Climate change imposes a dynamic challenge on the food system in Asia and has already started impacting farming and food value chains in ADB’s developing member countries (DMCs). Climate adaptation and mitigation investments, hence, are relevant to the food and nutrition security agenda of Asia and the Pacific. While the impacts of climate change on food production and distribution have been well discussed and understood in general, practical knowledge of specific measures and activities and how to finance those are still lacking.

ADB, through the Rural Development and Food Security (Agriculture) Thematic Group, is teaming up with CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), ADB Japanese Representative Office, and ADB Institute in rolling out training on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) for practitioners. This training, which gathered about 20 ADB staff and DMC project staff, aimed to enhance the participants’ knowledge of CSA and climate finance and to enable them to apply the knowledge in upscaling CSA practices under ADB’s projects.

Based on global best practices and some of ADB’s project experience, this training provided practical knowledge about how climate change is likely to impact agriculture, food system, and security, and what actions can be taken to increase productivity, build resilience to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change and contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through CSA.