Climate-friendly and innovative agriculture can attain food security without environmental degradation. 

During the opening plenary of the UAE and US-led Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM4C) Summit in Washington on Monday, an initiative to make farming more resilient to climate change launched at COP26 last November, H.E. Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, the Minister of Climate Change and Environment for the UAE, announced that partners from around the world are joining the collective in increasing investment and support for climate-smart agriculture and food system innovations.

From $8 billion last November, the investment in the sector has grown to $13 billion. About $10 billion of the $13 billion of investment in the agricultural fund is from governments, while the rest is from non-government parties. 

The initiative aims to support low-income and small farmers with a special focus on indigenous farmers to help them get equipped with the latest technology to reduce methane emissions from farming.

Agricultural emissions account for 10% to 12% of greenhouse gas from livestock manure, machinery, and fertilizer application.

“The growth of Aim for Climate emphasizes that there is a growing acceptance that an outdated model of producing the food we need simply isn’t sustainable, desirable, or responsible,” said Almheiri.

Almheiri reiterated the UAE’s commitment to strengthening national and global food security through sustainable technology and innovation under the National Food Security Strategy 2051. She added that COP28, to be held in November, was a big opportunity to build a consensus behind an environmentally positive solution

She added that the collaboration between the two countries aims to make agriculture more advanced, sustainable, and less water-intensive to eradicate hunger. 

The initiative now has over 500 partners (both government and non-government parties) worldwide, including Argentina, Fiji, Guatemala, India, Panama, Paraguay, and Sri Lanka.

So far, there have been 21 innovation sprints leading to an additional $1.8 billion investment in climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation, bringing the total number of innovation sprints to 51 (over $3 billion).