COP28: Food, Agriculture and Water

Food, Agriculture and Water Day at COP28 saw the first-ever COP ministerial dialogue on building water-resilient food systems; the COP28 UAE Declaration on Agriculture, Food Systems and Climate Action; a focus on addressing global food and promoting water security to keep 1.5°C within reach; and billions in pledged funding for food climate solutions.

“Sustainable agriculture and food systems are critical components in both dealing with climate change and building food systems fit for the future.”

- Majid Al Suwaidi, COP28 Director-General

Day 11 included a high-level session on the implementation of the COP28 UAE Declaration on Agriculture, Food Systems and Climate Action. This Declaration has been signed by 152 nations, which has brought food and agriculture to the centre of COP28.

H.E. Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment and COP28 Food Systems Lead said “It is a real historic moment for food and agriculture …to get the political world and mobilise financing and even provide tools”.

The Declaration recognises that the unprecedented adverse climate impacts are increasingly threatening the resilience of agriculture and food systems as well as the ability of many, especially the most vulnerable, to produce and access food in the face of mounting hunger, malnutrition and economic stresses. It notes that agriculture and food systems are fundamental to the lives and livelihoods of billions of people. It reaffirms the respective commitments, collective and individual, to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, and the Sharm El Sheikh Joint Work on implementation of climate action in agriculture and food security.

The Declaration also declares the intent to work collaboratively and expeditiously to pursue a number of objectives, including: scaling-up adaptation and resilience activities and responses in order to reduce the vulnerability of all farmers, fisherfolk, and other food producers to the impacts of climate change; promoting food security and nutrition by increasing efforts to support vulnerable people through approaches such as social protection systems; supporting workers in agriculture and food systems; strengthening the integrated management of water in agriculture and food systems; and to maximise the climate and environmental benefits associated with agriculture.

There was also a high-level session, where dignitaries and Ministers discussed the paths, modalities and opportunities involved in implementing this Declaration. One interesting point to note was that this session saw the announcement of the Alliance of Champions for Food Systems Transformation (ACF), a coalition formed by Brazil, Cambodia, Rwanda, Norway and Sierra Leone aimed at helping reorient policies, practices and investment priorities to deliver better food systems outcomes for people, nature and climate.

The COP28 Presidency, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Bank, Consultation Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have together announced the joint Sharm-El Sheikh Support Programme.

The UN FAO is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger with a goal to achieve food security for all. Similarly, the IFAD was set up as another specialised agency of the UN, working towards the inclusive and sustainable transformation of rural areas. CGIAR is a global partnership that unites international organisations engaged in research about food security, aiming to decrease rural poverty and increase food security.

The joint Sharm-El Sheikh Support Programme is a three-year support package to help countries unlock finance and support farmers, food producers, small agribusinesses and local communities.

Máximo Torero, FAO Chief Economist said “We stand ready to join hands with partners to support countries accelerate action”.

With around 738 million chronically malnourished people around the world, Mr. Torero also said that food must be part of the discussion on climate and must attract climate investments, which currently sit at a meagre four percent and is strikingly low when compared with other global climate financing.

Addressing the global water and sanitation crisis is one of the most impactful ways to build resilience to climate change. The Accelerating Urban Resilience: Innovative Finance for Urban Water Utilities event, which was championed by the COP28 presidency, today focused on innovative partnerships and solutions for financing climate-resilient water utilities. The event showcased transformative initiatives to provide universal access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene services in urban areas.

It included another high-level session on water security and sustainable water management practices, to build resilience and enhance adaptation with the goal to accelerate inclusive water governance.

The COP Ministerial announced that more than 30 countries have signed to participate in the Freshwater Challenge. This challenge was initially launched at the UN 2023 Water Conference to commit to protecting and restoring freshwater ecosystems. The Challenge aims to restore over 300,000 km of rivers and 350 million hectares of wetlands by 2030, or approximately 30% of Earth's degraded freshwater ecosystems.

“AIM for Climate” is a UAE-US joint initiative focused on addressing climate change and global hunger through heightened investment in climate-smart agriculture and food system innovations.

The “AIM for Climate: Scaling Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Systems Innovation” event presented innovations for adoption and financing, showcasing the progress made through the initiative’s platform "Innovation Sprints" to advance the Paris Agreement and SDG2 objectives.

The Call to Action was signed by over 200 diverse Non-State Actors (including farmers and fisheries, businesses, cities and consumers), committing to taking ten priority actions to transform food systems (including livestock, food waste and loss, soil and water and crops) and calling for a set of time-bound, holistic, and global targets by COP29 at the latest.

The Call to Action highlights the urgent need to take action on food systems and centers the need to support farmers, and other frontline and vulnerable groups alongside respect and value for the traditional knowledge of Indigenous Peoples, as well as unlock the potential of food systems as one of the main solutions for people, nature, and climate.

Action is already being taken by some, with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development already having developed a supporting Business Statement of Action to highlight steps that business are taking to contribute to the collective effort and drive widescale adoption of key priority actions and help to accelerate further change.

Also, a global food systems road map produced by the UN Food & Agriculture Organization suggest a focus towards the global 1.5°C temperature goal, putting a net-zero plan for Food at a target in the climate fight.

“Responsible stewardship of our collective land and ocean resources will be one of the single largest determining factors in the climate crisis. These vast resources are our greatest tool in the fight against global warming because they represent the entire surface of our planet and have an enormous impact. The varying environments on which we depend – from forests, farmland and grasslands to deep seas – can be sustainably managed in a variety of ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and can even go further to sequester and store carbon. Approaches such as carbon forestry and carbon farming not only provide readily accessible climate benefits, but are excellent ways that companies can broaden their ESG strategies and investments in a way that benefits people, planet and profit while protecting biodiversity. We can expect to see continued improvement of the technologies used in these approaches, as well as updated regulations and standardization that ensures their quality and effectiveness.”