warns that the agri-food sector cannot be absent from environmental negotiations

THE agri-food sector in the Americas is particularly vulnerable to climate change, while at the same time it supports food security and is strategic for the livelihoods of millions of people in the world.

The Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA), Manuel Otero, spoke with international media hours before the start of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 28), in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
In his message, he reiterated the organisation’s commitment to join initiatives that promote the transformation of agri-food systems to face the climate crisis and at the same time generate greater well-being for the entire population.
At COP 28, a forum that will attract global attention, IICA, together with its 34 Member States and allied organisations from the public and private spheres, will establish the House of Sustainable Agriculture of the Americas. The pavilion, which was set up last year at COP27 in Egypt, will host the highest level discussions on the role of regional agriculture in global warming mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Otero emphasised that agricultural activity has a marginal responsibility for global greenhouse gas emissions, but despite this, both among producers and in the public agricultural sector there is a solid consensus on the importance of acting in coordination to address to the climate crisis and, at the same time, reduce levels of food insecurity.
He also emphasised that agriculture is the only sector that can not only reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, but also make a fundamental contribution to the mitigation of climate change, by being a net carbon sink. In addition, it is essential for adaptation and resilience in the face of extreme weather events, he stated.
“If we take the emissions per hectare from agricultural production in general, including deforestation, Latin America and the Caribbean have fewer emissions, measured in carbon dioxide equivalent, than the European Union. This has been achieved with a great effort of science and technology and other public policies and, above all, with the courage and determination of the producers and workers of the agri-food systems,” stated Otero.

ADVANCES IN SUSTAINABILITY
COP28 in Dubai will be a crucial area of discussion on the present and future of the modes of production and consumption of all humanity, which will bring together some 70,000 world leaders, including heads of State and Government, senior national officials, industrialists, agricultural leaders, academics, experts, young people and representatives of the private sector and NGOs.

In this context, the public authorities and producers of the continent will have, in the pavilion of IICA and its allies, a privileged setting to show progress towards greater sustainability and towards the promotion of regenerative agriculture, which applies the One Health approach. , by a region that is decisive for food security and environmental conservation in the world.

“Latin America and the Caribbean, with its wealth in natural resources, is and will be, under any future scenario, a strategic actor in global food and environmental security. This reality, and the challenges posed by the SDGs and the Paris Agreement, has meant that the countries of the region, with the support of IICA, have been working together in different international spheres, in order to present the regional perspective and coordinate positions. and enhance resources based on common interests,” explained Otero.
The participation of IICA and its allies in the global event was formally approved during the last Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas, held in October in San José, Costa Rica.

On that occasion, ministers and senior officials from the 34 Member States endorsed the formation of a continental alliance for food security and sustainable development in the Americas, which proposes a roadmap of concrete actions to optimize the region’s contributions to the regional and global economy.
They also supported the work of the organisation as a promoter of collective action and the adoption of common positions in the face of the environmental crisis, which include the firm demand to developed countries that the agricultural sector access climate financing, since the cost of transformations cannot be placed at the head of the producers.

VULNERABILITY TO EXTREME PHENOMENA
Otero explained that the expectation of the agri-food sector of the Americas at COP 28 is that it be recognised that agriculture is a sector particularly vulnerable to climate change, strategic for the livelihoods of millions of people around the planet. And it is part of the solution to the climate crisis. Also, it is expected that progress will begin to articulate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the adaptation, resilience and mitigation objectives of the Paris Agreement.
Otero specified that the agri-food sector in Latin America and the Caribbean has significantly increased its productivity in recent decades, with minimal growth in the area dedicated to agriculture and a reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions.

“The agri-food systems of the region – he stated – are not failed, as some narratives try to argue. That doesn’t mean there aren’t things to improve. There is still much to do and problems to solve: there are still some 43 million people suffering from hunger; just over 133 million cannot access a healthy diet and more than 110 million adults are obese.
“The continental alliance for food security and sustainable development in the Americas,” he concluded, is based on the vision that the Western Hemisphere, as the world’s largest producer and exporter of food, has a central role in the face of global challenges. The agricultural sector wants to reinforce its role, further deepen the technological leap supported by science and innovation, and is ready to continue feeding the region and the world in harmony with nature.” (IICA)