By: Abdulmalik Adetola Lawal
The United States has pledged to add an additional $50 million Naira in fighting climate change.
This was made known by U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken whilst addressing the Transforming Food Systems in the Face of Climate Change event on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit at Dubai Expo on Dec. 1, 2023.
The secretary of state stated that the program, which is part of the broader Feed the Future initiative, works in two primary ways. First, investing below ground – mapping, conserving, building healthy soils that produce healthy food. And second, by investing above ground.
In his words; “already, we’ve built a coalition and started a movement. The Netherlands, Japan, the United Kingdom, Norway, and others, leading corporations like Cargill and ADM have all signed up – and we encourage everyone here to join us. We’re also celebrating our inaugural VACS Champions: Bayer, Catholic Relief Services, ADM, Concern Worldwide, and the One Acre Fund. And today, the United States is pledging an additional $50 million, on top of the $100 million that we announced in July.
“At the same time, we’re scaling climate-smart agriculture through the President’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. We’re also advancing food systems innovation through the expansion of initiatives like the Agriculture Innovation Missions for Climate with the UAE, which is marshalling billions in private and public investments.
“Even as the global community confronts other challenges demanding our attention, we have to maintain our focus on ending climate-driven hunger. This meeting – this meeting will raise our ambitions to do exactly that. We look forward to working with each and every one of you.”