By Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director, CGIAR  

Food is on the table at the UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 28) in Dubai. For the first time ever, food has been a major part of the world’s climate agenda. It is a key aspect of climate conversations at all levels – from national pathways to transform food systems, to reimagining agriculture as a whole to reduce its contributions to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As the world faces the largest hunger crisis in modern history, these conversations could not be timelier.

Climate change and food are inextricably linked. Some 780 million people globally are affected by hunger, a number that will grow significantly with every degree the world warms. Many of the 500 million small-scale farmers who provide a third of the world’s food live in regions disproportionately affected by climate change, putting their lives and livelihoods at risk.

As a third of food is wasted every year, our food systems are struggling to generate enough food to feed the world. Yet at the same time, they are a major contributor to the world’s emissions. As climate change continues to worsen, our ability to provide food and nutrition security for all is increasingly under threat.

All this contributes to an urgent need to transform the way in which food is produced to better support farmers, reduce emissions, and guarantee food and nutrition security. But reimagining our food systems to be part of the solution to climate change will require new tools and new ways of thinking. We need to leverage the power of science to develop innovative, climate-resilient systems, modern farming techniques that increase yields while safeguarding nature, and policies that can reshape the way the world produces, processes, trades, and consumes food.

Already, new innovative tools are showing tremendous promise. Artificial intelligence (AI), for example, is now being used to provide early warnings against floods and droughts, or help farmers diagnose disease and pest infestations in crops. Climate-resilient varietals of rice – like scuba rice, which is able to withstand complete submergence in water for ten to 18 days – have been shown to yield much more than other rice plants after flooding. The immensely successful Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT) project breeds faster-growing, more disease-resistant varieties that can be produced in stressful environments.

CGIAR, the world’s largest publicly-funded agricultural research system, is best known for its work in helping to prevent a food crisis across Asia and Africa by developing the high-yielding rice and wheat varieties that drove vital increases in food production beginning 50 years ago. This work, led by Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug and M.S. Swaminathan, is credited with averting a global famine, saving a billion lives. Since then, CGIAR scientists have built on this achievement to continue delivering critical tools and innovations for global food security.

As global temperatures continue to rise and weather extremes become more frequent, innovations that are tailored to food producers’ needs and environments are essential to help the world adapt and sustainably transform food systems.

The world has revolutionized food systems before – with the right support, the global community is poised to continue building on past successes and significantly scale up the assistance that small-scale farmers around the world so desperately need.

But to unlock the full potential of innovation, funders must increase investments and political support toward climate and agriculture innovation. That’s why CGIAR has launched a new investment case, calling for USD 4 billion to harness the power of innovation against climate change, increase productivity, and build more resilient food systems. New funding will support CGIAR scientists, experts, and partners in hundreds of countries to scale world-changing innovations, from new tools and technologies for farmers to more nutritious and climate-resilient crops.

Already, we are inspired by and grateful to our donors and partners, who have recently committed USD 890 million to support our new research portfolio. But this is only the beginning. We need to continue investing in solutions that have a proven track record of measurable success, and the organizations to deliver them. With science, we can turn the tide on the climate and food crises, helping to put food on the table for all.