media coverage

Bit by bit, East African smallholder farmers are adapting to climate change, according to a study we recently published in the journal Food Security. The story received significant attention from a number of global and African media outlets, highlighting both the positive aspects (farmers are adapting) and pointing to the ongoing challenges (they are not adapting quickly enough and not using well-tested approaches). Here are some of the highlights.

Reuters said that African farmers must do more to beat climate change, a story that was picked by worldwide media including the Huffington Post, the Jerusalem Post, Reuters AlertNet, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), and Scientific American. 

Voice of America wrote how East African Farmers Plant Seeds of Innovation. In an interview, Patti Kristjanson, who led the research, described how East African farmers are aware of the extremes of climate change, but the driving factor behind their innovations is to ensure there’s enough to eat.

The New York Times featured the study in its Dot Earth blog. Andrew Revkin wrote that that the study’s conclusions show “there’s enormous potential to boost human resilience to climate extremes — whether the result of building greenhouse gases or nature’s built-in shocks — in places that are in harm’s way.” Read more »

As Asian countries move to confront the escalating threat that rapid climate change poses food security, water supplies, flood management and farm yields, leading climate specialists, agricultural scientists, development organizations, governments and global experts representing 14 Asian countries gathered in Bangkok on 11-12 April for the conference Climate Smart Agriculture in Asia: Research and Development Priorities. The objective was to review the most up-to-date research on the impacts of climate change and outline priority actions for enhancing the resilience and lowering the emissions footprint of Asian agriculture.

As a co-organiser of the event, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) helped share research innovations from across the CGIAR for enhancing the climate resilience of Asian agriculture.

At the close of the meeting, participants noted the need for increased multi-discplinary, and multi-sectoral collaboration to ensure the region is able to adapt to climate change, while reducing emissions from the agricultural sector.

Here's a rundown stories we produced, or were written about CGIAR research, at the event. Read more »

On 28 March, the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change launched its final recommendations for ensuring food security under a changing climate. The final report was accompanied by the launch of the animation “How to feed the world in 2050: actions in a changing climate” which has received nearly 3000 views online to date.

The launches generated significant media coverage including interviews with many of the Commissioners, in countries such as United Kingdom, Turkey, Pakistan, Australia, U.S.A, Brazil and Spain. The official press release was also posted on the official Rio+20 website. Read more »

By Bruce Campbell

A wise man once said, a hungry man is an angry man. The same goes for the farmer who cannot feed herself.
 
If African countries don’t want to see this proverb become reality, they must honour their commitments to invest more in the future of agriculture - to make farms more productive and sustainable, and protect farmers from the risks of climate change and extreme weather.
 
Farming is the life blood of more than half a billion people on the African continent, and climate change will have significant impacts on African agriculture. Rising temperatures and an increase in droughts and floods could dramatically alter growing seasons and wreak havoc on harvests.

The rate of crop failure - already one-in-four in much of eastern Africa - will increase in all areas except Central Africa, according to research by the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR). Because of climate change, rain-fed crops could fail every other year in much of southern Africa.
 
In the past, African farmers have shown a remarkable capacity to adapt to changes in climate. But the temperature increases of four degrees or more predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) could push millions of farmers beyond their ability to adapt. And it is unlikely that negotiations at the global climate talks opening in Durban on Nov. 28 will produce an agreement to limit global warming to two degrees or lower.
 
As such, Africans must realise that we cannot expect the world to create a climate solution for us. We must embark on our own path towards climate security. And that starts with ensuring our own food security. Read more »