Climate
Benefits of adopting digital technologies that promote climate-friendly solutions and help mitigate the impact of climate change in low- and middle-income countries(LMICs)
Some of the potential topics for discussion under Climate include:
Digital as an enabler for results-based financing for climate smart agriculture and soil restoration
RBF focuses on providing payments for pre-decided results and its impact on the ecosystem. Such financing structures are highly relevant in climate-smart agriculture or soil-health restoration, where interventions seek to reduce the environmental footprint of the sector and regenerate ecosystems. One of the key challenges in executing revenue-based financing structures is the high cost of monitoring results. However, with ICTforAg solutions and digitized supply chains, it is possible to reduce the cost of monitoring on a day-to-day basis. ICTforAg can play an important role in facilitating result-based payments and encouraging positive behavior for climate-smart agriculture.
The role of ICT in scaling index-based insurance and bundled services
Insurance is a very important tool for helping farmers mitigate risks, including climate-based risks, but its penetration is minimal, especially among smallholder farmers. However, with increasing digitization, there is a scope to develop farm-specific insurance products bundled with additional services like financing or advisory, making it more attractive and affordable for smallholder farmers. Furthermore, the use of technology such as remote sensing and satellite imagery can replace crop-cutting exercises, resulting in reduced costs on claim estimation. ICT can hence be used to enable index-based insurance for smallholder farmers globally.
ICT and data analytics as contributors to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
Agriculture is often characterized by the overuse of resources, including water, pesticides, and fertilizers. With digitization, several ICTforAg solution providers have developed data-driven decision support systems that optimize the use of these resources, thereby reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture and the overall cost of production. However, the adoption and usage of such solutions amongst smallholder farmers is still restricted. Similarly, traceability solutions have the potential to support consumption decision making. ICTforAg can play a role in encouraging responsible production and consumption, which often leads to a reduction in the environmental and climate footprint of agriculture.
ICT-enabled solutions for regenerative agriculture to mitigate climate change
The agriculture sector is at the nexus of climate change, food and nutrition, water and soil, and sustainable livelihoods. Therefore, the sector has a key role in creating more resilient supply chains, restoring soil health, and enabling green-livelihood opportunities at scale. Increasing adoption of Internet of Things enabled devices and rising use-cases of technology such as blockchain within agriculture, have enabled innovative solutions for collaborative action that can incentivize green practices and reduce the overall environmental footprint of the sector, including through regenerative agriculture. In-depth discussions with industry practitioners on the role of ICT-enabled solutions in promoting regenerative agriculture—along with a showcase of relevant ICT-enabled innovations—can provide a roadmap for the future.
The role of digital technology in creating green jobs in agriculture
The global food and nutrition ecosystem is expected to face critical challenges in the near future due to a rise in global food demand, driven by population growth and changing dietary demands. Projections for achieving these increases are expected to be impaired by deteriorating soil quality, decreasing availability of freshwater, and industrial farming’s high dependence on fossil energy sources for mechanization. Also, climate change is expected to reduce safe on-farm working hours for farmers, forcing youth to migrate and take-up alternate livelihood opportunities. However, the successful use of technology and adoption of green solutions could meet global food needs while contributing to the mitigation of climate change and also serving as an economic development engine. Dialogue can help us explore avenues for using ICT-enabled solutions that will create green jobs in agriculture, with special focus on youth and women.
How to measure resilience in climate change
The impact of climate change, only expected to increase and pose greater risks, has been pushing the agriculture sector to a new normal. This change requires the consistent adoption of innovative technologies and practices that offer solutions focused on resilience to climate change. But the mere adoption of climate-resilient technologies will not be enough to address this dynamic environment; there is a need to measure resilience after the implementation of technologies. Global researchers and policy-makers are designing frameworks that can monitor and measure the vulnerability of society and the natural environment to climate change. However, a robust framework or a model for measuring resilience continues to remain a goal. Industry experts, researchers, donors, and government institutions need to come together to discuss existing frameworks, identify best practices and tools, and define important indicators (both quantitative and qualitative) that can result in a robust framework with the potential to become an industry benchmark.