The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) says it is committed to focus 30 percent of its climate finance to support nature-based solutions in rural small-scale agriculture by 2030.
The organisation also called for more investment in the protection of biodiversity as it is needed to eradicate hunger and achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
IFAD’s President, Gilbert Houngbo, said nature-based solutions promote the proactive conservation, management and restoration of natural ecosystems and biodiversity towards contributing to addressing the challenges of climate change, food and water security, and human health.
The IFAD boss was speaking ahead of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress in Marseille.
Eight out of ten of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas, and most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods.
There was a dramatic increase in global hunger in 2020, with up to 811 million hungry people.
Also, the demand for less variety and more processed foods are influencing the global food system, as there has been a 75 percent loss of plant genetic diversity on farms in the past 100 years, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
According to IFAD, nature-based solutions promote the proactive conservation, management and restoration of natural ecosystems and biodiversity to contribute to addressing the challenges of climate change, food and water security, and human health.
‘From protecting pollinators, to improving soil fertility and building resilience to the effects of climate change, biodiversity is fundamental to addressing global hunger’, said Houngbo.
‘But the time is ticking. We need to increase our investments to protect biodiversity before it is too late. Our future depends on it’.
IFAD’s investments in nature-based solutions seek to promote a healthy biosphere, increasing productivity and improving food security, nutrition and resilience to climate change.
Photo source: FAO
