Eradicating hunger while limiting global warming to 1.5°C, as planned in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, is possible. This is what the roadmap presented by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO) suggests this Sunday, December 10 during COP 28 in Dubai. There is no more time to lose, insists the FAO in this document which it presents as a “turning point”. It is in fact intended to be the equivalent for agriculture and food of the roadmap of the International Energy Agency, launched in 2021 and which caused a stir by calling for an end to investments in fossil fuels. .
“The world desperately needs a road map that shows us a fairer, more resilient and more sustainable future for food systems. FAO has done a good job at the start, but it doesn’t take us all the way to the end. destination we need,” said Ruth Davis, a researcher at the European Climate Foundation, urging businesses and governments to factor food into their climate plans.
Transformation of agri-food systems
In 2022, some 735 million people were undernourished and 3.1 billion did not have access to healthy food. As 600 million people could still go hungry by 2030, according to projections, and the climate crisis sets the planet on a path to warming of more than 2.5°C if policies do not change , the FAO plan calls for a transformation of agri-food systems. He wants to reconcile the fight against climate change and more efficient food production
On the first point, the FAO sets the objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agri-food systems by 25% in 2030, for these to become CO2 neutral in 2035. Without forgetting the halving of greenhouse gas emissions. methane in 2045. The objective is for agriculture to become a net carbon sink in 2050. In its food component, the plan charts a path towards eliminating chronic undernourishment by 2030 as well as halving the food waste. In total, 1.17 billion tonnes of food are wasted worldwide each year, according to the World Food Program (WFP).
A viable planet and healthy food
The roadmap “highlights the importance of climate finance to enable a transformation of agri-food systems that delivers good food for all today and tomorrow,” said FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu. Yet the amount of climate finance allocated to agri-food systems is “surprisingly low”. And continues to decline compared to other climate financing flows, warns the UN body.
The roadmap still lacks details, at this stage, on the interventions to be carried out to guarantee the right to food in a livable planet. But it should be expanded during the next COP 29 and COP 30. It “nevertheless opens the way to fundamental debates for the survival of humanity”, indicates the Institute for Agriculture Trade Policy (IATP), while the The official agenda of the COP negotiations, so far, “has been terribly weak on agriculture and food.”