Search Climate Insights Directory

The document examines the vulnerability of coffee production in Coto Brus, Costa Rica, where climate change threatens the viability of Arabica coffee. It identifies key resilience factors—such as producer cooperatives, peer-to-peer learning, and intersectoral alliances—and provides six recommendations for adaptation, including monitoring impact and exploring transformational shifts to alternative crops. It also highlights regional best practices from Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico.

The PEARL project aims to protect the livelihoods of approximately 550,000 farmers and value-chain actors in Cambodia's Northern Tonle Sap Basin (NTSB) from climate-driven droughts and floods. By shifting focus from conventional rice to high-value, drought-tolerant crops like cashew, mango, organic rice, and vegetables, the project seeks to increase adaptive capacity and income. The strategy employs Public-Social-Private Partnerships (PSPPs) to remove barriers to premium markets, utilizing certification schemes (e.g., CamGAP, GI, organic) and introducing advanced agro-hydrometeorological early warning systems. The project is budgeted at US$ 40.635 million, with US$ 34.485 million requested as a grant from the Green Climate Fund.

The document examines how credit cooperatives in Brazil serve as an efficient tool for financial inclusion, particularly for small rural producers. It highlights that while overall rural credit declined by 14% between 2013/2014 and 2018/2019, cooperative credit grew by 51.3%, increasing its market share from 11% to 17.5%. The brief explains that cooperatives reduce transaction costs and information asymmetry due to their proximity to producers. Geographically, cooperative presence is strongest in the South, Midwest, and Southeast regions, while it remains scarce in the North and Northeast. The analysis also details the interbank relationship where commercial banks use cooperatives to meet mandatory rural credit application requirements. Finally, it outlines the tax and regulatory advantages cooperatives hold over traditional banks, such as exemptions from Income Tax and CSLL on cooperative acts.

The research investigates the hypothesis that African agricultural exporters could substitute for US goods rendered expensive by tariffs. Using trade data from 2017 to 2019, the author finds that while African exports to China grew, the rate of growth declined over time and was significantly lower than that of competitors in Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. The paper argues that Africa has been unable to fully capitalise on the trade war due to a lack of state incentives, poor manufacturing sectors, and a failure to develop specific industries like pork, despite the potential created by the African swine flu in China.

The report examines the global cotton market, highlighting a shift toward voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) which grew from 1% of production in 2009 to 14.1% in 2016. It identifies significant sustainability challenges, including high water and pesticide use, price volatility, and labor abuses. The document argues that VSSs like BCI, CmiA, Organic, and Fairtrade are essential for mitigating these risks and improving livelihoods for the 100 million farmers globally. It specifically identifies Mali and Burkina Faso as having high potential for VSS growth among Low Human Development Countries.

The Big Shift Coalition calls on the World Bank Group to utilize development policy loans (DPLs) to accelerate the transition to renewable energy and decarbonization, particularly during COVID-19 recovery. The coalition expresses concern that DPLs continue to facilitate fossil fuel investments, citing a review showing that 52 of 121 DPLs from FY 2014-18 targeted oil, gas, or coal mining. They recommend a new operational policy prohibiting the financing of fossil fuel development and the inclusion of coal, oil, and natural gas in 'Excluded Expenditures' legal agreements. Finally, the coalition requests public consultation and transparency regarding the World Bank's ongoing review of its policy lending instrument.

The case study examines the Solar Pump Irrigators’ Cooperatives Enterprise (SPICE) in Dhundi, Gujarat, which uses solar pumps to provide irrigation and sell excess electricity to the grid. This model has increased farmer incomes, reduced water costs for buyers, and lowered carbon emissions by replacing diesel pumps. Key success factors include a 25-year power purchase agreement with the local utility, MGVCL, and a financial structure combining farmer contributions with research grants. The project demonstrates that solar power can act as a 'cash crop' for farmers, provided incentives exist to prevent groundwater over-exploitation.

The report critiques 'junk agroecology,' a corporate-led interpretation of agroecology promoted by initiatives like the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI), the New Vision for Agriculture (NVA), and the New Food and Land Use Economy Coalition (FOLU). It argues that these entities use agroecological language to mask a commitment to 'productivism' and 'sustainable agricultural intensification,' focusing on increasing yields through technology and market inclusion rather than the redistribution of power and resources. The authors contrast this with a transformative vision of agroecology that emphasizes food sovereignty, social justice, and the rights of small-scale producers.

The report critiques the 'corporate capture' of agroecology by three major global initiatives: the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI), the New Vision for Agriculture (NVA), and the Coalition for Food, Land and Use (FOLU). It contends that these entities promote a version of 'junk agroecology' that focuses on 'sustainable intensification' and technological fixes—such as big data, blockchain, and genomic editing—rather than the holistic, social, and political transformation central to genuine agroecology. The authors argue that these initiatives aim to 'transform small farms into sustainable agro-industries' to integrate smallholders into global value chains controlled by multinationals, thereby maintaining systemic inequalities and the dominance of industrial agriculture.

