Many of these communities are increasingly being pushed towards hunger and poverty, said IFAD, while referring to data from 2020, as nearly 12% of the world’s population (around 928 million people) suffered severe food insecurity.

According to IFAD, recent decades have been marked by a world´s fast-growing population´s demand, climate change and continuing pollution, aspects that degrade ecosystems supporting Earth´s life.

This global environmental degeneration will, in turn, contribute to poverty and inequality. Small farmers and rural poor people will be the most hit by these environmental and socio-economic challenges, said Candra Samekto, IFAD Program Officer.

Small farmers are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of environmental degradation and climate change, since their productivity and sources of income depend on natural resources including the availability of usable water and land.

According to an estimate by the European Environment Agency (EEA), for example, non-commercial goods and services closely related to ecosystems account for 89% of Brazilian rural poor´s overall income, 75% in Indonesia, and 47% in India.

pgh/Pll/oda / crc