Arukah was grateful for the opportunity to be one of 5 external speakers making a statement to the 6 agriculture ministers and delegations at this event organised every 5 years - alongside the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organisation, World Food Programme, and the Mekong Institute.

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Agrifood systems in the GMS and the Global South face two key challenges: improving productivity and addressing climate change - both reducing the impact of agrifood systems on the climate, and reducing the vulnerability of agrifood systems to climate change.

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Borrowing from the language of our hosts - the word for challenge – 危机 – captures that in every challenge there is an opportunity. While often overlooked, farmers are essential partners in the global climate transition.

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We encouraged broad support across the GMS for Biochar at Scale as an immediate solution to divert burning, increase carbon sequestration, and improve farming yields and farmer incomes.

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We are grateful to the organisers the Asian Development Bank for the opportunity to participate in these formal proceedings establishing the 2030 Kunming Strategic Framework, and for the positive feedback from the various ministers and delegations. We look forward to more partnerships and policy support for our model that unlocks high integrity climate action and underfinanced food security at scale by alleviating poverty directly from carbon markets as a new source of financing for agrifood systems.