COP31 - Water, agriculture and food security
Thank you, Minister.
Excellencies, colleagues and friends,
A revolution is under way in farming.
I have seen what this looks like with my own eyes. In Thailand, I met a young woman whose family grows rice. A generation ago, she told me, rice was planted by hand. Today, drones do much of the work.
So I asked her: has the way you use weather information changed too?
Her answer surprised me. Farmers have always checked the weather. They still do. But the progress in weather and climate science had not reached her fields the way the drones had.
The technological revolution I saw in Thailand is happening all over the world. And it is happening on a rapidly heating planet.
Our latest joint report with FAO shows what that means.
Since 1961, heat has cut the productivity of the world’s farms by a fifth. That is seven years of progress, gone.
Rice is the main food for half the world. Rice farmers now face almost twice as much extreme heat as they did a generation ago. The same happens with maize and wheat.
And when heat and drought strike together, crop losses are nearly three times higher. Farmers can lose one sack of grain in every four.
Our measurements also show that the water farmers rely on is running low. In a normal year, about one in four places on land holds less water than it should. Last year, it was more than four in ten.
Our keynote speakers will take you deeper.
So we have new machines. New seeds. New ways to save water. But, even in fields like the ones I saw, this revolution is still missing a vital tool: climate information.
A drone can see every plant in the field. But it cannot predict next month’s heat. We can.
And that is where the opportunity lies. We can see a storm or a heatwave days ahead. The odds of a dry season, months ahead.
When farmers and pastoralists use these forecasts to decide what to plant, when to water, and when to move the herd, they protect their crops and livelihoods.
Take Burkina Faso. Farmers who received seasonal forecasts tailored to their area chose better sorghum varieties and better planting dates. Their yields were 35 per cent higher. And they used only half as much fertiliser.
Stories like these are still the exception. They must become the rule.
So today I ask governments, climate funds and development partners: let’s make climate information part of this revolution. In every adaptation plan. Every project. Every budget.
And let’s put strong national weather services at the very centre. So that critical information reaches the farmers and communities who need it most.
Heat, water scarcity and excess rains have already taken seven years of progress from the world’s farms. Today’s revolution can win them back. So let’s protect it.
Thank you.
Statement by
