ProVeg International has submitted recommendations this month to a specialist UN negotiation focused on climate change with respect to food and agriculture.
This negotiation is called the “Sharm El-Sheikh joint work on implementation of climate action on agriculture and food security” and the ProVeg recommendations emphasise the importance of addressing food consumption in order to meet the internationally agreed targets set out in the Paris Agreement.
The submission was signed by over 50 partner organisations including WWF International, the Center for Biological Diversity, Brighter Green, Feedback Global, and Real Food Systems.
The Sharm El-Sheikh joint work is the continuation of the previous Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA) as UN Climate Change’s agriculture negotiations. It’s where countries come together to discuss commitments and implementation they will take forward in the food and agriculture area,
The previously existing Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture was adopted in 2017 and ended in 2022, with the guarantee of continuation for 4 more years under the Sharm El-Sheikh Joint Work. When the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture began, it was the first time that agriculture negotiations existed under UN Climate Change, and it was groundbreaking. Finally we had a space to address sustainability and climate in the agriculture area officially with United Nations member states!
The Sharm El-Sheikh Joint Work requested submissions until 27 March on what the elements of the joint work should be as well as future topics that ought to be covered in workshops of the negotiations. Having engaged in UN Climate Change since 2017, this is ProVeg’s 5th time submitting recommendations to the agriculture negotiations. We have regularly submitted recommendations near the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP) and the mid-year negotiations (SBs) in order to make recommendations in the direct lead-up to when the negotiators meet to decide outcomes in person.
These submissions are important because submitted documents are then reviewed by negotiators who represent countries at the UN climate talks. Not many organisations follow the process and not many submissions are made which allows for more opportunity of engaging organisations to have suggestions noticed and to achieve influence in the process, particularly when we have provided recommendations that speak directly to what the call for submissions is requesting. We can then share the recommendations document directly with negotiators as well and in our meetings.
The submission from ProVeg highlighted the following key messages:
- In order to meet Paris Agreement targets and successfully address climate and sustainability in agriculture, the Sharm El-Sheikh joint work on implementation of climate action on agriculture and food security must address food consumption.
- Agriculture and food consumption in the joint work should cover high-potential environmentally and socially responsible solutions, including increasing sustainable legume and bean production and consumption, facilitating access to plant-based whole foods and Indigenous crops, and increasing public funding for R&D for alternative proteins, particularly for products geared to the global south.
- Future topics of the joint work ought to cover the agriculture and food consumption solutions listed above as well as future workshop topics on youth, sustainable consumption, and just transition.
ProVeg will also be bringing these messages to the UNFCCC SBs, the mid-year climate negotiations conference that will be happening in Bonn, Germany in June. Our UN policy team will be on the ground engaging with negotiators, high-level officials, partners, and youth advocates. ProVeg will also be directly attending the food and agriculture negotiations while at the conference in Bonn.
Read the submission here
ProVeg has also signed onto the submission from YOUNGO, the Official Children and Youth Constituency of UN Climate Change. In the YOUNGO submission, there is a call for the development of an action plan with defined goals and objectives to further the work of the Sharm El-Sheikh Joint Work. There is also a call for the introduction of four future topics in the agriculture negotiations including agroecology, food systems and sovereignty, vulnerable groups, and food, agriculture, and environment in the school curriculum.
