On December 1, 2023, at the UN climate COP28, 134 countries responsible for 75% of food-based greenhouse gas emissions endorsed the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action.
Signatories pledge to incorporate food systems approaches into updated Nationally Determined Contributions, National Adaptation Plans, and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. This establishes a framework for transformative climate and nature action rooted in food systems.
The 134 endorsing countries, responsible for 75% of food-based greenhouse gas emissions and consuming 70% of global food, make this Declaration significant. It is complemented by a Non-State Actors Call to Action for Transforming Food Systems for People, Nature, and Climate, endorsed by over 150 organizations. These declarations lay a robust foundation for ambitious and impactful action in global food systems.
The ultimate goal is to build a sustainable and resilient global food system that ensures everyone has access to sufficient healthy and nutritious food, necessitating local action from all countries.
Presently, food systems are both contributors to and impacted by issues such as nature and biodiversity loss, climate change, and conflict. The global food and agriculture sector is responsible for over one-third of greenhouse gas emissions, up to 70 percent of freshwater use, and as much as 80 percent of biodiversity loss. Unsustainable food systems not only compromise food and nutrition security but also endanger the livelihoods of those directly involved in food systems.
The statistics reveal a stark reality: 30 percent of food is lost or wasted, over 900 million people suffer from food insecurity (many of whom work in agriculture), and over 3 billion cannot afford a healthy diet. Recent events like the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions, and extreme weather events underscore the vulnerability of food systems to external shocks.
In response, there is a growing and urgent call to transform food systems to be resilient, fair, and sustainable. The UN Climate Change High-Level Champions (HLCs), in collaboration with Non-State Actors – including farmers, fishers, businesses, cities, civil society, and consumers – have developed a Non-State Actors Call to Action for Transforming Food Systems for People, Nature, and Climate.
This Call to Action seeks to mobilize collective efforts toward a shared vision of food systems that achieve significant and measurable progress for people, nature, and climate by 2030. The aim is to scale up action, elevate ambition, and unleash the potential of food systems as a primary solution for addressing the needs of people, nature, and climate.
The initiative emphasizes the importance of everyone playing a role. Those who endorse the Call to Action are invited to submit Statements of Action, contributing to a package of announcements on food systems transformation at COP28. The collaboration between diverse stakeholders is seen as essential for creating impactful and meaningful change in food systems.
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Source
Leader’s Declaration on Food System a milestone moment in climate action, but global commitment must translate to local action, WWF, 2023-12-01
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