NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 24 (IPS) – This 12 months has been a landmark one for local weather and atmosphere coverage. Beginning with the UN’s COP16 biodiversity talks in October, adopted by the COP29 local weather talks in November, and shutting with the desertification COP16 in December, few years have provided such vital moments back-to-back.
This created an unprecedented alternative to bolster meals programs in opposition to local weather change, enhance their environmental impacts, and concretize help for smallholder farmers – a number of the individuals most affected by local weather change, land degradation, and biodiversity loss.
Throughout the summits, negotiators broadly agreed on the necessity to combine meals programs into the UN’s three environmental frameworks, a step in the best course given the interconnectedness of meals and agriculture, and the atmosphere at giant. Nevertheless, to construct on the flagship UAE Declaration on meals programs on the COP28 local weather talks in 2023, the worldwide group should urgently ramp up financing and motion to make good on the bold targets set.
In different phrases, the subsequent 12 months to the COP30 local weather talks in Brazil are vital for “strolling the discuss” of the COPs this 12 months. To take advantage of the chance for meals programs to help environmental and local weather targets, a number of steps are wanted.
The primary is elevated funding into low-emissions applied sciences and improvements for meals programs. This contains each funding into new and rising options in addition to financing for scaling up current applied sciences.
Simply as elevated funding and help in latest many years led to a photo voltaic power growth, inflicting the value of photo voltaic panels to fall sharply and have become cheaper than fossil fuels, meals programs want related long-term and sustained investments. Channelling worldwide finance in direction of agricultural analysis and growth would speed up and scale reasonably priced, impactful, and clear applied sciences that curb emissions and improve biodiversity whereas additionally supporting adaptation and rural livelihoods.
Inexperienced ammonia, as an illustration, is a promising new sector for meals and agriculture. It reduces emissions from fertiliser manufacturing by utilising renewable power sources, akin to wind or solar energy, to gas the standard Haber–Bosch course of. However at current, inexperienced ammonia is dearer than its fossil fuel-based various, and requires extra analysis to attain cost-effective manufacturing within the years to come back.
Second, finance is urgently wanted to cowl the prices and potential short-term losses as farmers undertake low-emission, regenerative agricultural practices. The transition to sustainable agriculture just isn’t with out prices, and supporting international locations and communities as they make this shift is crucial to long-term implementation. For instance, fee for ecosystem providers, together with carbon credit, is value exploring and implementing.
Because it stands, meals programs obtain solely round 0.8 per cent of local weather finance, totalling $28.5 billion common yearly. That is removed from the estimated $212 billion wanted yearly to cut back meals programs’ environmental footprint, which at present account for one third of all international greenhouse gasoline emissions. Elevated finance in meals programs represents an enormous alternative to carry the world again on observe to succeed in local weather targets.
The necessity for finance goes past simply local weather targets. There’s additionally a necessity for elevated finance for biodiversity to totally implement the International Biodiversity Framework and land degradation neutrality. On the similar time, these seemingly competing finance wants will be coordinated to make finest use of sources to make progress throughout the board. Lowering and phasing out dangerous subsidies and mobilizing monetary sources to boost biodiversity and ecosystem positive aspects, each targets below the Kunming-Montreal International Biodiversity Framework, are paramount to ship on all three Rio Conventions.
Lastly, harmonizing coverage might help tackle this by optimizing using sources like finance. Bettering coverage coherence throughout local weather adaptation and mitigation might help maximize impacts and scale back trade-offs.
For example, there are at present completely different country-level coverage frameworks to cut back emissions and shield biodiversity: Nationally Decided Contributions (NDCs) and Nationwide Biodiversity Methods and Motion Plans (NBSAPs). Whereas each acknowledge the interconnectedness between local weather and biodiversity, their implementation has been fragmented and siloed. This implies we’re lacking out on the “double-wins”, extra typically duplicating efforts and even undermining sustainability targets.
Integrating the three Rio Conventions on biodiversity, desertification, and local weather is key. Although they’re separate frameworks, they can’t function in siloes, particularly concerning meals programs, as a result of they’re deeply interconnected.
This contains improved coordination to attenuate competitors for sources like finance and transaction prices, whereas enhancing programs pondering.
Meals programs provide a possibility for simply and truthful local weather motion, concurrently susceptible and highly effective with regards to the impacts of local weather change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation. Provided that subsequent 12 months shall be a single-COP 12 months, consideration should return to the alternatives for meals programs to cut back emissions and improve biodiversity and ecosystem positive aspects, concurrently supporting a simply transition to make sure we maintain not solely the planet, however all humanity too.
Aditi Mukherji, CGIAR’s Local weather Change Adaptation and Mitigation Affect Motion Platform and IPCC writer
Cargele Masso, Director of the CGIAR Affect Platform on Environmental Well being and Biodiversity
IPS UN Bureau
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