00:00And when it comes to curbing climate change, money matters.
00:04That's Friday's message from COP31 in Antalya.
00:07The presidency of COP31 says finance is what turns plans into action.
00:13But spending also needs to be targeted.
00:16A COP31 report warns farm subsidies can actually contribute to environmental damage
00:21if they fund harmful practices like excessive fertilizer use.
00:25And they're calling on governments to redirect support towards climate-friendly farming.
00:32Of course, farmers are on the front line of the fight against climate change.
00:36Heat and drought alone cost $20 billion annually in lost crops like maize, wheat and soybeans.
00:43That figure is predicted to climb past $160 billion a year by the end of the century
00:51if emissions aren't reined in, as crop yields drop by more than a third.
00:57Climate-driven flooding affects roughly 27% of the world's cultivated land each year,
01:02making it the second most destructive natural hazard for global food production.
01:08Global warming is felt by shoppers, of course, in the grocery aisle,
01:12with so-called climateflation predicted to push food prices up around 3 percentage points a year
01:18to hit 50% by 2035.
01:23And making this bad situation worse, El Nino, a new report released at COP31,
01:28shows the weather pattern set to hit its peak in December
01:31could ultimately cost the global economy up to $11 trillion
01:35and have serious and lasting consequences for food security for up to six years.
01:40So, Jahan Chowdhury is Environment and Climate Chief
01:44at the International Fund for Agriculture Development, IFAD.
01:48I asked him what El Nino could mean for farmers and food supplies.
01:54The maximum impact is likely to happen over the next few months,
02:00starting actually from November to January.
02:03In fact, small-scale farmers around the world are already feeling the shock of it.
02:11What it means, it means that the input price is going to go up further
02:15because there is going to be limited supply because of the change in weather.
02:20We are going to have more land degradation.
02:23This essentially means less yield going forward.
02:27There will be more scarcity of water in some of the regions
02:30that are already facing water scarcity.
02:32That essentially means that the production cost is going to go up further.
02:37And this is going to be transmitted into the market price.
02:41Overall, we are expecting the crop price to increase.
02:45So, throughout the value chain, across the value chain,
02:48we will see farmers having challenges,
02:51starting from inputs to production, to packaging, to storage,
02:57including transportation as well as marketing.
02:59Staying with money, a COP31 report says farming subsidies
03:03can actually harm the environment.
03:06Could you explain that to us and tell us what needs to be done about it?
03:11Sure.
03:11If you are providing subsidies for long type of inputs,
03:16so, for example, massive subsidies for chemical fertilizer,
03:22then obviously this is going to have an impact on the environment.
03:28You may have higher yield in the short term,
03:31but in the medium to long term,
03:34it is going to be the environment that will be suffering,
03:36which means that your land wouldn't necessarily be able to produce as much.
03:41And so, yes, you have a short term gain at the cost of long term damage to the environment.
03:48We understand that sometimes subsidies are needed,
03:51but they have to be very much targeted.
03:53We need to ensure that it is balanced with the right proportion of fertilizer.
03:58If the subsidy is going to fertilizer,
04:00we need to increase the efficiency of the fertilizer.
04:03And we need to focus much more on the outcome.
04:05It's not just necessarily about input,
04:07but how does the subsidy result into better soil or better health
04:11and better nutrition for human beings in general?
