BELÉM, BRAZIL – 13 NOVEMBER 2025 | Community Jameel participated this week at the 30th session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference of the parties (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, with a strong focus of supporting adaptation and transformation of food systems in the face of the threats posed by climate change.
On 10 November 2025, day 1 of COP30, Uzma Sulaiman, associate director of Community Jameel and head of delegation, spoke at an event alongside Ismahane Elouafi, executive managing director of CGIAR, the food security research organisation, and Silvia Massruhá, president of the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa), the Brazilian agricultural research agency, to launch the COP30 Food Systems Transformation Science and Philanthropy Advisory Group (FST-SPAG) portfolio of eight science-backed, investible solutions.
Aiming to mobilise investment of USD 522 million by philanthropies and other private sector actors looking to fund science-based projects for food systems transformation in the face of climate change, the portfolio solutions were selected according to criteria developed by the COP30 FST-SPAG's scientific members and published in a technical brief last month.
At the event, held in the AgriZone, Embrapa's space at COP30 for showcasing science, technology and international cooperation on agriculture and climate change, Professor Esther Duflo, 2019 Nobel laureate in economics and co-founder of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a scientific member of the COP30 FST-SPAG, also delivered a keynote address.
Professor Esther Duflo, 2019 Nobel laureate in economics and co-founder of J-PAL, said: "We must ensure that every dollar spent on adaptation delivers impact – and that means investing in solutions that are backed by rigorous evidence, and not just good intentions. Enter FST-SPAG."
Also on day 1, Uzma spoke at the Agricultural Innovation Showcase, co-hosted by the Brazilian ministry of agriculture and livestock, the Gates Foundation, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, the Agricultural Innovation Mechanism for Scale, CGIAR, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Embrapa, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
The high-level roundtable convened governments, multilateral development banks, philanthropies and innovators to spotlight agricultural innovation across technology, policy and finance.
Uzma reconfirmed Community Jameel's commitment in the food and agriculture space and highlighted COP30 FST-SPAG members' combined commitments of over USD 2.5 billion towards food and agriculture.
Closing day 1, J-PAL, Community Jameel and Instituto Serrapilheira co-hosted a Goals House reception to highlight the impact climate is having on the livelihoods of people living across the Amazon region.
In a fireside chat, Professor Duflo spoke with Kleber Karipuna, executive coordinator of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil and co-president of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, about how climate is impacting his community.
On 12 November 2025, day 3 of COP30, Dalia Atallah, programmes officer, Community Jameel, spoke in the Tanzania pavilion at an event hosted by longtime Community Jameel partner BRAC to promote their big bets to support smallholder female farmers.
Alongside representatives of the Bangladesh, Liberia, Tanzania and Uganda governments and J-PAL, Dalia discussed the Jameel Observatory–CREWSnet, one of BRAC's big bets on climate information and data, with a specific discussion on the advanced crop calendar the Jameel Observatory–CREWSnet team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology co-designed with BRAC.