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[2021-11-12] Greener and more sustainable food systems should be at the centre of climate action

By 2021년 11월 15일 No Comments
ⓒ AFP

Below is the official message of Chairman Ban Ki-moon

Cop26 presents the perfect opportunity to highlight the symbiotic relationship between climate change adaptation and resilient food systems.

Food and farming are both a driver of and a solution to the climate crisis. Unless we change how we currently produce, process, transport, consume and discard food, we will not make any headway on climate change mitigation and adaptation, the defining issue of our time.

Discussions on climate change currently tend to focus on transport and energy sectors, but food systems account for more than a third of global greenhouse emissions, with far-ranging environmental effects. Agriculture is also extremely vulnerable to shifts in temperature and rainfall. Farmers, particularly smallholders who produce about a third of the world’s food, are struggling with lost harvests and livestock while trying to adapt to increasingly irregular weather conditions.

In 2020, 811 million people were undernourished and around 3 billion – more than one in three – could not afford healthy diets. To make things worse, rising concentrations of carbon dioxide are expected to reduce the availability of critical nutrients.

This is the delicate balance we must strive for – slashing emissions while ensuring enough nutritious food for everyone, leaving no one behind. We need to highlight the interconnected issues of food systems, hunger and poverty, biodiversity and stability, and climate adaptation and resilience. Agriculture also holds the keys to keep global warming below 2C.

Today, world leaders must focus equally on adaptation and mitigation, focusing whole food systems. Positioning greener, fairer and more sustainable agricultural practices at the centre of climate action would go a long way towards achieving climate-resilient food systems that leave no one behind.