Two pivotal UN conferences mark the months of October and November: the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 16) held in Cali, Colombia 21st October-1st November, and the 29th COP to the UN Convention on Climate Change (COP 29) that opened in Baku, Azerbaijan, on the 11th November. News #1 presents the outcomes of COP16, in particular the decision to address biodiversity loss and climate change as joint and interdependent issues.
October was also marked by the World Food Forum and the 52nd plenary session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS52), that both took place in Rome. The World Food Day stressed the critical role of sustainable food systems in ensuring everyone’s fundamental right to nutritious food and healthy diets. (News #2 & News #3).The Committee on World Food Security voiced grave concerns over the current global food security crisis and emphasised the imperative to protect food and water from being exploited as tools of conflict in affected regions (News #4). It also elaborated policy recommendations on reducing inequalities for food security and nutrition, urging governments to safeguard equitable tenure rights, especially for women, ensure equitable access to land and natural resources, remove barriers in markets’ access and promoting agroecological and other innovative approaches for more sustainable and resilient farm systems.
These events call for a holistic approach to agrifood systems transformation and for solutions that address the challenges of food security, biodiversity loss and climate change at the same time.
Fostering synergies between food and biodiversity
The recently published flagship report underscores the importance of scaling out agroecological approaches in food systems to accomplish goals towards the protection and restoration of biodiversity. The report is co-produced by the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, the Agroecology Coalition and other leading organizations working on food systems sustainability and biodiversity. It provides guidance for incorporating agroecology into National Biodiversity Strategies and Actions Plans to support the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. (Publication #1, News #5)
By highlighting connections between the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and agrifood sectors, FAO’s recent publication aims to facilitate the engagement of agrifood stakeholders in the framework’s implementation. It highlights biodiversity friendly practices and approaches in crop and livestock production, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture that can contribute to achieving target 10 of the Framework. (Publication #2)
IPES-Food shows that green grabbing, i.e. using land for carbon offsetting, biodiversity reserves, afforestation, or clean energy production, has the potential to become the biggest land grab in history. This can jeopardize local communities and Indigenous Peoples’ food security and livelihoods, but also the biodiversity these groups help to protect. The report urges governments to reject land grabs and offsetting schemes in favour of community-led conservation and agroecological practices. (Publication #3)
In its recently published report, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) stresses that the transition towards sustainable agriculture can involve ecological, economic, environmental, and social trade-offs that must be recognised and managed. It highlights that scalable metrics, indicators, and monitoring frameworks are key to provide a level-playing field for assessment of positive and negative impacts, and to support cross-sectoral dialogue. The report presents data on a set of indicators to assess national performance in environmental sustainability of agriculture. (Publication #4)
A flagship report from the Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition analyses nutrition-biodiversity linkages in National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). It finds that only 4% of them have concrete plans to mobilise resources and take action to address nutrition. It highlights that most of these Plans mention food security (74%), indigenous knowledge (73%), and genetic diversity of crops (65%), yet did not link these concepts to nutrition. The report presents two case studies from Malawi and Brazil to illustrate how to integrate nutrition-biodiversity linkages in NBSAPs. (Publication #5)
Aligning agrifood systems transformation with climate action
A recent study by Stanford University estimated the impact of climate change on various outcomes, including on agricultural yields, in different countries. Overall, the study suggests that the agricultural sector is not adapting well to climate change, with most crops showing a negative impact of warming and limited evidence of a significant change in total adaptation capacity over time. (Publication #6)
The extensive literature review conducted under the auspices of CGIAR, focuses on understanding women’s capacity to manage their livelihoods and organize food for household consumption when agrifood systems are affected by climate change. It shows how gender norms affect women’s abilities to put food on the table and to achieve economic resilience and how women are negotiating climate change within their everyday lives. (Publication #7)
A recently published Nature Climate Change paper evaluates the unequal distribution of dietary emissions from 140 food products in 139 countries or areas and further models changes in emissions of global diet shifts. It finds that the present global annual dietary emissions would fall by 17% with the worldwide adoption of the EAT-Lancet planetary health diet, primarily attributed to shifts from red meat to legumes and nuts as principal protein sources. (Publication #8)
Publication #9 by the European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation finds that Nature-based Solutions (NbS), including agroecology and regenerative farming, are recognised as a key strategy for addressing environmental challenges - climate change, biodiversity loss, and disaster risk reduction. In Latin America, the report emphasizes that several governments have integrated NbS into their national environmental policies, particularly those on climate adaptation and biodiversity conservation.
The World Bank published a review showing the potential of regenerative agriculture to improve soil health, increase crop productivity, and mitigate climate change, finding that its effectiveness depends on local climate conditions and existing farming practices. It recommends that governments and development organisations invest in research and development to better understand regenerative agriculture’s impact on productivity, resilience, and carbon mitigation. (Publication #10, and Publication #11 for an explanation of the concept of regenerative agriculture)
The Strategic Framework of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub’s Convergence Initiative presents a clear approach to aligning food systems transformation with climate action, with the first National Inception Workshops being launched in selected pilot countries to foster synergies between food systems and climate agendas. (Publication #12, News #6)
