Blog

Through Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s initiative to end hunger, and with support from USAID and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Aisha and other farmers on Zanzibar’s Unguja Island are learning to better cope with the effects of climate change on agriculture. As part of a project called Building Capacity for Resilient Food Security, the farmers spent one year using a demonstration plot to learn about resilient agricultural practices and technologies, and a second year adopting the practices on their own land.

• 12/23/2021
• Catherine Njuguna, USAID

The Climatelinks Resources Library grew by more than 160 documents in 2021, covering a broad range of topics from climate action in education to projected health impacts caused by climate change. Here are some resources you may have missed.

• 12/14/2021
• Sophie Schrader

Over the course of 2021, the Climatelinks community contributed over 140 blogs on topics from youth climate action to a new wave of private investment for climate solutions. Climatelinks blogs share USAID’s work on climate and development while also offering the global network of climate and development practitioners a platform to share their own work. Blogs highlight the vast range of work achieved by past and ongoing programs and activities and often connect to monthly themes such as climate finance, air pollution, health, youth climate action, and climate and gender. 

• 12/09/2021
• Sophie Schrader

Since its inception in 2019, the Climatelinks photo gallery has grown to host more than 400 images of climate and development across 54 countries. Through community submissions and annual photo contests, the photo gallery has matured into a resource for the entire Climatelinks community. Images found in the photo gallery are available for viewing, download, and use by the Climatelinks community (with proper credit).

• 12/07/2021
• Stephan Hardeman

After many years of partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) national laboratories on various energy sector studies and programs, the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID's) mission in India realized an opportunity to coalesce these initiatives into an interlaboratory consortium.

• 12/02/2021
• Isabel McCan

The U.S. Government’s Feed the Future program is making climate change a central objective of their strategy. Global food security is under stress from increasingly intense and frequent heat waves, droughts, heavy rains, and major storms, according to the new report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which issues a dire warning of the risks posed with every incremental increase in global warming. Using Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), Feed the Future helps farmers adapt to climate variations, mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and build resilience to climate shocks.

• 11/30/2021
• Tedi Rabold

To address these challenges, USAID partnered with the Sustainable Ocean Fund (SOF), to make pioneering impact investments into marine and coastal projects and enterprises. The $132 million Fund invests in projects across Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia and the Pacific that aim to build resilience in coastal ecosystems and create sustainable economic growth and livelihoods in the blue economy.

• 11/23/2021
• Jennifer Kane, Sashi Jayatileke

At first glance, USAID and NASA seem like an unlikely pair. NASA’s satellites watch the world from above; USAID helps farmers around the world grow crops from the ground up. But through a 15-year partnership, we’re helping solve one of the greatest threats to Earth — the climate crisis — and simultaneously strengthening resilience against poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and lack of access to safe water and sanitation.

• 11/16/2021
• Pete Epanchin

Between 2014 and 2015, Jamaica experienced one of the worst seasons of drought in recent history. The impact on the Jamaican economy, especially rural livelihoods, was devastating. According to reports, the annual agricultural production declined by 30 percent from 2013 to 2014. This, along with brush fires, resulted in a $J1 billion ($6.5 million) loss for the economy.

• 11/11/2021
• Kimberly Weller

While technological and institutional innovations in agri-food systems over the past century have brought dramatic advances in human well-being worldwide, these gains increasingly appear unsustainable due to massive, adverse spillover effects on climate, natural environment, social justice and public health and nutrition. To deflect future world food crises created by climate change and growing consumer demand, the expert panel created a roadmap for global agricultural and food systems innovation, reform and sustainability. 

• 11/10/2021
• CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)

As the 26th Conference of Parties approaches, many least developed countries have struggled to advance their National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes. A decade after the introduction of the NAP process, now is an opportune time to reflect on lessons learned and consider how USAID and other development partners can most effectively support developing countries’ NAP processes into the future.

• 11/04/2021
• Dr. Keith Bettinger

As an Agency that stares down the world’s toughest challenges, none pose a greater threat than climate change. The science is clear: we have a narrow window remaining to dramatically reduce global emissions or we all face catastrophic consequences — with the most vulnerable populations continuing to get hit the hardest.

• 11/03/2021
• Gillian Caldwell

The Eastern and Southern Caribbean (ESC) countries are on the front lines of the climate crisis, experiencing some of the most severe impacts of climate change, ranging from prolonged periods of drought to increasingly strong tropical storms and hurricanes.

• 11/02/2021
• Christine Chumbler

Part II: Climate Finance in Action

• 10/20/2021
• Sashi Jayatileke

CEADIR’s final report contains summaries and links to seven years of assessments, analyses, tools, and training and technical assistance materials on planning, financing, and implementation of clean energy, sustainable landscapes (natural climate solutions), and climate adaptation.

• 10/19/2021
• Eric Hyman, Christine Chumbler