CIFAL Jeju organises Virtual Workshop onClimate-Resilient Agriculture to Address Poverty

24 - 25 February 2022 - Centre International de Formation des Autorités et Leaders Jeju (CIFAL Jeju) of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) organized a Virtual Workshop on Climate-Resilient Agriculture to Address Poverty. The workshop invited 38 participants from 23 countries in the Asia and Pacific including India, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, as well as in the African continent such as Algeria, Cameroon, Tanzania, Nigeria, Timor-Leste, Somalia, Sudan, and European countries like Greece and France, among others.

With the growing awareness on the importance of the climate adaptation, this workshop tries to tackle the intricate relationship between climate change and agriculture, and its implication on farmers’ income and poverty in rural communities. Agriculture is by its nature done by different practices depending on the climate condition of the region and on the availability of technological and human resources. Thus, it was crucial that the participants to the workshop have the opportunity to learn the up-to-date information on the challenges facing the agriculture industry, and drawing upon the information acquired, to present their ideal climate-resilient agriculture scenario tailored to their own community.

Through the lectures and tutorial sessions delivered by the four speakers and with an interview video, the workshop successfully introduced various perspectives and adoptable practices/solutions to participants, which inspired them to understand the potential of agricultural industry in times of climate change. To help deliver knowledge and share practices, four experts were invited including Dr. Jae-hoon Sung from Korea Rural and Economic Institute, Professor Kwang-soo Kim from Seoul National University, Dr. Fleur Wouterse from Global Center on Adaptation, and Mr. Beau Damen from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Speakers presented the role of government, climate data-driven agriculture modelling, and new opportunities given to farmers in rural community. They shared that, although currently disproportionate focus has been given to mitigation in agriculture, there are movements to mainstream climate adaptation in the whole food system and beyond the farm gate in the advanced countries, which can potentially be adopted in other parts of the world. In addition, it was also suggested to implement strategic crop planning to effectively respond to climate change with crop variation. Adaptive behavior of farmers to enhance income was also given high attention by participants. Overall, the workshop sent out the message that the productivity and climate resilience need to go hand-in-hand to be climate smart and sustainable. Participants appreciated CIFAL Jeju’s interview video on the young farmers in Jeju, as it shows the importance of maintaining a community while embracing new technology and business opportunities in farming. Based on the lessons learned, participants developed their own CSA pathway as a way to recapitulate the essence of the workshop and to examine the areas of policy improvement.