COP29: Global Partnership Commits Over $1 Billion to Scale Weather Services for Farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America
At the ongoing COP29 World Leaders Climate Action Summit, taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, an unprecedented initiative was unveiled to empower farmers across Asia, Latin America, and Africa with advanced weather services.
The Agriculture Innovation Mechanism for Scale (AIM for Scale) launched its inaugural Innovation Package, a transformative solution designed to bolster farmers’ resilience against the impacts of climate change.
This initiative, underpinned by the Global Partnership to Scale-Up Weather Services for Farmers, has secured commitments exceeding $1 billion over the next three years.
The ambitious funding will drive the rollout of the AIM for Scale Weather Package, which aims to provide critical weather information to millions of smallholder farmers.
The initiative is backed by a coalition of prominent global organisations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, NASA, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Additional collaborators include India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), and the University of Chicago’s AI for Climate initiatives.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF) are also central partners.
Professor Charles Anosike, Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), represented Nigeria at the summit.
Sharing insights from NiMet’s groundbreaking Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) and Gates Foundation-funded projects, Professor Anosike remarked, “I look forward to strengthening our agrometeorological systems to support #EW4ALL in Nigeria through the Nigerian Meteorological Agency.”
Her Excellency Dr. Amna al Dahak, UAE’s Minister for Climate Change and Environment, lauded the initiative as a significant leap forward.
“With the launch of AIM for Scale, we are accelerating our efforts to identify climate-friendly agricultural innovations and breaking down barriers to scaling them,” she said.
Nobel laureate Michael Kremer, Chair of the Innovation Commission for Climate Change, Food Security, and Agriculture, and AIM for Scale’s Advisory Panel, underscored the importance of the initiative.
“Smallholder farmers greatly benefit from high-quality weather forecasts, but reaching hundreds of millions of them remains a challenge. AIM for Scale is a vital step toward addressing this gap by leveraging new investments and global partnerships,” he noted.
The AIM for Scale Weather Package signals a new chapter in global agricultural resilience, with experts and stakeholders optimistic about its potential to transform farming practices in vulnerable regions.