The analysis finds that rural credit for small farmers (specifically through PRONAF) increases crop and cattle productivity and reduces deforestation by converting pasture to cropland. Conversely, credit for large farmers and firms is associated with the expansion of both cropland and pasture, leading to higher deforestation. The document recommends that Brazilian policymakers prioritize small farmers in credit distribution to align subsidies with forest conservation goals.

The document examines the power dynamics within Thailand's bioeconomy, arguing that a Public-Private Partnership (Pracharath) model has concentrated influence among a few large corporations and government agencies. This structure prioritizes industrial growth and biofuel feedstocks like sugarcane and cassava, while marginalizing civil society, smallholder farmers, and government bodies focused on environmental and social protections.

The report identifies systemic gender inequalities and capacity gaps in Vietnam's climate and agricultural sectors, proposing a Gender Action Plan (GAP) to ensure equal access to water, climate information, and credit for vulnerable smallholders.

The policy brief examines the conflict between the boom in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and the sustainability of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, specifically Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Burkina Faso. While ASM provides immediate income and employment, it often displaces farmers, contaminates water sources with mercury and cyanide, and draws young labor away from agriculture. The document highlights that ASM is frequently an unsustainable tool for poverty reduction due to the non-renewable nature of minerals and the shift toward capital-intensive operations funded by external investors. It recommends strengthening institutional capacity, implementing rigorous land-use mapping, and dismantling patronage structures to ensure the coexistence of mining and farming.

The Ceres2030 project identifies a funding gap of USD 33 billion per year to achieve SDG 2 targets, with USD 14 billion coming from donors and USD 19 billion from recipient countries. The report emphasizes that most existing agricultural research ignores the needs of smallholders, who represent over 80% of the world's farms. Key recommendations include investing in extension services, climate-resilient crops, social protection, and supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the value chain. The project utilizes a complex general equilibrium model and machine-learning-assisted evidence synthesis to identify a portfolio of 14 policy instruments across three categories: empowering the excluded, on-farm interventions, and food on the move.

The Ceres2030 report argues that a world without hunger is possible through a coordinated investment of 33 billion USD annually until 2030. Using AI-driven data synthesis and complex economic modeling, the project identifies ten key recommendations across three pillars: empowering the excluded, on-farm improvements, and food movement. The findings emphasize that integrated portfolios of interventions—combining technology with human capital, social protection, and market access—are more effective than isolated solutions. The report highlights Africa as the region with the greatest need and calls for a doubling of donor contributions to 26 billion USD per year, supplemented by increased domestic taxation in recipient countries.

The document outlines the necessity of transforming global agri-food systems to ensure climate resilience and sustainability. It identifies the sector as a significant emitter with high sequestration potential and proposes seven key benefits of a transformed system, including improved food security, reduced food waste, and the protection of smallholders. The roundtable emphasizes the need for systemic changes in finance, power dynamics, and knowledge access to support vulnerable groups and nature-based solutions.

The project aims to support approximately 86,000 direct beneficiaries in Botswana's North-East and Central districts, where small-scale farmers are highly vulnerable to increasing drought frequency and intensity. The initiative focuses on three main outputs: improving national and local institutional capacity for climate-responsive planning, establishing and financing climate-resilient agricultural practices (such as drought-resistant seeds and livestock breeds), and strengthening climate information systems through the installation of five additional Automated Weather Stations. The project seeks USD 15 million in GCF grant funding, with a total indicative cost of USD 31.25 million, including co-financing from the Botswana government and state banks like the National Development Bank (NDB).

The Stockholm Environment Institute presents a seven-stage iterative framework for development interventions designed to move beyond the dichotomy of top-down and bottom-up approaches. By integrating service design and behavioural science, the toolkit emphasizes co-definition of problems and rapid prototyping to ensure interventions meet actual user needs. The effectiveness of this approach is illustrated through a case study of mango farmers in Kenya, where the toolkit revealed a misalignment between funder goals (fruit quality) and farmer priorities (fruit quantity).

The document argues that agroecology—combining science, practice, and social movements—provides a framework for transforming food systems to be more climate-resilient. It details how applying ecological principles (such as biodiversity and soil health) at various scales (field, farm, landscape, and food system) can mitigate climate risks. The paper provides evidence from Africa, India, and Europe, highlighting specific practices like agroforestry and Zero Budget Natural Farming. It concludes that scaling these approaches requires addressing market failures, reforming perverse policies, and shifting from a top-down technology transfer model to a co-creation of knowledge approach.

The project aims to build climate resilience in Ghana's agriculture sector by establishing a national framework for drought management, enhancing technical capacities for climate observation and modelling, and improving the delivery of decision-support services to vulnerable farming communities. It targets 2.7 million direct beneficiaries and seeks to address critical gaps in institutional coordination and technical forecasting.