Massive funding was announced at COP 28 by the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Germany to help agriculture adapt to climate challenges.
Massive funding was announced at COP 28 on Friday by the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Germany to help agriculture adapt to climate challenges.
Germany has pledged 100 million euros for the protection of forests in Brazil and the sustainable development of agriculture on degraded lands.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the funding aimed to “increase the productivity of degraded land” and “improve soil fertility” so that “local communities can find new jobs.”
For their part, the United States and the United Arab Emirates announced on Friday to invest an additional $9 billion in the Agricultural Innovation Mission (AIM) for the climate.
Launched two years ago in Glasgow, this joint initiative of the two States now has 17 billion dollars to invest in the innovation of agricultural and food systems.
Agriculture, which represents 23% of global greenhouse gas emissions (livestock breeding and fertilizer use), is one of the first victims of global warming.
The funding announced Friday is sufficient and will support enough different approaches to be a good start, said Mario Herrero, a professor of food systems and global change at Cornell University. However, he is waiting to see if this initiative attracts other funding and if the projects achieve their objectives.
Projects funded by the initiative in the past include building a $500 million agricultural processing plant in Nigeria, restoring degraded pastures in Brazil, and supporting research to reduce synthetic nitrogen.
Newly funded projects include a $500 million action program on “regenerative agriculture”, the manufacturing and processing of animal feed and fertilizers, the development of microbes to store carbon in the soil or further using food-safe industrial waste to produce microalgae that helps grow oysters on land.
Many of these projects are aimed at middle- and low-income countries, whose farmers often have less access to technologies to combat climate change.
However, while some aim to reduce waste, none of the new projects mentioned have explicitly focused on reducing consumption.
Rich countries consume more foods like meat and dairy, which make up the vast majority of global food-related emissions.
