Follow the latest news on Cop27 in Egypt
If you are a big city dweller from Ethiopia, Pakistan or Mali, you may well be thankful for the vegetables on your dinner table and fruit for dessert — and grateful to the smallholder who grew them on a tiny plot of land.
While small-scale farmers employ and feed about three billion people around the world, they are also fighting the effects climate change is having on their livelihood. Ironically, they also have a role in combating it.
“Small-scale farmers have the least capability to respond to climate-change challenges,” said Jyotsna Puri of the UN’s International Fund for Agriculture Development (Ifad).
“Clearly, if you want to take any action in regard to climate change, you must make sure that the methods used by small-scale farmers are modified or changed without affecting their production capacity,” she told The National in an interview on the sidelines of the UN climate summit in Egypt.
The threat to small-scale farmers is one of many existential problems posed by climate change, from droughts, rising sea levels and rising temperatures to polluted rivers and animal extinction.
Cop27, the UN climate summit in Egypt, is expected to produce mechanisms to implement resolutions agreed over the years, including measures for industrialised nations, the main gas emitters, to provide funds for other countries.
Ifad’s focus on helping small-scale farmers — the agency defines them as owning or working less than two hectares — around the world is justified, given the disproportionately large contribution they make to the world’s food production.
They farm only 11 per cent of the globe’s agricultural land, but they produce a third of the planet's food.
“They are highly productive, contribute to biodiversity but also produce 5 per cent of the world’s gas emissions,” said Ms Puri, Ifad’s associate vice president in the strategy and knowledge department.
She said small-scale farms are also a major sink for carbon dioxide and use techniques that maintain soil carbon.
The world’s entire agriculture sector produces 24 per cent of all gas emissions, with most going to large-scale agriculture that uses fossil-based fertilisers, pesticides and fuel.
The vital role played by the small-scale farmers, however, is under threat by climate change: desertification in many parts of Africa and flooding in Asia are affecting the world’s food supplies and pushing farmers away from their land to become “climate refugees”.
In eastern and southern Africa, for example, key crop yields were expected to drop by up to 80 per cent in coming years, primarily because of weather shocks and increased deforestation, she said.
-
A man wears a face mask that reads "no climate justice without human rights" during a protest at the COP27 UN Climate Summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. AP -
A presentation at the American University in Cairo Pavilion. Reuters -
Egyptian artist Bahia Sheha stands inside her installation "Heaven & Hell in the Anthropocene." AFP -
Akihiro Nishimura, minister of the environment of Japan, reviews notes with others at the COP27. AP -
US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, right, and Xie Zhenhua, China's special envoy for climate greet each other at the COP27 UN Climate Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. AP -
Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva poses for a group photograph with representatives of his country's indigenous people. AFP -
People attend the COP27 UN Climate Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh. EPA -
Activists dancing during a discussion on leaflets at the Cop27 climate conference, taking place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. AFP -
An activist wears a polar bear outfit as part of campaigning. AFP -
From left, Rakia Amandou of Niger, Ba Aminata of Burkina Faso, Kenyan Rosemary Nenini, Fatima Mustafa Ahmed from Sudan and Djeneb Dicko from Burkina Faso at the Indigenous Peoples Pavilion. AP -
Abdulla Nasser Musallam Al Rahbi, Oman's Ambassador to Egypt and Permanent Representative to the Arab League, speaks at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt's Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. AFP -
Climate activists demonstrate in the designated protest zone. AP -
Sheikh Abdullah, Director General of Environment at the Public Authority of Kuwait, speaks at Cop27. AFP -
Visitors at the Sharm El Sheikh International Convention Centre. AFP -
A display outside the convention centre. AFP -
A fountain in the green zone at the International Convention Centre at sunset. AFP -
Mohamed bin Daina, right, Bahrain's Special Envoy for Climate Affairs and Chief Executive at the Supreme Council for Environment, at the conference. AFP -
Members of Extinction Rebellion stage a protest at the Glencairn tidal pool outside Cape Town, South Africa to mark Cop27's 'Water Day'. AP -
From left, Fahad Al Maskari of the Khalifa University, Frank Hartmann, Ghaleb Al Breiki of the UAE University, and Mouna Maroun of the University of Haifa, sign an agreement at Cop27. AFP -
John Kerry, US special presidential envoy for climate, at Cop27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. AP Photo -
Australian climate activists offer bananas to climate summit participants. AFP -
Climate activist Sabrina Elba. AP Photo -
Egyptian security forces stand guard during the protest. AFP -
US President Joe Biden. AFP -
Mr Biden with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. AP -
A Cop27 sign in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, provides the backdrop for this woman's selfie. Reuters -
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi speaks to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the climate summit. AFP -
A water wonderland greets this child at an acquarium in the Cop27 Green Zone. Reuters -
Mr El Sisi, second left, takes part in a cycling marathon on the sidelines of Cop27. EPA -
Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, speaks in Sharm El Sheikh about 'complicated' talks to set up a protection zone around Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. AFP -
Frankie the dinosaur. Reuters -
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Reuters -
Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan, CEO of the Alliances for Global Sustainability; Mariam Al Mheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment and Minister of State for Food Security; and Hatem Dowidar, group CEO at e&. AFP -
Sameh Shoukry, Cop27 president, centre left, poses for photos in the youth pavilion. AP -
A visitor looks at the 'Zero Point' series of collage portraits by Turkish artist Deniz Sagdic, each of which is made from a particular kind of upcycled waste material. Getty -
Participants visit the Ukrainian pavillon. AFP -
Mr Kerry speaks during a session on accelerating the clean energy transition in developing countries. AP -
Youth climate activists. Pictured, from the left, Eric Njuguna of Kenya, Nicole Becker of Argentina, Vanessa Nakate of Uganda, Sophia Kianni from Iran, and Mitzi Jonelle Tan of the Philippines. AP -
Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, right, chairman of the Islamic Development Bank Group, poses for a photo with Mohamed Hadi Al Hussaini, the UAE's Minister of State for Financial Affairs. AFP -
Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Bloomberg -
A police officer stands at the entrance of the Sharm El Sheikh International Convention Centre during Cop27. Reuters -
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. AP Photo -
Former US vice president Al Gore speaks during a session at Cop27. AP Photo -
Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest. AFP
She said Ifad was working to increase the resilience of small-scale farmers in the face of climate change and help them adopt new methods that will reduce gas emissions.
Ms Puri bemoaned the lack of international funds set aside for what climate experts call adaptation. She said that of the $340 billion needed, only $70bn was available.
“We want money and data, too,” she said. “We need more data, but there isn’t enough commitment to collect more data.”
