Bigger climate finance share for farmers sought

The 29th Conference of Parties (COP) leadership should address resource allocation disparities by providing farmers and fisherfolk a bigger share of available climate financing to help them cope with the ill effects of climate change, according to non-government organization Rice Watch and Action Network (R1).

- - Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas

"The fight against climate change cannot emphasize enough the importance of agrifood systems. Ironically, this sector receives a meager share of the pie and it continues to decline," R1 said.

Citing a recent analysis by the Climate Policy Initiative, R1 said small-scale agri-food systems received only 0.8 percent or about $5.53 billion of the total $660.2 billion climate finance across all sectors from 2019 to 2020.

The group noted that in 2021, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization revealed that climate-related development finance in the agri-food systems declined by 12 percent on an annual basis to $19 billion.