Informal Seminar Meeting shows the importance of
upscaling climate proof concepts within the rural agricultural development
agenda
Climate change imposes stress on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers,
as their low availability and access to capital makes it difficult for them to properly
deal with environmental pressure. The large impacts that climate change has and
will have in the future pressures us to rethink the way of our investment. IFAD
has set up the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) which
aims to increase the resilience of small farmers against the impacts of climate
change. An informal seminar, which was held at the 17th of
September, informed country representatives about the urgency of the programme
and the objectives of ASAP.
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| Biogas installation Mali |
ASAP was launched in 2012,
with a project in Mozambique currently running, and projects in Bangladesh, Bolivia, Djibouti and Mali to be
starting soon. Another nine projects are
in the design process and will be implemented over the next two years.
One of the main objectives of
the programme is to get climate finance to smallholders: most climate funds are
now directed towards mitigation efforts, and even if they are spent on
adaptation, the funding barely reaches small holders in low income countries.
Besides, smallholders are very often not taking part in the climate debate. ASAP
will make an effort to alter this situation. The second objective is to mainstream climate change awareness
across all IFAD’s work. This will be considered successful once climate change
is part of our risk and results management and when, for example, our economic
analysis includes the costs of climate change. By creating mechanisms for
direct finance and the mainstreaming in other investment programmes, ASAP is contributing
to increasing smallholders’ resilience to climate risks.
The programme considers how
smallholder farmers are affected by climate change in several ways. It aims to support
farmers in reducing the losses caused by an increased variable climate, by for
example financing early warning systems or creating knowledge about crop
variety. But it is also taking advantage of new opportunities. When
temperatures rise certain regions which have not been available for agriculture
until now, such as high altitude regions, could become accessible for
agriculture usage. Thus IFAD will responds to both the negative and positive
impacts of climate change. In addition, ASAP, is focused on the upscaling of
existing practices and technologies and the supporting of new, innovative
approaches. An example of upscaling is agroforestry and watershed management,
whereas early warning investments are new innovative approaches which are to be
implemented and further explored.
ASAP strengthens vulnerable links in the value chains as is
the case of Bangladesh, where it is financing submersible road infrastructure
to withstand extreme weather events. Climate
change affects all stages of the value
chain: from farmer to consumer. Therefore IFAD has created a programme which considers
all those aspects in order to protect smallholders against the complex impacts
of climate change.
One third of all IFAD's projects will have an ASAP
component. They are funded by donor money received from Belgium, Canada, the
Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Sweden. However, the funding needs are
enormous. In many regions a critical number of smallholders are threatened by the effects
of climate change. In order to garner much-needed additional resources, we must
demonstrate our effectiveness in reducing climate risks.