CABI has highlighted its support for a just and inclusive transition to sustainable food systems at the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
This included commitments to share skills, knowledge and technical expertise on helping vulnerable countries around the world to build the capacity of their plant health systems threatened by climate change-induced crop pests and diseases.
This transition to a low emission and resilient agrifood systems is vital to stabilize the rapidly changing climate and ensure that the most vulnerable communities receive adequate support to adapt to the new agricultural realities.
CABI participated in a number of events including the Agri-Food Systems Summit (15 Nov), a UNFCCC official side event on ‘Just Transition Pathways to Achieve Paris Agreement Goals in the Agri-Food Sector ’ with the CGIAR, Ban Ki Moon Centre, PIK and Fairtrade, and a CABI led side event on ‘Bridging the Gap: Farmer-Centric Solutions for Effective NDC Implementation with the Adaptation of African Agriculture (AAA).
Just transition to sustainable agriculture
At the Agri-Food Systems Summit, Dr Dennis Rangi, Director General, Development, moderated a session on farmer-led pathways to a just transition to sustainable agriculture that addressed the social, economic, and environmental aspects of changing the food system in a fair way.
Dr Rangi highlighted that smallholder farmers are our main allies in the fight against climate change. He said the transition to more sustainable practices can risk harming farmer livelihoods, reducing farming diversity, and threatening regional food traditions if not managed inclusively and with sufficient market and financial support. This is, therefore, a collaborative effort involving all actors from ‘farm to fork.’
Srijita Dasgupta, CABI’s Climate Change Expert, moderated a session during the food systems hackathon on the topic of ‘Scaling adaptation for resilient food systems.’ She used CABI’s Plant Clinic Network in Pakistan as an example of how scaling solutions needs to be community-centred, evidence-based, aligned with country priorities, equitable and lastly, endorsed by the government for sustainability.
Just Transition for Increased Adaptive Capacities and Resilience
At the UNFCCC side event on ‘Just Transition Pathways to Achieve Paris Agreement Goals in the Agri-Food Sector’, Dr Daniel Elger, CEO, CABI, demonstrated how CABI is leveraging on the national extension systems to empower smallholder farmers with tools and knowledge that aid resilience, adaptation and sustainable output, and can be inclusive and address gender and other inequities at the community level.
He also stressed that the CABI BioProtection Portal advocates the use of safer-to-use and more environmentally friendly biocontrol agents to tackle crop pests and diseases, while data from earth observation, models and fields, have been combined to advise farmers, via SMS, when to intervene against pests.
Bridging gaps between smallholders and policy makers for achieving the Paris Agreement goals
Ms Dasgupta moderated a CABI-led event on ‘Bridging the gap: Farmer-centric solutions for effective Nationally Determined Contributions implementation’ – in partnership with AAA. Dr Elger gave a keynote speech at the event on ‘Bridging evidence, policy practice’ highlighting how CABI is using science and evidence for informed decision making in its programmes such as PlantwisePlus and the Juno Evidence Alliance.
Dr Lydiah Gatere, CABI’s Climate Change Expert, was a panellist during the event speaking on CABI’s digital tools and technologies and how they are made accessible to farmers for improving productivity.
She mentioned how CABI is using innovations in technology for pest risk management through the Pest Risk Information Service (PRISE), Horizon Scanning Tool and the Pest Risk Analysis Tool to help extension and farmers address imminent pest and disease threats, which are likely to worsen with climate change.
Ms Dasgupta further moderated two other events focusing on the enabling conditions to scale climate smart agriculture for improved resilience, and need for adaptation metrics for better planning, resource allocation, and policy refinement to support farmers more effectively.
Commitment to smallholders to adapt through better plant health management approaches
Dr Rangi also delivered a plenary statement, on behalf of CABI, given by intergovernmental organizations.
He said, “Ensuring that agricultural support systems, particularly in developing countries, work well, is a critical step in enabling adaptation to on-going and future changes in climate.
“The ability of farming systems to sustainably grow more and lose less to pests will be a major contribution to addressing this greatest of global challenges.”
He further highlighted that the PlantwisePlus global programme aims to strengthen national extension and plant health systems, and to help smallholder farmers build resilience to climate change.
“Key to this is the ability to predict, prepare and prevent crop pests and diseases using climate-smart digital technologies such as those used by the CABI-led Pest Risk Information Service in sub-Saharan Africa,” Dr Rangi added.
Last month (October), Ms Dasgupta attended a pre-COP29 workshop aimed at helping countries enhance their NDC implementation processes through joint actions and collaboration with countries in Asia and Pacific region.
The workshop in Bangkok sought to better understand monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems for the agriculture sector under the Paris Agreement.
Photo: Left to right: Dr Lydiah Gatere, Dr Dennis Rangi and Srijita Dasgupta.
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Main image: Dr Dennis Rangi, Director General, Development, moderated a session on farmer-led pathways to a just transition to sustainable agriculture at COP29.
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CABI’s commitment to climate change
CABI empowers people with skills, tools and knowledge to adapt and become more resilient to the impacts of climate change on crops and landscapes.
CABI brings technical expertise in addressing major pest and disease threats linked to climate change, notably the increased spread and impacts of invasive species.
Our approaches benefit livelihoods and biodiversity by ensuring agricultural sectors are embedded in healthy and climate-resilient and biodiverse landscapes with clean water and air, healthy soils and functional ecosystem services.
Find out more here.
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