In the ongoing COP28, over 120 countries supported the COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health, which places health at the center of climate actions, thus recognizing the close link between the health of humans, animals, the environment, and climate. The COP28 is the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, an annual conference.
Also, the COP28 leaders made another Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Actions. This was announced on 1 December and was endorsed by 134 heads of state and government, including 40 from Africa. This makes it the first resolution by heads of government at any COP to establish an interaction between climate change and the food we eat. This declaration thus indicates that food systems are pivotal as either drivers or mitigating agents of climate change.
Climate change adversely affects our food systems and ability to produce and access food. Similarly, our current food systems, primarily the predominantly high production of animal-source food products, significantly contribute to climate change. This truth, as always, is that the present reality demands a well-thought-out solution to manage the challenges facing us.
World leaders pledged to integrate food and agriculture into their climate plans, affirming that agriculture and food systems must adapt and transform to respond to climate change demands. They proposed the following objectives:
1. Scaling up adaptation and resilience activities and responses to reduce the vulnerability of food producers to climate change.
2. Promoting food security and nutrition by increasing efforts to support vulnerable people.
3. Supporting agriculture and food systems workers in maintaining inclusive, decent work.
4. Strengthening the integrated management of water in agriculture and food systems at all levels. This is to ensure sustainability and reduce adverse impacts on communities.
5. Maximizing the climate and environmental benefits of agriculture and food systems by conserving, protecting, and restoring land and natural ecosystems, enhancing soil health and biodiversity, and shifting from higher greenhouse gas-emitting practices to more sustainable production and consumption approaches.
They committed to swiftly incorporating agriculture and food systems into climate change mitigation efforts to achieve these objectives. Also, they committed to ensuring that climate actions are embedded across all policies and activities related to agriculture and food systems.
This declaration and the resolutions further buttress that achieving a sustainable climate action requires urgently addressing the interaction between food systems, agriculture, and climate. Therefore, engagements and discussions that encourage the integration and implementation of food transformation that allow for achieving these commitments must be on the front burner.
Reducing the impact of food production on climate change is crucial. Fortunately, adopting alternative protein sources to animal-source proteins presents a potent solution among several applicable solutions. The fifth objective seeks a shift from higher greenhouse gas-emitting practices to more sustainable production and consumption approaches. Alternative proteins, which are famous for their reduction in the production of greenhouse gases, thus fit perfectly into the scene. By reducing the emission of methane and nitrous oxide, important greenhouse gases, they reduce how food systems drive climate change. Additionally, producing these non-animal-based protein alternatives encourages sustainable practices that contribute to the practical and sustainable utilization of environmental resources, an essential factor in addressing climate change.