FAO,UNDP project to help eight countries in climate change adaptation
A four-year joint project of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is expected to help eight developing countries revamp and strengthen their adaptation responses to climate change.
The “Integrating Agriculture in National Adaptation Plans”, a $12 million initiative funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, will engage agriculture ministries in Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, the Philippines, Thailand, Uruguay, Vietnam and Nepal to incorporate agricultural sectors into National Adaptation Plans in order to safeguard livelihoods, raise agricultural production and boost food security.
The initiative which will build on existing FAO and UNDP country activities will customize needs-based solutions for each country:
Under the initiative, countries will receive various types of support. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says it will offer policy advice and technical support to ensure that climate change adaptation priorities in the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors are incorporated in planning.
UNDP will also engage with countries in managing climate risk, in planning and budgeting, and help them strengthen information systems, project formulation, and coordination between government institutions.
Martin Frick, Director of FAO’s Climate, Energy and Tenure Division said: “Ministries of agriculture, fisheries and forestry need to be at the table when countries develop and implement domestic policies to address climate change.”
The FAO said three-quarters of the world’s poor who live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, need a range of climate change adaptation needs from improved crop varieties that can cope with drought, salinity and changing weather conditions to new methods of cultivation and modernized water and irrigation systems.
Many developing countries are expected to bear the brunt of climate change impacts on agriculture. National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) must envision how to pre-emptively minimize the impact of potentially declining yields and irregular harvests.
By Emmanuel Odonkor