Climate change threatens rural poor

CLIMATE change is one of the most serious threats to small farmers and the world’s poor rural people, according to Matthew Wyatt, assistant president, International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD).

Mr Wyatt led a delegation to Ireland last week from IFAD, a lending institution that specifically targets small-holder farming communities, the only United Nations-based body with such a mandate.

Ireland was one of the founders of IFAD in 1977 and is providing €6 million to a three-year replenishment programme (2007-2009).

Mr Wyatt met with government officials during his visit to discuss rural development and issues related to poverty reduction in Africa.

He said that many of the poor rural people in Africa and elsewhere depend on ecologically fragile lands and vulnerable sectors such as agriculture, fisheries and forestry for survival.

The impact of climate change is potentially devastating for them as they lack the institutional and financial capacity to protect themselves.

“To reduce poverty, we must target rural areas and enable poor rural people to increase their incomes and use natural resources sustainably,” he said.

Mr Wyatt said that Ireland is a valued member of the International Fund for Agriculture and Development. It has made poverty reduction a central objective of its White Paper on Overseas Development Assistance.