Rome, Italy – At COP31, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will showcase new investments, evidence and solutions to accelerate climate adaptation at scale and build resilience in a world of increasingly overlapping climate and economic shocks.
IFAD will announce a major investment through a new financial instrument designed to channel private capital into rural adaptation. Together with Türkiye’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry,
IFAD will also launch a landmark report warning of the potential trillion-dollar economic cost of El Niño and unveiling new evidence on how rural communities can build long-term resilience to overlapping climate and economic shocks. In addition, IFAD will also launch The Unfunded Half, making the case for greater investment in rural women as a critical driver of resilient food systems.
The urgency is growing. In 2026, small-scale farmers have faced a convergence of severe droughts and other climate extremes alongside energy and fertilizer price shocks, and a potentially record El Niño, threatening harvests and leading to higher food prices and food insecurity.
Small-scale farmers produce one third of the world’s food but receive less than one per cent of climate finance, underscoring the need to dramatically increase both public and private investment in their resilience.
