The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is on track to deliver on a commitment to provide $14 billion to improve food security and mitigate the effects of climate change across Asia and the Pacific, its chief said on Tuesday.
"I am happy to report that we have already committed $7.6 billion of this $14 billion and are on pace to deliver the rest by the end of 2025," ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa said at the Asia and the Pacific Food Security Forum 2024 in Manila.
"Behind these financial resources is a plan, not only to address the symptoms of food insecurity, like malnutrition, but also to transform the entire agri-food system," he added.
At the end of 2023, the ADB had allocated $7.6 billion, about 52 percent of the $14 billion commitment made in 2022, to combat food security issues caused by climate change and biodiversity loss over the last four years.
The Manila-based lender has been assisting in safeguarding food security across various ADB member countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, China, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands.
Asakawa said rice prices rose by over 40 percent in 2023, diminishing the purchasing power of numerous impoverished families in Asia.
Nearly 2 billion people in Asia were said to endure this hardship, lacking access to healthy diets, with over half of the world's hungry population residing in the region.
"Climate change, and the worsening droughts and floods that come with it, is another issue that we may not fully understand sitting in this auditorium," Asakawa said.
"This is a reality for 40 percent of the workforce in Asia and the Pacific, who are employed in agri-food systems such as farmers, processing workers and retail workers," he added.
He highlighted that climate change, biodiversity loss and economic shocks are placing significant strain on the region's delicate food systems, leading to a setback in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of ending global hunger.
"In short, food insecurity is causing tremendous suffering and undermining the prospects for development," Asakawa said.
"The world needs to act urgently to address this crisis, which has grown worse because of extreme weather events and geopolitical conflict," he added.
In response to the need for stronger partnerships in transforming food systems, the ADB has partnered with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the world's largest publicly funded group of agricultural research centers.
This agreement aims to scale up innovative technologies developed by CGIAR to tackle food and water security, climate issues, and nutrition challenges.
"We must create a food system that is healthy, prosperous and sustainable for the planet and for generations to come," Asakawa said.