Climate & Resilience
As the climate changes we must adapt
Higher temperatures, extreme weather events—such as floods and droughts—and erratic rainfall patterns have a profound impact on smallholder farmers, who are vulnerable to even the slightest shift in climatic conditions. Their livelihoods and wellbeing teeter on their ability to obtain basic commodities: food, water, and shelter.
Powering farmers to become resilient to climate change is one of the main cross-sectional strategies at the heart of iDE’s work. As we leverage market ecosystems to boost agricultural productivity, we also deploy tactics to help farmers adapt to changing climates such as promoting technologies like drip irrigation and solar pumps, linking farmers to information sources about the weather, helping communities determine priorities, and training people about climate change resilience and community-led management of natural resources.
Climate change disproportionately affects the most vulnerable households, often in remote locations. Building resilience to economic shocks and stresses is at the heart of iDE's mission to end poverty as natural disasters not only threaten people's lives but also their future livelihoods. The work we do around climate and resilience involves understanding the natural environment and how people can use natural resources sustainably to achieve economic prosperity. At iDE we believe our Infinite Model provides a roadmap for how individuals who seek to participate in the market can move through a process of growth, establishing profitable livelihoods.