The critical inclusion of vital sustainable food systems within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is at risk of not being passed.
The first-ever Food Systems and Agriculture Days at a Climate COP began on November 12. The occasion also marked a make or break for food-based climate action and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
According to a World Wildlife Fund press release, November 11 was the deadline for a new, more ambitious mandate for the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture, the only formal process to include food in UNFCCC, with negotiators failing to deliver the required agreement.
“Unfortunately, negotiators have not yet agreed on the mandate we needed to solve the Koronivia Crisis. As we move into week two of COP27, it is imperative that food systems approaches are adopted as a critical part of the climate solution and the mandate for the future work on agriculture,” said Joao Campari, global food practice leader at WWF.
“The first Food Systems and Agriculture Day presents an opportunity to accelerate action and for the public sector, private sector and civil society organisations to reaffirm their belief in a range of actions across food systems. The time to act is now.”
Farm-to-fork food systems produce around 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Even if all other sectors decarbonise by 2050, business-as-usual food systems would account for nearly the whole carbon budget of a two degrees Celsius future.
WWF said that in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, urgent action is needed to adopt nature-positive food production at scale, shift to healthier and more sustainable diets, and radically cut food loss and waste. Limiting food-based action to agriculture would make it extremely unlikely the world can deliver on the Paris Agreement.
WWF welcomed the Egyptian COP27 presidency’s decision to launch two holistic food initiatives, FAST (Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation) and I-CAN (Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition).
WWF is calling on stakeholders to agree on a new mandate for the future of the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture that includes a food systems approach. This should include consumption and food loss and waste, as well as including these approaches into climate action plans, including Nationally Determined Contributions to Paris Agreement and National Adaptation Plans. It said there is also a need to increase the allocation of climate finance for food-based action, and improve distribution to ensure it reaches local communities that implement solutions; and to increase cross-sectoral collaboration to integrate the food, climate, nature and health agendas.
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