Farmers must be front of the line for climate compensation after COP29. Here's why

The author contends that farmers in low- and middle-income countries must be prioritized for climate compensation via the Loss and Damage Fund at COP29. Highlighting that $3.8 trillion in crops and livestock have been lost to disasters over 30 years, the text emphasizes that these losses disproportionately affect lower-income nations, threatening food security and economic stability. The document advocates for the use of attribution science and improved data collection, such as initiatives by CGIAR, to quantify losses and guide the strategic allocation of finance to build climate-resilient agricultural systems.

• Over the last 30 years, disaster events have caused an estimated $3.8 trillion in losses for crops and livestock, averaging $123 billion annually. These losses disproportionately impact low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where they account for between 10% and 15% of total agricultural GDP.
• Agricultural losses from disasters have severe implications for food security in LMICs, with annual losses from 2008 to 2018 averaging 6.9 trillion kilocalories. The impact is most severe in Latin America and the Caribbean (loss of 975 calories per day, or 40% of an adult's recommended daily allowance), followed by Africa (23%) and Asia (12%).
• Climate change threatens future food production, with projections indicating that rice yields in Asia could decrease by up to 50% by the end of the century despite a stable population forecast.
• The Loss and Damage Fund should target smallholder farmers in LMICs, where agriculture employs up to 35% of the population and constitutes 25% of national GDP. Such funding would enable access to climate-resilient technologies, improved seeds, and training.
• Effective climate finance requires evidence from attribution science to quantify the human-induced drivers of extreme weather. While UN studies have shown yield losses for maize in South Africa and wheat in Morocco and Kazakhstan (2-10%), data gaps in rural communities persist. Organizations like CGIAR are working to fill these gaps by collaborating with national research systems to improve monitoring and real-time tracking.

APA

Mukherji, A. (2024). Farmers must be front of the line for climate compensation after COP29. Here's why. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/food-water-air/cop29-agriculture-loss-damage-fund/

Chicago

Mukherji, Aditi. Farmers must be front of the line for climate compensation after COP29. Here's why. World Economic Forum, 2024. https://www.weforum.org/stories/food-water-air/cop29-agriculture-loss-damage-fund/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Mukherji |first1=Aditi |title=Farmers must be front of the line for climate compensation after COP29. Here's why |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=19 November 2024 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/food-water-air/cop29-agriculture-loss-damage-fund/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{mukherji2024farmers, author = {Mukherji, Aditi}, title = {{Farmers must be front of the line for climate compensation after COP29. Here's why}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2024}, month = nov, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/food-water-air/cop29-agriculture-loss-damage-fund/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }