Bill Gates Appeals for More Funds to Help Poor Farmers Around the World Face Climate Change
On Tuesday, Bill Gates has requested for more funds from the affluent organizations of industrialized countries to assist the poor farmers worldwide to cope up with climate change. The call aims to gather financial assistance from the wealthiest countries to small-scale farmers on December in an assembly in Paris that would deal with worldwide negotiations to battle climate change.
Targeting the poor farmers of the world is in alignment with the Pope's letter in June that interconnected inequality, poverty and the deterioration of our environment.
The Guardian noted on their Sept. 1 article that Gates acknowledges the importance of safeguarding the world's poorest farmers as they cultivate large amounts of the world's food supply and because they are greatly affected by climate change.
"For the world's poorest farmers, life is a high-wire act - without safety nets," Gates wrote. "They don't have access to improved seeds, fertilizer, irrigation systems, and other beneficial technologies, as farmers in rich countries do. Now, climate change is set to add a fresh layer of risk to their lives ... Of all the people who will suffer from climate change, they are likely to suffer the most."
Supporters of Gates' call to provide funds for poor farmers are aware that the move could greatly help and protect the farmers and their produce from climate hazards in the decades to come.
"He is trying to make sure that that money gets spent on what he would think is the highest priority which is food vulnerability for the poorest people," said the chief economic and policy adviser to the Foundation Geoffrey Lamb. "It's the people who are very vulnerable."
The International Business Times reported on Tuesday that so far, the government has pledged $10 billion to the Green Climate Fund, which is considered as a small portion of the goal to produce $100 billion per year by 2020.
The Green Climate Fund aims to eradicate carbon emissions in order to protect the people from climate change. The Gates Foundation is working with the Green Climate Fund as well to identify specifically where to put climate funds.
To date, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is considered the largest private charity in the world spending approximately $390 million on programs that would help farmers.