Should food play a bigger role in climate action? These experts say yes

Food, responsible for around a third of global emissions and vulnerable to a chaotic climate, goes unnoticed in debates on climate change, but measures to promote a more environmentally responsible approach could soon receive a boost in the COP26 in Glasgow.

The grieving interests of agribusiness and agroecology will be on display next week when delegates decide the fate of a United Nations body dedicated to discussing agriculture, food security and climate change known as the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture. (KJWA).

“It’s more complicated to tackle,” explained Chantal Wei-Ying Clément, deputy director of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food).

“You open this can of worms to much broader topics, not just agriculture. It’s more complex … I almost mean that people are not willing to ask those tough questions and have those tough conversations.”

While we must reduce emissions from farms, making food systems sustainable requires much more than reducing emissions from industrial agriculture or growing meat in high-tech laboratories, IPES-Food noted in a 2016 report. report. Reducing transportation and food waste is also essential, as is guaranteeing workers ‘rights and guaranteeing citizens’ right to food.

Since the KJWA was established in 2017, it has been the only forum for food under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He has mainly conducted workshops on fertilizers, water, livestock and how farms and farmers can adapt to climate change.

These workshops have urged countries to move towards an agroecological approach to food production, said Teresa Anderson, climate policy coordinator for ActionAid, an international social and environmental justice organization.

Agroecology is a philosophy of agriculture that integrates farms into natural ecosystems. Unlike industrial practices that rely heavily on artificial fertilizers, pesticides, machinery, and genetically modified seeds to produce large monocultures, agroecological farms promote biodiversity and soil health. The movement also emphasizes social justice and the rights of workers and farmers.

“In the (KJWA) sessions we got really good knowledge that shows that we have to move from industrial agriculture to agroecology”, not only for its environmental benefits, but also as a way to prioritize gender rights, sovereignty food and farmers. independence, he said.

Looking at which countries need to change

Discussions about the future of the KJWA could potentially see it transformed into a more formal decision-making mechanism, a movement that could catapult food, farms and farmers into global climate negotiations.

The climate conference in Scotland, also known as COP, short for Conference of the Parties, brings the world together to negotiate agreements to reduce global warming. The talks bring together politicians, scientists, environmental activists, climate experts and the media from the 197 member countries.

“For the COP to really have an impact on global agriculture, (the KJWA) will need to come up with recommendations on what countries should do at the national level,” Anderson said.

That is not guaranteed. While several countries have said they want to focus on implementing the KJWA recommendations, one report published earlier this year by the World Wide Fund for Nature noted that rich countries, including Norway, New Zealand and the EU, want to continue researching sustainable practices without developing a mechanism to ensure countries actually use them.

Industrial agriculture dominates in Canada

Canada, the US and other countries whose agricultural sectors rely heavily on industrial agriculture for staple crops like corn or soybeans for export often block efforts to boost agroecology, Anderson said.

That debate came under scrutiny in September at the inaugural UN Food Systems Summit. The controversial event was convened by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, to bring together companies, countries, academics and others involved in food systems. It was boycotted by hundreds of farmer, peasant and environmental organizations due to the close links between organizers, governments and international agribusiness companies and pressure groups.

Even if countries decide to give the KJWA more power to push agroecology around the world, it still won’t be able to fully address the climate impact of food, Clement said. That’s because farms are just one part of food systems. Processing, transportation, fishing, retailing, food waste and citizens’ diet are also important, although they are hardly mentioned in global climate negotiations.

Still, fixing how we farm would have huge benefits for the climate, biodiversity and people if countries can agree to support international measures that could really have an impact on the ground, he said.

“We can keep talking. But nothing will really happen unless we embrace these principles as the logic behind the way (food) systems should work.”