The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate), a global initiative launched last November at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) by the United Arab Emirates and the United States, recently at the COP 27 announced a doubling of increased investments by partners in climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation and a tripling of innovation sprints and partners since launch of the initiative at COP26. With the support of over 275 government and non-government partners, AIM for Climate announced an increased investment of more than $8 billion, up from $4 billion at COP26, representing a doubling of investments. The increased investment is comprised of over $7 billion from Government Partners with contributions from Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Lithuania, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United States, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vietnam, and over $1 billion investment from Innovation Sprints.
AIM for Climate announced 22 innovation sprints – initiatives led and funded by partners to achieve a specific outcome or output in agricultural innovation. There are now 30 innovation sprints that generally align with one or more focal areas: smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries, emerging technologies, agroecological research and methane reduction.
The Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) and its partners were among the 22 beneficiaries of the Innovation sprint. PABRA’s focus will be on Innovative and impact-oriented delivery of climate-resilient bean varieties by African research networks by empowering seed system actors to deliver climate-resilient bean varieties more efficiently to smallholder farmers in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. Mobilizing $20 million toward a demand-led and research-guide ‘bean corridor’ approach, this sprint innovation will accelerate bundling and scaling genetic and institutional innovations to improve bean productivity for three million farmers, two million of them accessing remunerative markets and 60% being women.
The category of partners in this innovation sprint include:
- PABRA
- PABRA / CGIAR Alliance of Bioversity International-CIAT
- Institute of Agricultural Science of Burundi (ISABU)
- Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR)
- Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO)
- Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Board (RAB)
- Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI)
- Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO)
- US Agency for International Development (USAID)
- Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)
This announcement was delivered at COP 27 in Egypt ahead of championing for climate smart innovations through an increase in aggregate self-financed investment from non-government partners to achieve an outcome/output in agriculture innovation and for climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and food systems to be completed in an expedited timeframe.