The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of our food systems - and these systems will continue to be threatened by climate change.
In order to build climate resilient communities, we must take into account local and regional food systems. Co-creating agri-food systems policies with local producers, community leaders, city representatives, and consumers can result in more ambitious and effective climate policies.
Session 6A reviewed eight Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), looking at how they addressed governance, inclusion and stakeholder engagement. The session featured a panel discussion by farmers and city representatives from local Fork to Farm Dialogues from around the world, and aimed to highlight the voices of the many people whose local knowledge is often overlooked in the search for new ways of producing, processing and consuming food.
Some key messages:
• The way we produce, process and consume food is critical to mitigating, adapting and building resilience to climate change
• A focus on food systems in the development and implementation of national climate plans results in multiple co-benefits (e.g, peace building, health, food security & nutrition, climate resilience) and can link to multiple agendas (e.g., safeguarding biodiversity, land degradation, deforestation, the Sustainable Development Goals)
• Engaging farmers, local state and indigenous actors via local/regional dialogues results in innovative, socially beneficial and locally relevant solutions as well as more ambitious national climate action plans