By Solutions from the Land on Dec 13, 2023 12:30 pm
Solutions from the Land (SfL) applauds the central outcome of COP 28, noting that the nearly 200 countries that participated in the 28th Conference of the Parties reached historic agreement that recognizes the fundamental priority of safeguarding food security and ending hunger, and in particular the vulnerabilities of food production systems to the adverse impacts of climate change.
The highlight of COP 28 for SfL was the adoption of the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Change by over 150 countries. This is the first-ever declaration on the “profound potential of ag and food systems in driving innovative responses to climate change and unlocking shared prosperity for all.” The Declaration addresses global emissions while protecting the lives and livelihoods of farmers who live on the frontlines of climate change.
“If nations want to prevent the globe from warming more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, they cannot unless agriculture is enabled to participate in a way that just doesn’t meet a climate outcome, but in a way that delivers multiple solutions to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,” said SfL President Ernie Shea.
Among other provisions in the adopted Global Stocktake Agreement under the Paris accord were calls to triple renewable energy production capacity globally by 2030; rapidly scale up the deployment of existing technologies, the fostering of innovation, and the development and transfer of new technologies in facilitating adaptation and mitigation action; and encourage the implementation of integrated, multi-sectoral solutions, such as landuse management, sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems, nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches, and protecting, conserving and restoring nature and ecosystems.
“One of our COP 28 priority messages, which our delegates advanced over the course of the two-week conference, was the role of renewable biofuels and the circular bioeconomy as pathways to net zero emissions,” said Shea. “SfL’s farmer envoys and delegates effectively spotlighted policies and programs that can concurrently improve liquid transportation fuel quality, increase and accelerate emission reductions, improve public health, help achieve environmental justice goals, provide greater versatility, and improve reliability all at less cost.” These interventions were in direct support of the call for tripling renewable energy production globally.
SfL has been participating in COP since 2009, earning official standing as a “non-party” observer in 2019. “We’ve been proactively engaging in these negotiations for a long time, and we’ve worked hard to recruit and support a growing cadre of other agricultural organizations that want to engage,” Shea said. “Sometimes it felt like we were just shouting into the wind; now, however, there is a growing awareness that agriculture is an untapped climate change solution pathway.”
Going forward, SfL will continue to share our vision, across multiple UN system platforms, of a 21st Century Agricultural Renaissance, where sustainable farms, ranches and forests not only improve food and nutrition security, but concurrently deliver high-value ecosystem services.
