Tragically, billions of people
who are least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions
will suffer the most from climate change.
Imagine you’re a farmer in Kenya.
You work a two-acre farm to feed your family.
You produce approximately 55 times less carbon
than the average American.
But now, suddenly, you’re dealing with drought,
or flash floods, or locusts.
Even if there isn’t a catastrophic event,
the land you rely on is producing less,
and you were already on the edge of survival.
Worldwide, there are 500 million small holder farms like this.
In many low-income countries,
more than half the population works in agriculture.
So when small farms fail, whole economies fail.
And that means more poverty, hunger, and hardship.
That’s why it’s so important
that we make agriculture more resilient.
We need innovations like
crops that are resistant to drought, disease, pests and weeds.
Digital tools that get farmers the information they need to adjust
to changing conditions.
Financial services from insurance, to credit,
to protect farmers from catastrophic loss.
If we’re serious about addressing climate change,
we have to invest aggressively in two goals.
First, advancing the technology and policies
to get to net-zero emissions by 2050.
Second, protecting the livelihoods of families
in danger of losing them to an already rapidly changing climate.
That’s how we avoid a climate disaster.