Hundreds of years ago, Peruvian fishers noticed that every few years the usually rich waters off South America would warm, and the anchoveta, one of their most reliable catches, would vanish. Because this often happened around Christmastime, they called the phenomenon El Niño de Navidad. Over ...

A strong El Niño is developing in a world already made hotter and less predictable by climate change. For agriculture, that combination is especially dangerous. El Niño raises global temperatures, disrupts rainfall patterns and can trigger weather extremes across key growing regions. One of the clearest risks is extreme heat. 

How women farmers are shifting to agroforestry to beat the heat and boost production

Global warming, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, is already making wildfires worse. Fire seasons are lasting longer, and wildfires are becoming more intense, more frequent and covering larger areas, occurring in places and latitudes where they were not common before. Scientists continue to debate whether climate change is making El Niños stronger. But there is no doubt about what happens when El Niño develops in an increasingly warmer world: its impacts are amplified.

A powerful El Niño is building at a dangerous moment for global food security. It is arriving as the world is already facing record heat, driven by climate change, and as shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz roil fertiliser markets just as farmers prepare for planting in many regions.

Fiji secures a historic USD 52.5 million from GCF for a major climate project supported by FAO. The Fiji FLR initiative will use a ridge-to-reef approach to connect forest restoration upstream with the protection of coastal ecosystems downstream, helping to build a more resilient, sustainable and food-secure Fiji.

Agrifood systems are on the frontline of climate risks, from prolonged droughts and extreme heat to unpredictable rainfalls. Yet farms, soils, pasture, forests, and water systems offer some of the most powerful tools countries have to protect livelihoods and build resilience while reducing emission. This was FAO’s central message at London Climate Action Week 2026.

The COP31 Turquoise Nexus Initiative (TNI) was presented on 16 June 2026 to governments, international organizations, development partners and technical experts during the UNFCCC June Climate Meetings (SB64) in Bonn. The event underscored the urgency of addressing the interconnected challenges of food insecurity, water scarcity and climate change through more coordinated approaches.

While the food, water, and climate crises are deeply interconnected, national climate commitments rarely reflect coordination across water, agriculture, water, food security, and adaptation measures. The Turquoise Nexus Initiative (TNI) —an initiative of Türkiye that will be formally launched at COP 31—aims to address this fragmentation by creating a global mechanism that will integrate food systems transformation, sustainable water management, and climate adaptation.

There are days when the sky does not bring rain. Instead, a thick fog, called camanchaca, advances silently from the ocean and covers hills and ravines. The trees, plants and its animals welcome this humidity. But crops and communities miss the needed rain. Now, in Chile’s Peña Blanca agricultural community, this fog is being captured drop by drop and transformed into the missing water.

A new El Niño phase is likely to begin within weeks, putting agriculture on alert around the world. A new analysis from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) maps where El Niño-linked drought is most likely to impact crops and pasturelands, raising risks for agricultural-dependent livelihoods and food security in regions already in crisis.

Agriculture and food systems are highly vulnerable to climate impacts, but they are also major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. With over 8% of the world’s population, around 673 million people, not getting enough to eat, experts gathered for the Expert Meeting on Agriculture and Food to consider how to feed the growing world population while responding to climate change. The meeting is being co-sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Countries are moving from formulating climate adaptation plans to implementing concrete actions, but to fully succeed, a massive scaling up of targeted adaptation finance is needed. This was the message that came through loud and clear at NAP Expo 2026, held in Kigali, Rwanda, from 18-21 May, where countries’ perspectives shaped wide-ranging agenda.  

Participants at the Workshop on Climate Change and Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, convened at FAO headquarters, 25–26 May 2026, underscored the critical role that genetic resources play in strengthening the resilience of agrifood systems in the face of climate change.

Hydroponics offers an innovative and climate-smart solution to family farmers in Grenada

Heat just used to be part of the job for Sary Kea, a rice farmer in Cambodia’s Northern Tonle Sap Basin. Until it started hurting her harvest. In the last few years, extreme heat caused major losses in rice harvests.

New FAO-WMO report assesses risks and identifies adaptation options as rising temperatures pose hazards to people, crops, livestock and fish.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved a $50 million project, supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), to enhance the climate resilience of vulnerable smallholders in Jamaica.

What if the key to feeding future generations isn't hidden in new technology but preserved in the world's agricultural heritage systems?

Agricultural heritage is at the heart of every culture; it is the link between the past and the present. It paves the way for a food-secure future.

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Over two billion people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. The vast majority are smallholder farmers, whose daily decisions on when to sow or irrigate are essentially tied to the weather. Without reliable information, they can be caught off-guard.

The odds are worsening, as ext...