The Time is NOW
Action needed for poor farmers to adapt to climate change
ActionAid Calls on Rich Countries to Increase Funding for Adaptation
Developing country farmers need immediate support to protect food production from the impacts of climate change, warns ActionAid ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland.
ActionAid urges leaders of industrialized nations -- the major culprits of global warming -- to make binding commitments to pay for adaptation in the world’s most vulnerable countries, while dedicating a substantial proportion of adaptation funds to promote sustainable agriculture. U.N. agencies estimate that the global costs of adaptation in developing countries could rise to between $67 billion and $86 billion per year.
"Scientists predict that in some countries global warming could halve crop yields over the next decade, but our research shows that in fact farmers are already harvesting less,” said Harjeet Singh, ActionAid's human security advisor in New Delhi, India.
A new report by ActionAid titled “The Time is NOW: Lessons From Farmers Adapting to Climate Change,” calls for a massive increase in funding for adaptation strategies that are based on organic and low-input agricultural techniques. Such techniques will help communities to combat hunger and adapt to the impacts of climate change, says ActionAid.
ActionAid’s research in five countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, Ghana, Malawi and Vietnam) shows that small-scale farmers lack adequate resources and information to combat falling yields, severe floods and droughts, and unpredictable growing seasons.
Maria do Carmo Gonçalves Dias -- a 35-year-old widow with two children in Rio Pardo de Minas, Brazil -- says that severe droughts have nearly destroyed the viability of farming in her area.
“There used to be two streams nearby, but these are now dry,” she said. “I used to harvest 20 sacks of coffee a year, but my last harvest yielded just one.”
Like hundreds of other farmers in this region, Maria do Carmo Gonçalves Dias migrated further south to work as a casual laborer on coffee crops to earn enough money to feed her family.
Simple, ecologically friendly agriculture techniques can boost food security in the face of adverse weather and soil conditions, according to a U.N. scientific panel. ActionAid found that farmers are already rediscovering traditional methods for diversifying crops, cutting the use of chemical pesticides and conserving soil.
Although individual farmers are ingenious in finding ways to cope, a lack of resources, technology and information cripples the effectiveness of their initiatives. In Ghana, for example, many farmers have started mixed cropping to increase the chances that at least one crop will survive. However, they say they also need government action on issues such as reforestation, water harvesting and access to credit.
“Massive investment in organic and low-input agriculture, combined with binding emissions cuts for industrialized countries, may be the only way to avert a food security catastrophe within a few years time," said Ilana Solomon, ActionAid’s food rights policy analyst in Washington, DC.
Please contact Ashley Roque at 202-441-0184 if you would like to setup an interview about the report or the upcoming U.N. conference.
Download the report here.
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