Advancing regional priorities on climate change, agriculture and food security at COP28

With the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Climate Change Conference ‘COP28’ taking place in the United Arab Emirates, agriculture, the water-energy-food nexus and food security continued to be at the centerstage of FAO’s support. Following from advocacy efforts during last year’s COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, the Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa (RNE) with its partners continued to actively engage in shaping discussions on the unique challenges, opportunities, and needs specific to the Arab region.

RNE’s engagement focused on climate risks and impacts such as water scarcity and transboundary sand and dust storms; enhancing water-related priorities in adaptation and long-term strategies, migration and adaptation, and transformative climate-resilient solutions at the nexus of water, energy and food.

Water-Food Nexus in Action: FAO's Strategic Initiatives for Resilience in the Arab Region

FAO was a partner on the UNFCCC official side event ‘Arab Cooperation for Climate Action’, which facilitated discussions on financing for adaptation and mitigation in vital sectors across the Arab States. Noteworthy initiatives were showcased, including Saudi Arabia's vision for renewable energy and biodiversity, Kuwait Arab Fund's USD 1 billion contribution to green projects, and Lebanon's leveraging of technology and finance to address water scarcity through innovative solutions like desalination and rainwater harvesting.

FAO’s Zitouni Ould-Dada, Deputy Director of the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment, and Theresa Wong, Natural Resources Officer, RNE, emphasized the intricate link between climate change, water scarcity, and food systems in the Arab region. They stressed the importance of the Nexus approach in assessing synergies and trade-offs, which are critical for decision-making on climate-smart agricultural strategies and avoiding maladaptation. Such approaches can be leveraged through regional collaboration and sharing through mechanisms such as FAO's Inter-regional Technical Platform on Water Scarcity, which serves as a hub for sharing best practices and knowledge on water-energy-food nexus solutions within the region and beyond.

Partnerships and regional collaboration were clearly at the center of the region’s efforts in scaling up Nexus approaches.  On 5 December, FAO and Sida welcomed a contribution agreement to the FAO Multi-Donor Trust Fund on a new Water Scarcity Initiative Program. The initiative was launched jointly with partners ESCWA, the League of Arab States, ICARDA, UNICEF and others. With generous donations totaling USD 22 million from the governments of Sweden and The Netherlands, the initiative will focus on enhancing water accounting, irrigation efficiency, governance, and more, contributing to addressing water and food security risks in the region.

^{High-level panel at the Arab Cooperation for Climate Action event}

Sustainable Agrifood Systems in Focus

At COP28, over 150 countries endorsed the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action which emphasizes integrating agriculture into climate action, securing finance, and promoting innovations. In this context, FAO introduced the Agrifood Sharm-El Sheikh Support Program to help countries bridge the gap between commitment and implementation, bringing in also the COP27 Presidency-initiated Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation  (FAST) Partnership to enhance the quantity and quality of finance for addressing climate risks to agrifood systems.

Member countries in the region showed a clear appetite for furthering action on addressing the most critical climate risks to agriculture, environment and food security, including water scarcity, transboundary sand and dust storms, and sustainable, climate-smart agriculture.

The United Nations Regional Collaborative Platform's Issue-Based Coalition, involving UN-Habitat, ESCWA, and the FAO RNE, recently hosted the Regional Dialogue on Transboundary Sand and Dust Storms (SDS) in the Arab Region. This event addressed a range of challenges, including environmental degradation, desertification, land use, agricultural livelihoods, water resource management, and governance. In parallel, Uzbekistan organized an expert consultation on SDS in Central Asia, focusing on the region's significant contribution to SDS due to climate change and unsustainable land management. The desiccation of the Aral Sea, resulting in 5.5 million hectares of saline desert emitting harmful particles, highlights the severity of the issue.

These dialogues emphasized mapping anthropogenic SDS sources and exploring practical approaches, drawing lessons from global initiatives. The outcomes include crucial recommendations for enhancing regional coordination and effective SDS combat strategies.

The increased focus on SDS at COP28 underscored growing concerns about climate change's impact on extreme weather phenomena. Dust storms, prevalent in arid regions, are now recognized for their significant effects on agriculture, health, and the environment. FAO leads the UN Coalition on Combating SDS, comprising 19 UN and non-UN organizations, dedicated to a unified response at local, regional, and global levels.

Another side event ‘Towards Sustainable Food Systems and Agricultural Practices: Iraq and the NENA Region’ delved into challenges and opportunities in sustainable agrifood systems in Iraq and the region, emphasizing the importance of participatory, holistic approaches and partnerships to address these challenges collectively. Sustainable agriculture took center stage, highlighting the need for environmentally friendly practices.

FAO was also in wider conversations on sustainable and climate-smart agriculture. The event ’Unlocking Opportunities in the Middle East: Sustainable Agrifood Systems and Regenerative Agriculture in the Middle East and Africa’ co-hosted by PepsiCo and the League of Arab States, discussed the transformation of food systems for healthy and affordable food within planetary boundaries. Key topics included overcoming barriers to climate-smart agriculture, enhancing resilience, and reducing food loss. Discussions also focused on funding challenges for small-scale farmers and  unlocking investments for sustainable agriculture.

^{Panelist at the Iraq pavilion “Towards Sustainable Food Systems and Agricultural Practices: Iraq and the NENA Region” side event}

Addressing Climate Finance in Fragile Agrifood Systems

For the first time at an UNFCCC COP, a thematic day was given to peace, relief and recovery. Moving the conversation forward on the role of rural livelihoods in adaptation, mobility and climate security, FAO launched a report on the links between climate change, migration, and rural adaptation in NENA at a side event titled 'Adapting to change: climate change, human mobility, and food security in the NENA region.' The report highlights the role of migration in climate adaptation and the complexities of the climate-migration-food security nexus. A panel discussion involving representatives from NENA countries, UN agencies, civil society, and youth explored the different perspectives for harnessing migration's contribution to climate action and enhancing the resilience of rural households and agrifood systems to climate change impacts.

In an event organized by the World Resources Institute Korea at the Korean Pavilion – ‘From Crisis to Resilience: Addressing Climate Vulnerability and Promoting Peace in Fragile Contexts’ – Theresa Wong, FAO-RNE emphasized noted that acute food insecurity had surged from 108 million people in 2016 to 258 million people in 2022. She highlighted FAO’s work that demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of investing in disaster risk reduction and anticipatory action, including FAO's collaboration with the GCF to close the adaptation funding gap in Least Developed Countries.

FAO's analysis highlights a significant decline in climate finance for agrifood systems, posing a threat to addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and food insecurity. In 2021, contributions dropped to USD 19 billion, a 12 percent decrease from the previous year. At COP28, Member countries such as Jordan, Yemen and Sudan took the opportunity to share how they have been leveraging climate finance to deal with the double burden of conflict and climate change.

At the side event on "Climate action and finance to address food crises in fragile and conflict-affected contexts" held at the Food and Agriculture Pavilion, Jordan called for prioritization of support for addressing refugee-receiving countries in the face of climate change and water scarcity. Yemen focused on institutional challenges in climate finance and the need for public-private collaboration. Sudan highlighted how GCF and GEF projects are helping to smallholder farmers and agricultural value chains increase adaptive capacity to climate change.