News in brief:
-Â The UN has unveiled a roadmap at the COP28 summit in Dubai, targeting global hunger and the climate crisis by promoting sustainable farming practices.
– It entails reducing livestock methane emissions, managing global fisheries sustainably, achieving safe drinking water access, reducting food waste, and eliminating traditional biomas.
The United Nations has taken a significant step towards addressing global hunger and its impact on the climate crisis with the launch of a roadmap outlining key objectives.
This plan, unveiled during the COP28 summit in Dubai, aims to ensure food security and sustainable farming practices while limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
It sets ambitious target that are to be achieved between 2025 and 2050. These goals include a 25% reduction in methane emissions from livestock, sustainable management of all global fisheries and access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.
Others targets are a 50% reduction in food waste and elimination of traditional biomass for cooking by 2030.
The plan emphasises the need to transform current food systems from their industrial model towards a more sustainable approach. It promotes diversification, shorter supply chains, and agroecology practices as the best way forward.
Additionally, it calls for a more equitable distribution of power within the food industry to address existing inequalities.
Meantime, experts point to the importance of prioritising nature conservation within the roadmap as well as the vital role that protecting and restoring natural ecosystems plays in ensuring food security and mitigating climate change.
The roadmap would align with the global agreement to protect 30% of the planet for nature by 2030. Furthermore, the UN acknowledges the need for increased inclusivity in the roadmap’s development and implementation. Broader engagement with stakeholders, particularly smallholder farmers, women, and Indigenous communities, is crucial to ensuring the plan’s success.
Subsequently, the roadmap will be further developed over the next two to three years, with additional details and goals set out at future COP summits. The intergovernmental body emphasises the need for increased climate finance to support agriculture, currently receiving only around 4% of available funding. Additionally, more efficient land and resource utilization within the agricultural sector is crucial for achieving the roadmap’s objectives.
While experts applaud the initiative, some express concerns about its scope and ambition. Some argue that it lacks the necessary depth and transformative vision to achieve its goals. Calls for more radical proposals and a stronger focus on nature conservation have been voiced.
