Dr Aditi Mukherji
Principal Scientist – Climate Action in the Livestock, Climate and Environment Program of the International Livestock Research Institute
Dr Aditi Mukherji is Principal Scientist – Climate Action in the Livestock, Climate and Environment Program of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) , effective 1 July 2025. Before joining ILRI, Aditi was the Director, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Impact Action Platform of the CGIAR and was hosted by ILRI in Nairobi. She has also been a Principal Researcher at the International Water Management Institute based in India and Sri Lanka, and before that she led the Water and Air Theme at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and was based in Nepal. Aditi was a Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) of the Water Chapter in the Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in February 2022, and was a member, Core Writing Team of the IPCC’s AR6 Synthesis Report which was published in March 2023. She is a currently a member of the Earth Commission where she is working with global experts on quantifying safe and just planetary boundaries. Her areas of specialization are climate change adaptation, agricultural resilience for small holder producers, climate governance, water-energy nexus and community governance of natural resources. She has worked in South Asia including the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, Nile basin and in Central Asia. She has published over 80 peer reviewed research papers, including four edited books. In 2012, she was awarded the Inaugural Norman Borlaug Field Award, endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation and given by the World Food Prize Foundation, USA. Aditi is a human geographer by training and has a PhD from Cambridge University, United Kingdom where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. She has been widely quoted by the media, including New York Times, BBC, DW International, CNN, Al Jazeera and various news outlets in South Asia.
ABSTRACT
Achieving a pathway to climate resilience: Lessons from Asia and Africa
Agri-food systems across Asia and Africa, where over 2.5 billion people depend on agriculture for livelihoods and food security, are at risk due to current and projected climate change. For example, in Africa, maize and wheat yields have already declined by 5.8% and 2.3%, respectively, due to increased drought frequency and warming trends (IPCC, 2022a).
Across both continents and more so in Africa than Asia, rain-fed agriculture accounts for over 90% of staple crop production, making it acutely vulnerable to erratic rainfall and temperature extremes (IPCC, 2022a; IPCC, 2022b). In Asia, monsoon variability, glacier retreat affecting all perennial rivers, sea-level rise, and extreme heat threaten food production in densely populated river basins and deltas, such as the Ganges, Mekong, and Indus (IPCC, 2022b). Fisheries and aquaculture, which provide more than 20% of animal protein in many Asian countries, are also increasingly disrupted by warming and ocean acidification (IPCC, 2022c).
Without adequate adaptation, cereal yields could decline by 10–30% by 2050 across both regions, and suitable areas for rain-fed area for say maize could shrink by up to 40% in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa under 1.5°C warming (IPCC, 2022a). While relatively under researched, yields of non cereal crops, as well as nutrition content of all major food groups also declines at higher level of global warming. These disruptions deepen food insecurity, affecting a disproportionate share of the 783 million people globally who are already undernourished, and exacerbating inequality for smallholders, women, and youth.
A range of solutions exists encompassing adaptation and mitigation and their various cobenefits with nutrition and related SDGs and CGIAR and partners are working to scale these solutions. Climate-smart agriculture, including drought- and heat-tolerant crops, efficient irrigation, and agroecological practices, offers immediate adaptation benefits while leveraging digital tools such as AI-powered climate services, decision-support platforms, and mobile-based advisory systems helps small holder producers be better prepared for climate induced hazards like floods and droughts.
Technological breakthroughs highlighted in recent CGIAR reports include methane inhibitors, improved forages, green ammonia, and site-specific nutrient management are interventions that simultaneously boost productivity and reduce emissions. Scaling these solutions requires targeted adaptation finance, inclusive governance, and enabling policy frameworks and calls for a just transition in agri-food systems in Asia and Africa.
References
IPCC. (2022a). Chapter 9: Africa. In H.-O. Pörtner et al. (Eds.), Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (pp. 1281–1455). Cambridge University Press. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/chapter-9/
IPCC. (2022b). Chapter 10: Asia. In H.-O. Pörtner et al. (Eds.), Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (pp. 1457–1533). Cambridge University Press. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/chapter-10/
IPCC. (2022c). Chapter 5: Food, Fibre, and Other Ecosystem Products. In H.-O. Pörtner et al. (Eds.), Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (pp. 711–862). Cambridge University Press. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/chapter-5/
Mukherji, A., Marshall, S., Arango, J., Costa Jr, C., Flintan, F., Hebebrand, C., … & Vanlauwe, B. (2024). 2024 Breakthrough Agenda Report: Agriculture. CGIAR System Organization. https://agriculture-breakthrough2024.cgiar.org/