Figure: COP28 climate talks put food and agriculture on the menu, but world’s largest publicly funded agricultural research organization says now it’s time for countries to pay the bill

CGIAR News - 14 December 2023, DUBAI – The world’s largest publicly funded agri-food research organization called for greater ambition after food and agriculture received unprecedented attention during the UN’s annual climate talks.  

The summit began with 134 countries signing the UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action. However, the final text on the first Global Stocktake made only one reference to food systems, even as an additional 18 countries signed the Declaration by the end of the conference. 

“It has been heartening to see food systems, agriculture, and the needs of millions of smallholder farmers and consumers in low- and middle-income countries raised so high on the global stage, but much work remains to be done,” said Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director at CGIAR. “For example, to date, the Global Stocktake and Global Goals on Adaptation are falling short of the ambition we saw in the UAE Declaration,” she said. 

Agriculture, forestry and land use generate around a third of greenhouse gas emissions, while the impact of climate change is devastating food production in low-income countries. An additional 189 million people will likely face hunger if the world reaches 2°C of warming. 

However, only 7.4 percent of overseas development assistance was directed towards research into tackling the root causes of hunger and malnutrition in 2021. Smallholder farmers, most likely to experience food insecurity and climate vulnerability, received just 1.7 per cent of climate funding in 2018.  

See more https://www.cgiar.org/news-events/news/ambition-investment-needed-to-deliver-food-and-climate-breakthroughs-after-historic-cop28/