Cross Sector Collaboration and Women & Youth Smallholder Farmers Must Be at the Forefront of Adaptation Climate Finance

The BKMC convened a coalition of key voices from governments, science, farming, civil society, and youth at its COP28 side events.

DUBAI, UAE, December 12, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens (BKMC) convened a coalition of key voices from governments, science, farming, civil society, and youth at its COP28 side events, urging world leaders to address the immense and precarious agricultural adaptation finance gap.

Power of collaboration

On December 9th, 2023, together with the German Ministry for Food & Agriculture, the BKMC organized the COP28 side event “Joint work for climate action in agriculture and food systems”³ to highlight how transforming agriculture and food systems benefits the most vulnerable. The COP28 side event at the German Pavilion, emphasized the pivotal role of international collaboration for knowledge exchange, research, and innovation in accelerating agricultural mitigation and adaptation.

The panel discussion welcoming Claudia Müller, Parliamentary Secretary of State of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General, Harry Clark, Special Representative Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) and Elizabeth Nsimadala, smallholder farmer from Uganda and President Eastern Africa Farmers Federation showcased the critical need for balancing adaptation and mitigation in agricultural practices to achieve the targets of the Paris Agreement and increasing resilience of smallholders to climate change. Collaboration, innovation, targeted finance and access to resources were identified key enablers for transforming agri-food systems to become more sustainable while empowering smallholder farmers with the necessary tools to sustain their livelihoods.

The event was a testament of the collaboration between the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture initiated during a consultation between H.E. Ban Ki-moon and H.E. Cem Özdemir, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture of Germany, in Berlin in March 2023.

“600 million people will be chronically undernourished by 2030. Achieving food security by 2030 will therefore be a major challenge. It can only be achieved with appropriate investments in agricultural research and development benefiting the most vulnerable. Now, more than ever, supporting and fortifying the resilience of smallholder farmers, especially women and youth, is imperative.” – Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations and Co-chair of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens stated.

In the discussion research and development were underscored as key to unlocking solutions like climate resilient practices that benefit women and youth smallholder farmers. Institutions like CGIAR were highlighted as needing €2 billion annually to continue their vital work, underlining Germany’s role as a global leader in investing in research and development.

Connecting the Dots

On December 11th , 2023, the event “The Role of Youth in Smallholder Agriculture – Accelerating Climate Adaptation” gathered young grassroot voices from smallholder farming as well as high level representatives from science and governments to discuss capacity building needs in the context of climate adaptation. The event jointly organised by BKMC, CGIAR, Fairtrade International and FAO welcomed as speakers Dr. Lindiwe Sibanda, CGIAR System Board Chair, Dr. Wolfgang Zornbach, Head of Division Climate Change and Water, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Germany, Vivian Atakos, Engagement, Policy and Advocacy Expert, CGIAR Gender Platform, Shashila Dilani, Fairtrade Ambassador, and BKMC Youth Agri Champions and Smallholder Farmers Caroline Moko & Hafiz Mohammed Musah on the panel. The collective aim is to bring the urgent policy demands of young smallholder farmers to the forefront of discussions and action.

8th United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon & Co-chair of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens opened the session by saying: “I strongly support the demands made by young smallholders focusing on investment and efforts to reach smallholders on the ground for strengthened capacity building for resilience: provide them with resources and knowledge on climate adaptation, tailor interventions to the needs of women, as well as to bridge the gap between policy, science and farmers.”

Monika Froehler, CEO of the Ban Ki-moon Centre, emphasized the young smallholder farmers’ commitment, stating, “To underscore this commitment, the Ban Ki-moon Centre is officially launching the Youth AgriChampions 2023 Demand Paper¹. These were developed through intensive workshops by 17 youth smallholder farmers and agripreneurs from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Zambia.”

The panel discussion focused on the climate crisis’s direct impacts on youth agricultural actors and strategies to accelerate capacity building for smallholders to increase their resilience. You can access the policy paper of the BKMC’s 2023 Youth Agri Champions here: https://www.yumpu.com/s/EfSzYCNglXp5yiRO

Watch the recording of the “The Role of Youth in Smallholder Agriculture – Accelerating Climate Adaptation” here: https://www.youtube.com/live/aXB28EbkPM0?si=DHNSzS23e1CRX1GK

Watch the recording of the “Joint work for climate action in agriculture and food systems” here: https://www.german-climate-pavilion.de/cop28-program/joint-work-for-climate-action-in-agriculture-and-food-systems-event

Katharina Choe
Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens
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¹ https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/68567120/youth-agri-champions-demand-paper-2023
² https://www.youtube.com/live/aXB28EbkPM0?si=DHNSzS23e1CRX1GK
³ https://www.german-climate-pavilion.de/cop28-program/joint-work-for-climate-action-in-agriculture-and-food-systems-event