Climate-smart villages as a platform to resilience, women’s empowerment, equity, and sustainable food systems

There is an urgent need to make food systems more resilient to climate fluctuations. Millions of small-scale farmers in Asia, already burdened by food and nutritional insecurity, are experiencing the impacts of increased climate variability and unpredictability, including the increased frequency and severity of extreme climatic events such as droughts, floods, storms, and hail. These weather events are further exacerbated by a high incidence of pests and disease, all linked to climate change. Responding to these challenges requires transformational change that embraces the development of more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable food systems, with special attention to small and marginalized farmers, while helping to reduce gender inequalities.

Climate-smart villages, which promote climate-smart agriculture via local adaptation platforms, are widely claimed to enhance resilience to climate change. However, sustainability is still a challenge despite these platforms being operational in more than 1,000 sites in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Now, with growing interest and engagement among donors and the development community to scale up climate-smart agriculture, there is an urgent need to enhance the evidence base.

This project will use multidisciplinary research methods and comparative studies in Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines to generate evidence and new knowledge on the role of locally relevant platforms, such as climate-smart villages, in supporting gender-responsive climate change adaptation in agriculture and in transforming local food systems. The project will also establish the costs and returns from implementing climate-smart villages to present a compelling case for sustained investments by governments and donors.