The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced it has joined the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a partnership to accelerate the development of innovations for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to build resilience and adapt to climate change.
Together, they made commitments totalling US $200 million in response to immediate and long-term threats to food security and nutrition caused by climate change.
The announcement was delivered at the World Climate Action Summit by foundation Co-Chair Bill Gates, joined by H.E. Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the UAE.
Gates also called on global leaders to “elevate agriculture as a focus of global climate finance initiatives” and support the global agriculture research network, CGIAR, the world’s largest publicly funded agriculture research network.
“We need to make big bets on innovation to ensure smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have the tools they need to adapt their practices, feed their people, and build resilience in the face of climate change,” said Gates.
“The needs of farmers are an integral part of the global climate agenda.”
“We are ready to quickly scale up proven innovations that already are helping farmers in vulnerable regions like Africa and South Asia adapt to more challenging climate conditions,” said Professor Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, chair, CGIAR System Board.
“That includes increasing access to improved varieties of naturally stress tolerant crops like cassava and millets, employing new tools and strategies farmers are using to support healthy ecosystems by reviving degraded lands, and providing long-range climate forecasts that help farmers anticipate and navigate weather extremes and shifting rainfall patterns.”
Further to this, additional foundation funding will support the work of AIM4Scale, a new climate adaptation initiative to be launched by the UAE.