Climate adaptation & mitigation
Improving small-scale producers’ resilience and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from food systems.
Objectives
Through research and innovation, CGIAR aims to address these challenges and contribute to collective global targets for Climate Adaptation and Mitigation:
- Implement all National Adaptation Plans and Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement.
- Equip 500 million small-scale producers to be more resilient to climate shocks, with climate adaptation solutions available through national innovation systems.
- Turn agriculture and forest systems into a net sink for carbon by 2050, with emissions from agriculture decreasing by 1 Gt per year by 2030 and reaching a floor of 5 Gt per year by 2050.
Activities
To contribute to these collective global targets, CGIAR will:
- Provide scientific evidence and climate-smart solutions and unlock innovative finance that feed into local, national, regional, and global processes governing land use, land restoration, forest conservation, and resilience to floods and droughts, contributing to climate action, peace, and security.
- Co-develop production systems and portfolios of practices, adapted to the local needs of small-scale producers to enhance their adaptive capacity while reducing emissions, and provide affordable and accessible climate-informed services, particularly using digital tools.
- Focus on adaptation to a changing climate through adapted breeds and varieties, for example heat tolerant livestock breeds, strains and crosses, drought-tolerant maize, and heat-tolerant beans; and on inclusion of long-term accessions in genebanks to provide solutions for future climates.
Platform
Each CGIAR Impact Area is supported by a dedicated Platform. To enable CGIAR to achieve maximum impact, this Platform:
- Guides and amplifies CGIAR research, ensuring meaningful and lasting contributions to the global targets above.
- Strengthens the performance of gender and social science research within and beyond CGIAR by identifying the highest standards and setting strategic direction.
- Conducts independent research across the CGIAR portfolio, to synthesize evidence and fill gaps.
- Engages a wide range of partners, builds capacity and informs global policy discussions.
To learn more about the work of the Platform, visit the Platform webpage or check out the brochure.
News
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Rangelands under pressure: how CGIAR science is strengthening pastoral resilience
Across the world’s rangelands, climate change is already reshaping how pastoral systems function. Droughts are becoming more frequent and severe,...
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Tracing impact: A joint mission through Kenya’s BRAINS project
Over three days in Nakuru, Nairobi, and Kiambu, partners and funders of the BRAINS project observed how research, markets, and finance are aligning...
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Strengthening genetic conservation capacity in island food systems
CGIAR–SPC collaboration upgraded CePaCT systems, skills, and influence benefitting Pacific Island food systems through training, standards alignment,...
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SAAF names three winners of its 2026 Innovation Challenge
From a single skin biopsy, it may soon be possible to rebuild an entire African chicken breed or fish in a laboratory. That idea, submitted by a...
Publications
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Progress Report Ethiopias Partnership for Accelerating Agricultural Solutions Scaling PAASS
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Factors influencing Newcastle disease vaccine use in village chicken flocks in rural Burkina Faso
Background: Newcastle disease (ND) is endemic in traditional poultry farming in Burkina Faso. Despite government's efforts, international...
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Impact of invasive weed Parthenium hysterophorus Asteraceae on mosquito abundance and plantfeeding behavior in an arboviral endemic region in Kenya
Background: Invasive alien species (IAS) are rapidly altering ecosystems, undermining biodiversity, ecosystem processes, and interspecies...
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Changes in heightforage of Egyptian children from 1995 to 2014 Implications for improving child health outcomes
Background Stunting is a serious health problem in Egypt. Stunting rates and height-for-age z-score (HAZ) distributions changed notably in Egypt over...