Ahead of negotiations at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference a global coalition of organizations from the food systems community has urged governments to include a food systems approach in the new mandate for a key agricultural pact — but some countries in the Group of 77 and China — the main group of low- and middle-income countries at the U.N. — are opposed to it, Devex has learned.
The Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture — which was agreed upon at COP 23 in 2017 — recognized the potential of agriculture to tackle climate change and dealt with both mitigation and adaptation. The next phase of Koronivia is supposed to be decided at this year’s COP 27.
But João Campari, global leader of food practice at the World Wildlife Fund, said that the Egyptian COP 27 presidency has set Tuesday as the final day for negotiators to agree on the new mandate and if they cannot reach an agreement within the deadline, negotiations would be postponed until the next meeting of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice scheduled for June next year.
“Such a delay would be a major failing as we urgently need to shift to implementation of food systems approaches,” he said.
Campari pointed to tension between several blocs of countries on the inclusion of food systems as a stumbling block to consensus.
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Many countries just don’t want to bring something new into the discussions as they’ve been working on agriculture for the past few years and now want to move forward to the next phase, Campari explained. Other countries fear that widening the scope will either slow down implementation of agricultural transformation or will dilute the focus.
Devex also learned from sources close to the negotiations that the G-77 are against including food systems — and “need more clarification” on the term — although there are tensions and disagreements within the group.
“WWF and dozens of other organisations across the food sector are very concerned that the stubbornness of some countries will result in negotiators settling for the lowest common denominator and agreeing to an unambitious new mandate,” Campari said.
In an open letter to negotiators, the coalition, which includes WWF and 29 other organizations, argued that transforming agricultural systems and supporting farmers to enhance adaptation is imperative but so is “adopting nature-positive food production at scale, to reduce emissions and restore nature, limiting the most damaging effects of climate change on food security.”
Campari added that widening the scope is critical as the world “can’t limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius if we don’t take actions across food systems – on production consumption and loss and waste.”
“Shifting agricultural systems to nature-positive production practices is extremely important,” he said. “But it’s not enough. Negotiators have to accept this and show ambition by widening the scope.”
Morgan Gillespy, the executive director of the food and land use coalition at World Resources Institute, added that if the dialogue “concludes weakly this week, and does not adopt a strong food systems approach, there is a real risk that food systems will remain a low priority within the UNFCCC.”
“We will have lost a major opportunity to put food systems at the heart of the global climate effort. COP27 is therefore a make or break moment for the food systems and climate agenda,” she said.
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.
