The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced a joint commitment with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) totaling $200 million to accelerate agricultural innovations that will help smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia build resilience and adapt to climate change.

Announced at the World Climate Action Summit (COP28) in Dubai, the commitments—$100 million each from the foundation and UAE—will support efforts to address immediate and long-term climate-related threats to food security and nutrition. To that end, funds will be directed to the CGIAR agriculture research consortium and AIM4Scale, a climate adaptation initiative to be launched by UAE. In addition, the foundation will join partner countries, philanthropies, and financial institutions to help accelerate innovations by reducing policy and funding-related barriers.

According to the foundation, while sub-Saharan Africa accounts for only 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, it receives less than 2 percent of global climate finance, exacerbating challenges for smallholder farmers.

“We are ready to quickly scale up proven innovations that already are helping farmers in vulnerable regions like Africa and South Asia adapt to more challenging climate conditions,” said CGIAR board chair Lindiwe Majele Sibanda. “That includes increasing access to improved varieties of naturally stress-tolerant crops…, employing new tools and strategies…, and [helping] farmers anticipate and navigate weather extremes.”

“We need to make big bets on innovation,” said foundation co-chair Bill Gates. “The needs of farmers are an integral part of the global climate agenda.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Media Lens King)