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  • Publication | 2022

Battling Climate Change and Transforming Agri-food Systems: Asia Pacific Rural Development and Food Security Forum Highlights and Takeaways

With the growing impact of climate change on agriculture and food, its threat to human existence can no longer be dismissed. This threat is global, but producers and consumers in less developed and emerging economies are more vulnerable due to their lack of resources and capacity to withstand it. Globally, aid agencies, government departments, think tanks, and development banks are alerting the world to this issue. Policy makers everywhere are united on one thing: they do not assume that food security is a given. There is an urgent need to assemble thoughts and actions. This report reflects the program of the Asia-Pacific Rural Development and Food Security Forum (RDFS Forum 2022) and embraces four main themes: (i) sustainable and inclusive food systems and the contribution of digital technology; (ii) financing sustainable agriculture and natural capital; (iii) nutrition security and the double burden of malnutrition; and (iv) the rural–urban divide. The content that forum participants delivered is incorporated in this report. It conveys the ideas and experiences of the forum participants and identifies the key challenges and levers for change in a world that is threatened by climate change. The concluding section presents readers with suggested approaches to the challenges that the developing world faces. The need to improve productivity in the agri-food (relating to the commercial production of food by farming) chain is an important message, but it is now an even bigger challenge because climate change is working against the productivity gains derived from science and technology that were previously a key part of agricultural economic development. Climate change significantly reduces the productivity of the agri-food system through its many impacts on weather, water availability, above average temperatures, etc. If climate smart policies are to be successful, agriculture and its associated processing and distribution activities must be transformed. It is in the self-interest of producers, processors, and consumers to speed up adaptation to climate change and give priority to the transformation of the agri-food system. Food chains in Asia and the Pacific are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. This is a win-win situation. Adaptive policies are technically feasible and are a necessary step to achieve sustainable food and nutrition security. However, governments, development banks, and their partners need to play their part so that the world makes the step from “theoretically feasible” to “field friendly.” Private producers need to be involved—in all forms and sizes— if transformation is to occur at a rapid pace and at scale.