Climate - banner

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

Fighting water scarcity with innovation – Episode 44

This month we are focusing on water scarcity.

Experts

Publicador de Conteúdo

Jahan-Zeb Chowdhury

Lead Technical Specialist - Environment & Climate Cluster Coordinator

j.chowdhury@ifad.org

Janie Rioux

Senior Climate Finance Specialist

j.rioux@ifad.org

Hisham Zehni

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

h.zehni@ifad.org

Pierre Yves Guedez

Senior Technical Specialist, GCF focal point

p.guedez@ifad.org

Nutrition View more link

Stories and news

Stories and news

Fighting water scarcity with innovation – Episode 44

Maio 2023 - PODCAST
This month we are focusing on water scarcity.

Rural people rely on biodiversity. Here's how IFAD protects it

Maio 2023 - STORY
Biodiversity is especially important for small-scale farmers. Here’s how IFAD is further integrating it into projects all over the world.

Rural people make a beeline for prosperity

Maio 2023 - STORY
On World Bee Day, meet the pollinators buzzing to protect our planet and the rural people taking care of them.

Projeto do FIDA ajuda a preservar a Floresta Amazônica brasileira e melhorar a vida das suas comunidades

Maio 2023 - NEWS
O FIDA e o Governo do Estado do Maranhão lançam amanhã, dia 16 de maio, uma nova iniciativa para enfrentar a preocupante degradação ambiental da Floresta Amazônica maranhense e os altos índices de pobreza e insegurança alimentar na região – o chamado ‘Projeto Amazônico de Gestão Sustentável (PAGES)’.

Climate View more link

Related publications

Related publications

“Fruiting Africa” for health and wealth

Dezembro 2018
Since 2006, IFAD and the European Union have partnered to invest over EUR 230 million in agricultural research programmes carried out through the CGIAR system.

Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) brochure

Outubro 2015
The Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) was launched by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in 2012 to make climate and environmental finance work for smallholder farmers. A multi-year and multi-donor financing window, ASAP provides a new source of cofinancing to scale up and integrate climate change adaptation across IFAD’s approximately US$1billion per year of new investments. The programme is joined up with IFAD’s regular investment processes and benefits from rigorous quality control and supervision systems. ASAP is driving a major scaling up of successful ‘multiple-benefit’ approaches to smallholder agriculture, which improve production while reducing and diversifying climate-related risks. In doing so, ASAP is blending tried-and tested approaches to rural development with relevant adaptation know-how and technologies. This will increase the capacity of at least 8 million smallholder farmers to expand their livelihood options in an uncertain and rapidly changing environment.
additional-languages: Arabic, English, Spanish, French, Russian

Adaptation Framework Tool

Janeiro 2021
The Adaptation Framework is a repository of adaptation actions for small-scale agriculture, including livestock, forestry, and fisheries. It provides an approach for incorporating adaptation practices into project design.

Partners

Partners

Publicador de Conteúdo

Contact us

For questions please contact Brian J. Thomson,

Knowledge Management and Communication Manager,

+39 0654592282 and mobile: +39 366 6121101, b.thomson@ifad.org