COP27 and the topic of agricultural sustainability

World leaders are discussing actions to tackle climate change at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, with agriculture and food taking a prominent position this year as the world’s foods systems and vulnerable populations face increasing risks posed by climate change. In the present age of impending climate challenges, sustainable agriculture  is a very vital […]

World leaders are discussing actions to tackle climate change at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, with agriculture and food taking a prominent position this year as the world’s foods systems and vulnerable populations face increasing risks posed by climate change.

In the present age of impending climate challenges, sustainable agriculture  is a very vital topic in any discussion, let alone COP, which stands for “Conference of the Parties”. The parties are the attending countries that signed up to the original UN climate agreement in 1992. COPs are held by the UN every year, for governments to agree steps to limit global temperature rises.

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While the agricultural and food sector is profoundly impacted by climate change, it also contributes around a third of global greenhouse emissions, from production to consumption. Much of the emissions come from commercial, large-scale agriculture and processing and as you would imagine, the bulk of climate financing also goes to commercial, large-scale agriculture predominantly in the west. According to Climate Champions, whereas the world’s smallholder farmers produce around a third of the world’s food, only 1.5 per cent of global climate finance (USD 10 billion) is currently channelled into small-scale agriculture, and just seven per cent (USD 700 million) is going to value chain actors like smallholder farmers.

Businesses and individuals have over the years contributed to the degradation of the environment and warming of the planet, through predominantly burning fossil fuels. Conscious efforts are made now to reduce the level of negative impact on the environment. This involves usage of renewable energies, sustainable architecture, waste management, etc. Agricultural and indeed all environmental sustainability questions the human actions that have caused such problems as deforestation and pollution. It continuously seeks to create measured decisions and actions that will reduce the negative impacts we have on the environment.  Sustainability  spans across many fields and disciplines in its stand to address all the economic, social, technological and institutional aspects related to the challenges of the environment. Governments and organisations such as the United Nations are continuously making policies and laws regarding environmental sustainability. 

Businesses, including agribusinesses through their activities play the biggest roles in escalating climate change, and must vehemently explore sustainability in order to improve the long-term impact they have on the planet. This is why many devised new means of using natural resources such as land, agricultural produce, and energy. As regards energy, most companies are turning towards renewable energies as opposed to fossil fuels that cause a serious threat to the environment. Also, the long-term maintenance of this consciousness is necessary to validate environmental sustainability decisions and actions. Thus, ways are devised to make production and other processes of business completely sustainable. 

Experts agree that sustainability is a process which tells of a development of all aspects of human life affecting sustenance. It inarguably involves resolving the conflict between the various competing goals, and involves the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity. Therefore, it is a continually evolving process. The activities involved in achieving sustainability are hence very vital as the only vehicles of getting there. 

In other words, sustainability is the process of making sure current processes of interaction with the environment are pursued with the idea of keeping the environment as pristine as naturally possible. Thus, environmental sustainability demands that society designs activities to meet human needs while indefinitely preserving the life support systems of the planet. This, for example, entails using water sustainably, only utilizing renewable energy, and sustainable material supplies (e.g. harvesting wood from forests at a rate that maintains the biomass and biodiversity). 

There can be a case of an “unsustainable situation” when the sum total of nature’s resources is used up faster than it can be replenished. Sustainability requires that human activity only uses nature’s resources at a rate at which they can be replenished naturally. Inherently the concept of sustainable development is intertwined with the concept of carrying capacity. Theoretically, the long-term result of environmental degradation is the inability to sustain human life. Such degradation on a global scale could imply extinction for humanity, and agriculture’s purpose is to preserve humanity and planet. 

As smallholder farmers grapple to adapt to the often incredible impacts of climate change in Africa, one of my biggest worries is on Africa’s capacity to fund the timely innovation needed to safeguard its vulnerable communities and the continent’s food security. Donor funding has proven critical in the public sector building the economic infrastructure that supports farmers and agribusinesses to produce and process food, but how do we equally ensure there is funding for R&D and innovation in the private sector especially for startups and other agribusinesses in Africa? How do we get the much needed climate finance through for instance carbon markets to fund smallholder farmers and nature based solutions in Nigeria?

This is why I am excited to hear about the launch of Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation (FAST) by the COP27 presidency, to improve the quantity and quality of climate finance contributions to transform agriculture and food systems by 2030, supporting adaptation and maintaining a 1.5-degree pathway whilst supporting food and economic security. This multi-stakeholder cooperation programme will have concrete deliverables for enhancing country capacities to access climate finance and investment, increase knowledge, and provide policy support and dialogue. My hope is Nigeria can utilize this and many other initiative to tap into global climate finance for its smallholder farmers who are at the receiving end of the impacts of climate change.