As the conclusion of the ongoing 28th meeting of the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP28) draws closer, a group of farmers’ representatives convened Sunday at COP28 climate summit in Dubai and urge leaders to urgently focus far more attention on upscaling farming systems that are resilient to climatic shocks in order to overcome hunger and malnutrition that continue to affect millions of people in Africa.
With less than three days to the end of COP28 in Dubai, farmers’ representative say they are trying to see how negotiators are taking into accounts their grievances with measures that seek to promote appropriate solutions for them to cope with the climate risk by adopting a number of strategies that include change in farming practices, sustainable land management.
The major constraints to climate change adaptation for small-scale farmers, according to experts is mainly the limited adaptive capacity when confronted with the adversities of global warmings.
Most countries consider agriculture a priority when it comes to their plans to limit the rise of global temperatures to less than 2 degrees C. In line with the Paris Climate Change Agreement, 95 percent of all countries included agriculture in their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs).
According to Elizabeth Nsimadala, President Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF), the impacts of climate change are already visible in many countries across the region and smallholding farmers currently need support to improve the yield, reduce the risk and the cost of production.
“Establishing resilient agri-food systems in Africa in the face of climate change is very critical as the majority of farmers are smallholders, the impacts of climate change is pervasive due to a lack of resources and capacity to invest in adaptation,” she said.
Sustainable agriculture and food systems are critical components in both dealing with climate change and building food systems fit for the future, according to experts.
At a sideline event at COP28, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to scale up agriculture and food systems across Africa. It is expected that the memorandum will also foster climate smart agricultural technology solutions and promote green farming, it said.
The need to protect African agriculture in the face of climate change was addressed at the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai (COP28) in a one-day event dedicated to endorse the declaration that will help in strengthening food systems, building resilience to climate change, reducing global emissions, and contributing to the global fight against hunger, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The declaration addresses both global emissions while protecting the lives and livelihoods of farmers who live on the frontlines of climate change.
In addition, it stresses the need for common action on climate change, which adversely affects a large portion of the world’s population, particularly those living in vulnerable countries and communities.
Latest estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations show that Climate change brings a cascade of risks from physical impacts to ecosystems, agro-ecosystems, agricultural production, food chains, incomes and trade, with economic and social impacts on livelihoods and food security and nutrition.
Increasing resilience of food security in the face of climate change calls for multiple interventions, from social protection to agricultural practices and risk management, it said.
According to the State and Trends in Adaptation Report 2021: Africa released by the World Bank, current actions to build resilience to climate change and related shocks across Africa’s food systems are promising, but not nearly enough to meet the scale of the problem.
Officials projections show that even on a 1.5°C trajectory, a more ambitious and urgent set of adaptation interventions are required to prevent widescale famine on the continent.
More than 100 world leaders at this year’s COP28 agreed to make their farm and food systems a key part of their plans to fight climate change.
