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Uganda joins 133 other countries in committing to the UAE Declaration, emphasizing agricultural pathways aligned with the Paris Agreement’s long-term goals.

Uganda is one of the 134 countries that have committed to the UAE Declaration focused on the need to have agricultural pathways that fully focus on achieving the ‘long-term goals of the Paris Agreement’.

The parties that committed noted that ‘agriculture and food systems must urgently adapt and transform to respond to the imperatives of climate change’.

They committed to amongst others ‘scaling up adaptation and resilience activities’ to reduce farmer vulnerabilities; promoting food security and nutrition through increasing support to vulnerable people,; supporting groups of people that work especially the women and youths; and strengthening the integrated management of water in agriculture and food systems as well as maximizing the climate and environmental benefits while reducing harmful impacts associated with agriculture and food systems- by conserving, protecting and restoring land and natural ecosystems.

WWF Manager of Forests and Carbon Absorption Philip Kihumuro called for the protection of the systems that produce the food.

“This is a great opportunity for Uganda as a country. We need to consider how food systems become a positive ally to landscape restoration. Restored landscapes can coexist with Nature-Positive food systems; where we consider the role of trees in providing nutrition to communities but also leading to overall landscape restorations,” he said.

In September 2021, UN Secretary-General, António Guterres convened the UN Food Systems Summit following evidence that food systems are one of the main reasons we are failing to stay within the planet’s ecological boundaries.

It is the first time that governments have committed to bringing action on food systems into their responses to the climate and nature crises. Among other things, they are committing to helping food producers adapt to climate change, and to shifting away from practices that result in high emissions of greenhouse gases, while conserving, protecting, and restoring nature.

They pledged to integrate such actions in their National Adaption Plans under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, their Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement, and their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

They commit to doing this before COP30 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2025 and will review progress next year at COP29. On 10 December, the COP28 Presidency and partners will host an event focused on implementing the Declaration.

It will include the launch of a “climate policy toolkit for food” aimed at accelerating implementation. While the latest action will emerge as one of the positive outcomes of the ongoing UN Climate Conference in Dubai some of the delegates are demanding more action

Lim Li Ching, co-chair of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) in a statement said while that is an essential first step, the language remains very vague. “And specific actions and measurable targets are conspicuously missing – including shifting to healthy sustainable diets, phasing out fossil fuels, and reducing overconsumption of industrially produced meat.”

The Executive Director of the Food and Land Use Coalition, Morgan Gillespy said the Declaration is a much-needed development but noted that it should observed that from previous COPs the signing of a declaration is far from enough.

“Countries must rapidly shift to implementation from the moment the ink on the page dries,” he said.

Tom Mitchell, Executive Director of the International Institute for Environment and Development described the declaration as staggering because it has not included an obligation to include the agriculture sector in emissions reductions plans for so long.

“Government subsidies have long supported the polluting effects of large-scale agriculture, acting as a hidden brake on climate action. These payments should be redirected in a way that means people and nature can thrive,” said Tom Mitchell.

In 2021, a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) found that over decades, as populations have grown, more people are consuming – and wasting more food – than ever before. Unsustainable food production and consumption patterns are a common thread, running through many of the greatest challenges facing humanity today.

It further found that between 2000 and 2010, large-scale commercial agriculture accounted for 40 percent of tropical deforestation; and local subsistence agriculture was not far behind, accounting for another 33 percent. However human food systems depend on biodiversity to function, and conventional food systems reduce biodiversity – effectively destroying their foundation.