Smallholders, big impact: Building resilience against biodiversity, climate, and land crises

Smallholder farmers, including family farmers, fisherfolk, forest dwellers, and pastoralists, produce one-third of the world’s food, making their resilience vital for food security, sustainable livelihoods, and ecosystem restoration. However, they are disproportionately affected by the global triple crises – biodiversity loss, climate change, and land degradation.

Smallholders face significant barriers in adapting to these challenges, including limited access to resources, technical knowledge, and fair markets. Securing land tenure, improving water management, and addressing underlying issues such as poverty, gender inequity, and harmful subsidies are essential to creating enabling environments that empower smallholders to contribute to socio-ecological resilience.

The session, “Enabling environments for smallholder farmers to transition to socio-ecological resilient agri-food systems,” held on 05 December 2024 during Agri-Food Systems Day at UNCCD COP16, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia explored the enabling environments for smallholder farmers to transition to more resilient and sustainable agri-food systems. Organized by CGIAR, the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Ubuntu Alliance, Commonland, Biovision, and Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), the event brought together a wide range of stakeholders, including policymakers, financing institutions, farmer organizations, and Indigenous Peoples, to discuss how to support smallholders in addressing the interconnected challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change, and land degradation.

The session emphasized the importance of multifunctional landscapes as holistic systems where biodiversity, land restoration, and climate goals intersect. Panelists discussed agroforestry, wetland restoration, and sustainable land-use planning as pivotal practices to enhance ecosystem services and agricultural productivity. Speakers stressed the need for community-centered solutions that integrate traditional knowledge with modern science.

In his opening remarks, Cargele Masso, Director of the CGIAR Environmental Health and Biodiversity Impact Area Platform emphasized the need for smallholders to be at the centre of solutions to the triple crises. While it is commonly understood that unsustainable agricultural practices, like excessive pesticide and fertilizer use contribute to land degradation and the loss of biodiversity, these practices also have a huge impact on smallholder farmers.. Masso stressed the importance of integrating biodiversity into agriculture and equipping farmers with the tools and policies to adopt sustainable practices.

Keynote speaker, Stanford Blade, Interim Director General of ICRISAT, highlighted successful dryland agriculture interventions in India and Africa, including water harvesting techniques, agroforestry systems, and climate-resilient cropping systems. Drawing from the CGIAR 2030 Global Strategy for Resilient Drylands , launched on 4 December 2024 at UNCCD COP16, Blade illustrated how scaling proven solutions improve productivity while addressing land degradation and water scarcity.
Key insights for enabling smallholder resilience.

The panel discussions provided a wealth of insights into enabling environments, innovative financing, and technical solutions for sustainable agri-food systems.

Giulia Conchedda, Land Data and Water Officer Information, FAO highlighted the role of the World Agricultural Watch Observatory and its focus on collecting granular data about family farms. She emphasized how detailed data and information are crucial for steering policies that address challenges faced by smallholders and help them develop sustainable practices.

Ivo Demmers, Executive Director, Netherlands Food Partnership, elaborated on resilience frameworks and a method known as the Agency, Buffering, Connectivity, Diversity (ABCD) Approach. He emphasized the importance of factoring in ABCD factors in interventions to mitigate risks and build long-term sustainability, while also highlighting the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships for enabling effective agri-food transitions.

John Garcia Ulloa, Senior Program Manager, Biovision Foundation underscored the role of farmer-led, peer-to-peer research in agroecology, highlighting its importance for scaling sustainable farming practices. He shared examples of agroecological strategies co-created with governments and communities in East Africa, promoting input availability, market access, and biodiversity planning.

Jean-Daniel Cesaro, a geographer at CIRAD highlighted the value of payments for ecosystem services and cooperatives in reducing transaction costs for smallholders and enhancing access to markets, financing, and technical resources. He explained the importance of participatory guarantee systems as cost-effective tools for promoting agroecological products and scaling sustainable practices.

Chiyedza Heri, Founder and CEO, Ubuntu Alliance (Ubuntu Alliance) advocated for locally led financing models to get money into the hands of farmers. She emphasized the need to bridge the gap between farmers, financiers, and conservationists.

Anuja Malhotra, Policy Manager, ATREE cited India’s fragmented policies on land restoration, calling for integrated baselines, monitoring mechanisms, and governance approaches to align financing and public interventions effectively.

Janelle Sylvester, a land expert on CGIAR’s Impact Area Platform on Environmental Health and Biodiversity advocated innovative financing mechanisms likePayments for Ecosystem Services (PES) as an alternative to traditional carbon credit schemes, focusing on watershed protection and biodiversity conservation. She highlighted Colombia’s innovative use of carbon tax revenues to fund sustainable projects. She stressed the importance of redirecting agricultural subsidies towards ecosystem services outcomes.

Cristina Campiaghi, Senior Global Policy and Advocacy Specialist, International land Coalition emphasized that secure land tenure is foundational to enabling smallholders to invest in long-term sustainable land management and restoration practices, positioning them as leaders in the transformation of agri-food systems.

The session concluded with a call to action for the implementation of actionable strategies to empower smallholders as key actors in achieving land degradation neutrality and building resilient agri-food systems.