Climate resilient agriculture for sustainable development

Climate change reduces agricultural productivity and leads to greater instability in crop production, disrupting the global food supply and resulting in food and nutritional insecurity. Climate change increases the risk for the most vulnerable countries and people by affecting livelihoods and income in rural areas; marine, coastal terrestrial and inland ecosystems, according to the editorial of the current News Bulletin (July-Sept’ 2023 issue) of International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh (ICCB) released today.

The negative impacts of climate change are already being felt, in the form of increasing temperatures, weather variability, shifting agro-ecosystem boundaries, invasive crops and pests, and more frequent extreme weather events.

Agriculture is a major part of the climate problem. Climate change is reducing crop yields, the nutritional quality of major cereals, and lowering livestock productivity. The most significant adaptation investment is needed in agriculture. Agriculture is highly sensitive to temperature changes and extreme weather events, so even a limited temperature rise (1.5°C) will have a big impact.

According to World Bank 2020 Report nearly 690 million people-or 8.9 percent of the global population-are hungry, up by nearly 60 million in five years. The food security challenge will only become more difficult, as the world will need to produce about 70 percent more food by 2050 to feed an estimated 9 billion people.

According to ADB, climate change is already impacting markedly on agriculture and food production in developing countries of Asia and the Pacific. Rising temperatures, flooding rivers, melting glaciers, and other extreme weather events will greatly challenge regional food security. Climate change will place an additional burden on the region, which can easily undermine development and impair progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

Overall, the world has made little progress in providing safe, nutritious, and adequate food for all. Conflict, climate change, extreme weather events and economic slowdowns are the biggest obstacles to progress, especially in regions with high levels of inequality. The gap is widening due to COVID-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war.

Food system sustainability can be addressed by adopting sustainable agricultural systems, shifting the focus to sustainable diets, and finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at different levels of the food production supply chain.

The agriculture sector is one of the key economic pillars of Bangladesh. Its share of GDP in FY22 was 11.50 percent. The farming sector has individually employed around 41percent of the people,

either directly or indirectly. Given the current trajectory, the rapidly changing climate conditions will trigger annual GDP losses, in the range of 1 to 2%. According to analysts agricultural productivity in Bangladesh remains the lowest among nearby countries in South Asia and beyond.

However, Bangladesh is responsible for only 0.4 percent to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which is insignificant compare to other mega industrial economies, but Bangladesh is high on the list of countries most vulnerable to climate change. High population density, poverty and reliance on climate-sensitive sectors for water and food security, particularly water resources, agriculture, fisheries and livestock, increase its vulnerability to climate change.

According to a recent study by Standard Chartered Bank, the critical need for adaptation investment in 10 of its markets, where action matters most are : Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, UAE and Vietnam. These markets across Asia and Africa are being disproportionately impacted by the physical risks of climate change, but also have the greatest opportunities to build this new economy.

The report reveals that, by investing USD1.2 billion in adaptation by 2030, Bangladesh could prevent projected damages and lost GDP growth of USD11.6 billion – nearly 10 times that amount. According to the study, without a minimum investment of USD30 billion, the 10 featured markets face projected damages and lost GDP growth of USD377 billion.

Therefore, promoting the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices for Bangladesh is crucial to improve smallholder farmers’ capacity to adapt to climate change and mitigate its impact as well as help to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.