By Dr Lucy Wallace, Action on Food Hub Coordinator and Director of Global Relations at EIT Food, and Gonzalo Muñoz, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for UNFCCC COP 25 and Co-Founder of Ambition Loop

Our modern food systems are a flawed miracle. A series of complex and fast-moving global exchanges, they support a world of 8 billion people and sustain the livelihoods of nearly 4 billion. Their expansion has enabled the human race to flourish, populations to boom. Yet, these systems on which we all depend also come with increasing social, environmental, and economic costs.

The contradictions are stark. Each year, 12 million acers (5 million hectares) of biodiversity-rich forest in the world’s tropical zone is lost to agriculture, while a fifth of all food produced is squandered or lost before it is eaten – equivalent to one billion meals a day. While there has been a steady increase in ranges and availability of food for many of the world’s growing and advanced economies, there are still 2.4 billion people who struggle to access a decent single meal each day. And of course, all these imbalances are taking place whilst over 25% of the world’s daily greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are caused by the food and agriculture sector.

Our food systems are unsustainable, unequitable, and need transforming – fast.

Kickstarting food systems transformation

Encouragingly, change is happening. Last year, at the UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 28), we saw some genuine progress on global food systems transformation, including a Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action which was signed by 160 world leaders, and the creation of a new Alliance of Champions for Food Systems Transformation – a strategic coalition of ambitious countries determined to act together to drive systemic change and deliver better outcomes for people, nature, and the climate.

In addition, three dedicated pavilions – the Food Systems Pavilion, Food4Climate Pavilion, and Future Economy Forum Pavilion – each ran their own activities and thematic programs to elevate food on the climate agenda. This year, at COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, to enhance collaboration and create more opportunities for the food community to engage with international climate negotiations, these pavilions will unite under a single space – the Action on Food Hub.

However, much more needs to be done if we are to achieve our goals and deliver the food systems transformation the world so urgently requires. Ahead of COP 29, hundreds of food systems actors have reinforced an urgent call to safeguard food systems and build climate resilience by 2030.

Launched by the UN High-Level Climate Champions at COP 28, the Food Systems Call to Action has now been endorsed by over 300 entities including farmer organizations (representing 1.2 billion farmers), subnational governments (representing 2.2 billion residents), businesses along the agrifood value chain (with a collective revenue of USD 1 trillion), and 150 civil society and philanthropic organizations operating in all regions of the world. For COP 29, the Climate Champions, and the Action for Food Hub have joined forces to amplify these core asks further across the climate and food community.

The Food Systems Call to Action is a clear set of asks for governments and policymakers, as well as businesses, financial institutions, and other key stakeholders. If implemented, these asks can play a fundamental role in the transformation of the global food systems which is so urgently needed – as well as protecting the planet and people who live on it.

Setting out our food systems asks

1. Scale finance

Like everything, money is crucial. All sources of finance urgently need to be scaled up and reorientated so resilient, sustainable, and equitable food systems can be incentivized and supported. This means securing at least USD 260 billion a year, so we can halve current food-related emissions, whilst also ring-fencing finance to address adaptation and loss and damage among rural communities.

Governments also need to scale up incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Financial institutions need to shift capital away from deforestation-related commodities. Businesses, meanwhile, must share costs, diversify risks, and support farmers to scale up sustainable and regenerative agriculture practices which build resilience to climate impacts.

2. Strengthen global targets and action plans

For genuine progress to be achieved, we need a global roadmap for a food systems transition which has clear targets and sets out what needs to be achieved by when.

These targets need to align with the SDGs, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Governments need to update their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) with ambitious action on food and nature by 2025, as well as implement the COP 28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action.

Businesses must commit to setting science-based targets for climate, nature, and food systems and reporting progress and sharing best practice.

3. Support farmers, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities

We need to acknowledge the people at the heart of our food systems. It is the farmers who we rely on for our food – and who will be integral for a successful food systems transition.

Likewise, it is the knowledge and skills of the Indigenous Peoples and local communities that will be urgently needed for biodiversity restoration. Finance, policy, and decision making must recognize this so meaningful action and a just transition on food can be achieved.

4. Spotlight food systems in the three Rio Conventions

As well as facilitating finance, strengthening goals, and supporting farmers and Indigenous Peoples, we urgently need to move food systems up the agenda across the three Rio Convention summits on climate action (UNFCCC COP 29), biodiversity conservation (CBD COP 16), and sustainable land management (UNCCD COP 16). In doing so, governments are acknowledging that our food systems are wholly dependent on nature and impacted by climate change, and yet are also negatively contributing to them, thus undermining our food, nutrition, and security.

Food systems transformation as an opportunity

COP 29 marks our entry into the final hour on the global food systems cooking clock. Our message is clear, our call to action urgent. We, and the thousands of other actors in the food community, urge decision makers to listen and recognize that we must take unified, global action to transform food systems to deliver better outcomes for people, nature, and the climate.

The Food Systems Call to Action represents a significant alignment of a broad and diverse set of actors – not just to build stronger connections between food systems, nature, and the climate, but to create conditions that enable food systems transformation to take place and the planet to flourish. We all have a role to play. If we all take action, together we can go further, faster.