We are well into the second week of COP 26, and I’m filling in for Teresa Welsh to serve up the latest updates. Though it seems as if food systems were left out of the official conference agenda, a number of commitments aimed at promoting sustainable agriculture and land use practices were announced on Saturday, which was the designated Nature and Land Use Day.
The announcements include:
• The Global Action Agenda on Transforming Agricultural Innovation — supported by more than 150 parties — which aims to ensure that agricultural research and innovation investments provide solutions across food systems.
• Financial commitments from the United Kingdom, which involve £65 million ($88 million) to help low-income countries move toward more sustainable methods of agriculture through the Just Rural Transition support program, and £38.5 million in funding for CGIAR — formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research.
• A new global initiative to reach 100 million farmers, who are at the center of food systems transformation, with net-zero and nature-positive innovations convened by the World Economic Forum.
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But some food advocates criticized the conference's overall approach and questioned whether these figures will result in real transformation. Delegates tell my colleague Paul Adepojou — who is on the ground in Glasgow this week — that the figures need to be accompanied by a concrete agenda and clear channels to access the financing.
“The proposed solutions that emerged seemed to go in two different and separate directions, presented as complementary: reforestation on the one hand and technological innovation in agriculture on the other,” says Slow Food, a global food advocacy organization, in a statement. “The very approach to this issue was flawed: talking about sustainable agriculture without considering the food system as a whole is wrong.”
“It boils down to an individual country's capacity to access climate finance,” adds Olumide Idowu, co-founder of the International Climate Change Development Initiative. “If you don't have the capacity to access the finance, you won’t be able to get the funds.”
Read: Advocates question the COP 26 approach to food systems
ICYMI: Why food systems transformation must be linked to the climate fight
A $5 billion meal ticket
Last month, the United States announced the only significant financial commitment made by a government at the U.N. Food Systems Summit: $5 billion for eliminating global hunger. Shawn Baker, chief nutritionist at USAID, gives Teresa the low-down on where that money will be going and how it will be spent.
The funds will be dispensed through Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global food security initiative, which currently operates in 12 countries. Part of the $5 billion will go toward expanding Feed the Future to additional countries, while the rest will go toward nutrition-specific investments, which include large-scale food fortification, support for small- and medium-sized enterprises, and addressing food loss and waste.
Devex Pro: How USAID's $5B investment in Feed the Future will be spent
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Bean counting
After a twitter feud between billionaire Elon Musk and World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley raised issues of accountability for the organization, WFP Chief Economist Arif Husain brought out his calculator and crunched the numbers for us.
Musk questioned whether $6 billion could solve world hunger. Husain tells my colleagues Shabtai Gold and Stephanie Beasley that it could help — for about a year.
The average cost globally to provide one meal for one person is 43 cents, which, if multiplied by the number of people in need and 365 days, is about $6.6 billion for a year, he says. Adding that the money is just a “stopgap,” as solving world hunger is not a purely financial issue.
“Unless you sort out the conflicts, there is no way the numbers are coming down,” Husain says. “It is not just money; it’s money and creating enabling conditions to get people out of hunger, poverty, and destitution.”
Read: WFP explains its numbers and pledges transparency after Elon Musk feud
ICYMI: Elon Musk-WFP Twitter ‘feud’ raises accountability questions
A side of bugs
Feeding a world of 9 billion people may require us to expand our palates with currently niche — but environmentally sustainable — foods such as kelp and crickets, which are highly nutritious and more sustainable than cows or avocados. Research suggests that the edible insect market is set to grow by 28% between 2018 and 2023, by which time it could be worth $458 million, though COP 26 saw a hiccup this year when the U.K. government asked British edible insect producers to provide snacks for the conference, only to be stymied by the fact that post-Brexit rules have forced such companies to shut down production.
What unconventional foods have you tried — and would you be willing to switch to an insect-rich diet to save the planet? Write to dish@devex.com to tell me all about it.
Number Munching
31.3%
—That’s how much global food prices have risen since last year, reaching their highest level since July 2011, according to FAO’s Food Price Index. The price of wheat has gone up by almost 40% in the last 12 months.
ICYMI: Low-income countries hit hardest by spike in global food prices
Chew on this
New data finds that 31% of total anthropogenic greenhouse emissions originate from the world’s agri-food systems. [Earth Systems Science Data Discussions]
Incorporating digital agriculture in national adaptation plans presents a unique opportunity to achieve consistency among countries and implement DA at scale. [CGIAR]
Better food processing and packaging can help restore the planet through the use of innovative materials and packaging solutions that keep food fresh for longer. [World Economic Forum]
About the author
Rumbi Chakamba
Rumbi Chakamba is a Senior Editor at Devex based in Botswana, who has worked with regional and international publications including News Deeply, The Zambezian, Outriders Network, and Global Sisters Report. She holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from the University of South Africa.
