. We caught up with Regional Director, Reehana Rifat Raza, to find out the challenges faced by rural people in this dynamic region and how investment can make all the difference for their futures.

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Related publications

Related publications

Scaling gender and climate investment opportunities

September 2023
This paper finds that investing in rural women helps achieve climate goals, while simultaneously addressing gender inequality and poverty.

Youth and Jobs in The Era of Climate Change, Conflict and Crisis: An Evidence and Gap Map

September 2023
This evidence and gap map (EGM) plots studies on the effectiveness of interventions for youth employment in developing countries in the context of climate change, conflict and crisis, demonstrating where evidence exists and where it is lacking.

INSURED Indonesia Country Update: Making climate risk insurance available to small-scale producers

September 2023
IFAD’s INSURED programme has been working with partners in Indonesia to improve the availability of climate risk insurance that enables farmers to strengthen their resilience.

Partners

Partners

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Contact us

For questions please contact Brian J. Thomson,

Knowledge Management and Communication Manager,

+39 0654592282 and mobile: +39 366 6121101, [email protected]