Small and marginal farmers are key stakeholders agri-food systems increasingly at risk from climate induced loss and damage. While agri-food is gradually integrating into global value chains, farmers in many developing countries remain both producers and primary consumers of the food they grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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- Also read: India\u2019s H1FY25 pulses imports rise 73 per cent to $2.18 billion<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
COP 29 being held in November at Baku, Azerbaijan, presents a critical moment to ensure loss and damage funds are directed to breaking poverty trap and safeguarding livelihoods in disaster-prone regions in developing countries, says Sanjay Srivastava, Chief, Disaster Risk Reduction, UN-ESCAP. This is a moral imperative we can no longer afford to ignore, he told businessline.<\/i><\/p>\n
\nRisk to agri-food systems
\n<\/h5>\nAddressing climate induced loss and damage to agri-food systems is key to protecting the poor and vulnerable. A World Attribution study sees climate change\u2019 fingerprints\u2019 in extreme monsoon rain in South Asia. A UN-ESCAP analysis indicates temperature increases of 1.5\u00b0C and 2\u00b0C will subject South Asia to highest impact from heavy precipitation. A \u2018climate crisis hotspot,\u2019 people here are 15 times more likely to lose lives from climate change impacts.<\/p>\n
The month of September, Srivastava recalled, saw a series of devastating floods across Philippines, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam triggered by cyclone Yagi <\/i>on the back of an intense monsoon. Towards the month-end, Kathmandu in Nepal received a fifth of its average annual rainfall in just 48 hours, setting off unprecedented floods. Agri-food system here has been hit the hardest, deepening\u00a0vulnerabilities of marginalised communities and exacerbating existing challenges.<\/p>\n