NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 24 (IPS) – This has been a landmark year for climate and environmental policy. Starting with the UN’s COP16 biodiversity summit in October, the COP29 climate summit in November, and concluding with the desertification COP16 in December, it has not been several years since such important moments occurred one after another.
This is an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen food systems against climate change, improve environmental impacts and shape support for smallholder farmers – those most affected by climate change, land degradation and biodiversity loss. created.
Throughout the summit, negotiators broadly agreed on the need to integrate food systems into the UN’s three environmental frameworks. This is a step in the right direction given the interconnectedness of food, agriculture, and the overall environment. However, building on the key UAE food system declaration at the COP28 climate talks in 2023, the global community must urgently increase financing and action to achieve the ambitious goals set.
That means the next 12 months leading up to the COP30 climate talks in Brazil are critical to “walking the talk” at this year’s COP. Several steps are needed to ensure that food systems take full advantage of the opportunities they have to support environmental and climate goals.
The first is increased investment in low-emission technologies and food system innovation. This includes both investing in new solutions and financing the expansion of existing technologies.
Just as increased investment and support in recent decades have led to a solar energy boom that has plummeted the price of solar panels and made them cheaper than fossil fuels, our food system needs similar long-term, sustained investments. Focusing international funding on agricultural research and development can accelerate and scale affordable, impactful and clean technologies that curb carbon emissions and enhance biodiversity while supporting adaptation and rural livelihoods.
For example, green ammonia is a promising new field in food and agriculture. This reduces emissions from fertilizer production by utilizing renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power to fuel the traditional Haber-Bosch process. However, green ammonia is currently more expensive than fossil fuel-based alternatives and more research is needed to achieve cost-effective production in the coming years.
Second, finance is urgently needed to cover costs and potential short-term losses as farmers adopt low-emission regenerative agricultural practices. The transition to sustainable agriculture comes with costs, and supporting countries and communities making this transition is essential to long-term implementation. For example, payments for ecosystem services, including carbon credits, are worth exploring and implementing.
Currently, food systems receive about 0.8% of climate finance, or a total of $28.5 billion on average per year. This is a far cry from the $212 billion estimated to be needed each year to reduce the environmental footprint of the food system, which currently accounts for one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Increasing financing of the food system represents a tremendous opportunity to get the world back on track to meet climate goals.
The need for financing goes beyond simply climate goals. Additionally, increased financing for biodiversity is needed to fully implement the Global Biodiversity Framework and land degradation neutrality. At the same time, these seemingly competing financial demands can be reconciled to make best use of resources to make progress overall. Reducing and phasing out harmful subsidies and mobilizing financial resources to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem benefits, which are the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, are paramount to implementing all three Rio Agreements.
Finally, harmonized policies can help address this problem by optimizing the use of resources such as finance. Improving policy coherence across climate adaptation and mitigation can help maximize impact and reduce trade-offs.
For example, current national-level policy frameworks to reduce emissions and protect biodiversity include Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). Both acknowledge the interconnectedness between climate and biodiversity, but their implementation is fragmented and siled. This means we are missing out on a “double win,” duplicating efforts more often and even undermining our sustainability goals.
Integrating the three Rio Conventions on biodiversity, desertification and climate is fundamental. Although these are separate frameworks, they are deeply interconnected and cannot operate in silos, especially when it comes to food systems.
This includes improved coordination to improve systems thinking while minimizing competition for resources such as finance and transaction costs.
Food systems are both vulnerable and powerful to the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation, while providing an opportunity for just and equitable climate action. Given that next year is a single COP year, we must turn our attention to opportunities for food systems to reduce emissions and improve biodiversity and ecosystem gains, while supporting a just transition to sustain our planet as well as our planet. All of humanity.
Aditi MukherjeeAuthor of CGIAR’s Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Impact Action Platform and IPCC
Kagel MasoDirector of the CGIAR Impact Platform on Environmental Health and Biodiversity
IPS UN Secretariat
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