Climate change matters for all young people. It matters especially for those whose livelihoods dependon agriculture and will continue to do so in the future due to slowing growth in labour-intensivemanufacturing andconstraints on labour absorption in the service sector. Of the slightly more than500million rural young people projected globally in 2030, two thirds will be in sub-Saharan Africa and in South Asia.

In many African countries farming still employs over half of a rapidly growing labourforce, and the absolute number of agricultural workers is still rising (although the share of the labourforce is falling with structural transformation). Where agriculture is called upon to deliver job security aswell as food security, vulnerability to climate change presents major risks for the large numbers ofyoung job-seekers. Adaptation to climate change is feasible, and options will increase as newtechnologies and management approaches come onstream.

Adaptation requires proactive planningand investments in relevant infrastructure and agricultural science. Strategies for job creation in highlyaffected countries must accord more attention than is the case at present to agriculture, both on thefarm and in the food system.