With around the corner, IFAD focuses on native communities across the world. First up, , a Senior Technical Specialist on Indigenous Peoples, then a discussion on gender and land rights, climate change and food with indigenous chefs, activists, and experts. We learn more about free, prior and informed consent and hear from IFAD Goodwill Ambassador Sabrina Dhowre Elba and climate reporter Qasa Alom in Bangladesh.
Photo: © IFAD/Michael Benanav
The land alongside the Nile has always been fertile, but sea levels rise as the earth’s temperatures rise, making this low-lying area one of the world’s three most vulnerable spots to climate change. It’s not just local people who are suffering the consequences. The Nile Delta is the breadbasket of Egypt, accounting for almost two thirds of the country's agricultural land and contributing to a fifth of the national GDP. Thanks to ’s project, infrastructure, training and services are combined to not only protect the land, but also to improve the quality of previously infertile land.
2022 has been a busy year for . Investing in the world's poorest rural people, the UN agency continues to help them adapt to climate change and deal with global shocks such as the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis. The UN agency looks back on some of the themes that defined a year of dramatic change. Find out more about .
of the planet’s remaining biodiversity is located in Indigenous Peoples’ lands. Here are examples of how Indigenous Peoples are conserving biodiversity with ’s support.
On top of the challenges that all smallholders face, farmers with disabilities also experience negative attitudes, stigma, discrimination, and a lack of accessibility. Climate change and other external shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, tend to exacerbate these existing inequalities. is supporting farmers with disabilities - like Abu Koroma, Leonard Murani and Mariama Jalloh - to make a living from agriculture and build their resilience. This allows them to feed their families and sell the surplus. Watch the video to find out more.
The food we eat and how we produce it is evolving. explains what our plates might look like in the future and explore how the world’s small-scale farmers are revolutionizing what we eat.
How are agri-small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) affected by the current onslaught of global crises? What is doing to during this volatile time?
Indigenous peoples use language in a powerful way to describe Mother Nature. presents five unique words indigenous peoples use to describe the natural environment.
Farmers and pastoralists in the small village of Yarwa, in Sudan’s semi-arid region, face several threats to their way of life. Climate change and environmental degradation are damaging lands, destroying forests, and increasing the risk of drought, while the growth of commercial mechanized agribusiness is reducing their access to land. For a long time, small-scale farmers and pastoralists didn’t have any way of accessing finance to grow their businesses. And women, especially, were held back by societal norms, which gave them little say in financial decisions. Today, however, the 13 members of the Alwifaq women’s savings and credit group are charting a way to a better, more resilient future for their community.
Remittances continue to matter more than ever, particularly in rural areas where they count the most and provide opportunities towards rural transformation. presents 12 reasons why.
Brazil’s north-eastern semi-arid region, known as sertão, is a land rich in culture and enchanting landscapes, but the harsh climate and lack of water make it difficult to earn a living here. Over recent decades, modern ingenuity has combined with traditional mutual aid systems to help communities. Key to any project’s success is the focus on nature-based solutions and working with local people. is an international financial institution and a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries.
Don Lolo has been growing coffee on the slopes of El Playón in Honduras for over fifty years. Now, thanks to from ’s Rural Poor Stimulus Facility, he is using an online banking app to apply for loans, manage savings, and reach new buyers. Rural savings banks are a lifeline for small rural communities in Honduras, allowing small-scale farmers like Don Lolo to save and plan for the future. Sixty-six banks have benefited from the programme, which launched the app and provided bank members with tablets and training.
Fifteen years ago, Africa’s leaders had a vision that would change the future of their continent. They imagined a thin but powerful green line strung between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic: a strip of trees 8,000 km long and 15 km wide. It would trace the Sahel, the dryland region sandwiched between the Sahara desert to the north and the savannah to the south. Today, this vision has been refined. The Great Green Wall (GGW) is now envisioned. is among the guardians of this vision.
As the war in Ukraine pushes food, fuel and fertilizer prices toward record levels putting food security in many of the world’s poorest countries at risk, launches a to ensure that small-scale farmers in high-risk countries can produce food over the next few months to feed their families and communities while reducing the threat to future harvests. IFAD is calling on its Member States to contribute to the significant resources required to cover all 22 countries listed in the Initiative as priorities based on measures of need.
Irrigated crops, livestock, fisheries, aquaculture and forestry, account for roughly 70 per cent of total freshwater withdrawals globally. invests in multiple water use strategies in rural areas.
