On top of a decade of exacerbated disaster loss, exceptional global heat, retreating ice and rising sea levels, humanity and our food security face a range of new and unprecedented hazards, such as megafires, extreme weather events, desert locust swarms of magnitudes previously unseen, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Agriculture underpins the livelihoods of over 2.5 billion people – most of them in low-income developing countries – and remains a key driver of development. At no other point in history has agriculture been faced with such an array of familiar and unfamiliar risks, interacting in a hyperconnected world and a precipitously changing landscape. And agriculture continues to absorb a disproportionate share of the damage and loss wrought by disasters. Their growing frequency and intensity, along with the systemic nature of risk, are upending people’s lives, devastating livelihoods, and jeopardizing our entire food system. This report makes a powerful case for investing in resilience and disaster risk reduction – especially data gathering and analysis for evidence informed action – to ensure agriculture’s crucial role in achieving the future we want.

This statement, prepared by the Task Force on Green Recovery of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission provides some initial reflections on key priorities to support a green, fair and resilient recovery from COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a serious setback for sustainable development, but United Nations (UN) Member States should not scale back their ambition. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the worst economic contraction since the Great Depression.1 The Agenda 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement (Paris Agreement) provide the longterm vision and remain “The Future we Want.”2,3 They provide a roadmap for sustainable, inclusive, and resilient recovery. Beyond fiscal expansion that boost aggregate demand, this crisis calls for transformative public investments that shape a sustainable, fair, and digital transition, and leverage private sector investment.

This factsheet is largely based on Thiel, F., Phillips, I. and N. Drechsel. 2019. Rapid Scan: Colombo City Region Food Systems and their vulnerability towards climate change related shocks. International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 48 pp. It can be accessed here. It provides information on the general knowledge collected by the city region food system (CRFS) project in its phase 2 regarding the assessment of risks for the CRFS of Colombo and results are based on a literature review as well as data collected by the International Water Management Institute, as the main implementation partner in the country.

Climate change presents multiple challenges and it cannot be addressed effectively in silos. Attention must be paid not only to specific agriculture sectors, but also to governance areas that are interconnected with agriculture, such as public spending and investment, social protection and rural development. Efforts should be coordinated with the engagement of civil society, including the legal profession, vulnerable groups and the private sector.

This Study addresses the principal expressions of the food and agriculture sector (crops and livestock agriculture, forestry and fisheries), looking at the critical cross-cutting issues and their integration into agriculture law. It provides a comprehensive overview of the legal and institutional issues to consider when working towards preparing the agriculture sector for the challenges of climate change.

The fifth edition of the UNEP Adaptation Gap Report looks at progress in planning for, financing and implementing adaptation – with a focus on nature-based solutions.

The UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2020 finds that while nations have advanced in planning, huge gaps remain in finance for developing countries and bringing adaptation projects to the stage where they bring real protection against climate impacts such as droughts, floods and sea-level rise.

Public and private finance for adaptation must be stepped up urgently, along with faster implementation. Nature-based solutions – locally appropriate actions that address societal challenges, such as climate change, and provide human well-being and biodiversity benefits by protecting, sustainably managing and restoring natural or modified ecosystems – must also become a priority.

The research found that some farmers were responding to climate change mostly by adopting changes in farm management practices, and that the incentive for farmers to act was influenced by the policy environment, the institutional environment and investment by governments. Because planned and institutional measures are in the hands of various levels of government, the research reinforced the importance of coordination to develop a cohesive package of measures for farmers to address climate change at the farm level.

Understanding farmers’ adaptation strategies and decision-making processes is important for designing future policy interventions to ameliorate and prevent the adverse effects of extreme weather events on farming systems. This technical report presents the findings of an ACIAR project that examined the effects and potential benefits of responses to climate change in rice markets in China and Vietnam. The project provided a social sciences dimension to the study of climate change and its primary objectives were to identify those farmers most at risk from climate change and then to identify policy responses to assist their adaptation and adjustment.