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Integrating Climate-Smart Agriculture with Poverty Reduction and Food Security Goals

Sep 13th, 2024 • by Sara Gustafson

Food systems lie at the nexus of the world’s climate change adaptation, poverty reduction, and food and nutrition security goals. A poorly functioning or environmentally unsustainable food system can have severe negative consequences for all three factors, particularly for the poor populations who rely on agri-food systems for their livelihoods. In the OECD’s 2024 Development Co-operation Report, researchers in Chapter 21 examine how climate-smart agriculture technologies and practices can be better integrated to help bridge the gap between climate, poverty, and food security

Catastrophe-Level Food Insecurity Highest Ever Recorded: GRFC Mid-Year Update Released

Sep 5th, 2024 • by Sara Gustafson

According to the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) Mid-Year Update, the number of people facing or expected to face IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe/Famine) food insecurity more than doubled from 2023 to 2024: from just over 700,000 people to 1.9 million people in four countries/territories. This is the highest number ever recorded by GRFC reporting.

Identifying guidelines for the design of conditional credit programs to promote sustainable agricultural practices in Latin America

Sep 3rd, 2024 • by Daniel Eduardo Vergara Mateus, Jorge Armando Rueda Gallardo, Brian McNamara, and Valeria Piñeiro

The complex challenge of increasing food production while mitigating carbon dioxide emissions, building resilience to climate change, and reducing the burden of agriculture on natural resources requires innovative approaches. Promising strategies include increasing access to mechanization and adopting modern fertilization processes that contribute to climate change adaptation efforts, or the use of improved seeds.

Reducing food loss and waste for climate outcomes: Insights from national consultations in Bangladesh, Malawi and Nepal

Aug 25th, 2024 • by Suresh Babu, Yogendra Karki, Innocent Pangapanga, Md Sadat Anowar, and Nandita Srivastava

Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) is crucial to improving food security, reducing malnutrition, and providing livelihoods for food system workers. But such efforts are also key to combating climate change. FLW has significant environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in both the production of food that is later lost and in waste management.

Exploring Food Systems' Hidden Costs: IFPRI Policy Seminar

Jun 22nd, 2024 • by Sara Gustafson

Today’s global food systems carry a hidden price tag: at least USD 10 trillion annually in environmental, health, and social costs, according to both the FAO’s The State of Food and Agriculture 2023 and Food System Economics Commission’s (FSEC) The Economics of the Food System Transformation. Globally, food systems cost more in GDP than they contribute and play a driving role in exacerbating poverty, malnutrition, and climate change.