The IFIAD 2021 Conference managed to touch on and comprehensively discuss a multitude of topics relevant to climate change, including a variety of opinions and lively discussion from experts with diverse backgrounds.
An interesting issue raised was one surrounding the lack of trust which appears to be a barrier between governments, NGO’s and primary producers. I believe that effective science communication is a core part of the solution here as farmers need to feel as though they are not being targeted or to blame. They must be assured that they can continue to earn a livable wage and they must be valued for their knowledge, as Connell Foley said ‘they know their lands best’, and should not feel belittled by scientists or climate change experts.
One of the many harsh realities highlighted was the billions of malnourished people who do not has access to healthy food and that this figure has been exacerbated by COVID-19 and is likely to still be a huge issue by 2030 with 650 million people still facing hunger. This point was made even more poignant when Mark Howden highlighted that the reduction in agricultural productivity as a result of climate change would have produced more than enough food to feed these malnourished people.
Ensuring funding reaches small farmers and does not stop at government level, investing in technologies to close the innovation gap while making these technologies accessible to all and a general cooperation at both national and global levels were some further take home points at IFIAD 2021.