FAO Report The Unjust Climate

Context:

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently released a report titled “The Unjust Climate,” highlighting the varying impacts of climate change on income and adaptation in rural areas based on gender, wealth, and age.

Relevance:

GS III: Environment and Ecology

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Key Findings of the FAO Report: “The Unjust Climate”
2. Recommendations from the Report
3. FAO’s Initiatives to Tackle Climate Change Impact
4. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Key Findings of the FAO Report: “The Unjust Climate”

Analysis Scope:

• FAO examined socioeconomic data from 100,000 rural households across 24 Lower Middle Income Countries (LMICs).
• Integrated data with 70 years of georeferenced daily precipitation and temperature data.

Impact of Extreme Heat:

• Each day of extreme heat leads to a 2.4% loss in on-farm incomes for poor rural households.
• A 1°C temperature increase would result in a 33% decrease in off-farm incomes for rural poor households.

Impact of Extreme Precipitation:

• Daily extreme precipitation causes poor households to lose 0.8% of their incomes relative to non-poor households.
• In an average year, poor households lose 5% of total income due to heat stress and 4.4% due to floods compared to better-off households.

Income Gap Widening:

• Floods and heat stress widen the income gap between poor and non-poor rural households by approximately USD 21 billion and USD 20 billion per year, respectively.

Maladaptive Coping Strategies:

• Poor rural households adopt maladaptive coping strategies, including distress sale of livestock and reducing investments in agriculture during extreme weather events.
• These coping strategies make them more vulnerable to future climate stressors.

Lack of Inclusion in Policies:

• Rural people and their climate vulnerabilities are largely absent in national climate policies.
• Less than 1% of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and national adaptation plans (NAP) mention poor people, with only about 6% referring to farmers in rural communities.
• Only 7.5% of tracked climate finance in 2017-18 was allocated to climate change adaptation, with less than 3% directed to agriculture, forestry, and other land uses.
• Agricultural policies often neglect gender equality, women’s empowerment, and intersecting vulnerabilities related to climate change.

Recommendations from the Report:

Targeted Interventions:

• Address challenges through targeted interventions empowering various rural populations to engage in climate-adaptive measures.

Investment in Policies and Programs:

• Imperative to invest in policies and programs addressing multidimensional climate vulnerabilities of rural populations, considering their limited access to productive resources.

Link Social Protection Programs:

• Link social protection programs to advisory services, encouraging adaptation and compensating farmers for losses through cash-based social assistance programs.

Gender-Transformative Methodologies:

• Implement gender-transformative methodologies challenging discriminatory gender norms to empower women and enhance their agency over economic decisions.

FAO’s Initiatives to Tackle Climate Change Impact:

Inclusive Climate Actions:

• FAO’s Strategy and Action Plan on Climate Change embeds inclusive climate actions.
• Mainstreaming climate change impact in the FAO Strategic Framework 2022–2031, focusing on better production, nutrition, environment, and life for all.

Global Roadmap for SDG 2:

• FAO’s Global Roadmap for Achieving SDG 2 without breaching the 1.5 °C threshold emphasizes simultaneous considerations of gender inequalities, climate actions, and nutrition.
• Actions encompass these dimensions and promote inclusivity for women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):

• FAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations focused on leading international efforts to eliminate hunger.
• World Food Day, celebrated annually on October 16th, marks the founding anniversary of FAO in 1945.
• Headquartered in Rome, Italy, FAO collaborates with sister organizations, including the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Initiatives Taken:

• Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS): Recognizes and promotes agricultural systems contributing to biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods.
• Desert Locust Monitoring: Monitors the global situation of Desert Locust to address potential threats to crops.
• Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC): Responsible for implementing the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme.
• International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources: Adopted in 2001 to ensure conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

Flagship Publications:

• The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA).
• The State of the World’s Forests (SOFO).
• The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI).
• The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA).
• The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO).

-Source: The Hindu