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  • Indigenous Voices and Food Systems Lead the Way at COP28

    Indigenous Voices and Food Systems Lead the Way at COP28

    Christine Nalienya, a farmer in western Kenya, winnowing beans outside her home. Bean farmers confront various challenges, yet as smallholder farmers, they receive little support. Credit: Robert Kibet/IPS
    • by Robert Kibet
    • Inter Press Service

    Nov 22 (IPS) – In a groundbreaking development, indigenous farmer communities are poised to bring the spotlight onto food systems at the upcoming UN Climate Conference (COP28) in Dubai.

    Recent research revealing that food systems contribute to roughly one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions has spurred a compelling call to action.

    Furthermore, as one-third of the world’s food goes to waste, an alarming over 700 million people grapple with hunger. At the same time, a staggering 3 billion individuals cannot access a nutritious diet. This issue is poised to worsen due to the adverse effects of extreme weather events and biodiversity loss on global agriculture.

    After years of relative neglect in global climate negotiations, food systems have finally taken center stage at COP28.

    Estrella Penunia, the Secretary General of the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA), said at a conference held ahead of World Food Day that while approximately 4 percent of climate financing is allocated to agriculture, a mere 1.7 percent reaches family farmers.

    “We want to play the role of climate stewards in our farms, fisheries, and forests because we know the solutions on how to transition to sustainable, inclusive, just, and healthy food systems to regenerative and agricultural approaches,” Penunia told the virtual press conference.

    Under the leadership of the COP28 presidency, it is anticipated that world leaders will unite to endorse an unprecedented declaration acknowledging the undeniable connections between food systems, agriculture, and climate change at the World Climate Action Summit on December 1-2.

    What’s more, the COP28 event will set a precedent by dedicating a thematic day to food systems on December 10. Expectations run high for farmers, businesses, civil society, and other stakeholders to deliver ambitious announcements and rallying calls to further advance the significance of food systems in the current year.

    According to Penunia, governments, development partners, the private sector, and civil society organizations must unite to support indigenous farmers. She emphasized the need for favorable policies and programs to expand and enhance their work and for sufficient financing to be directed toward agriculture.

    “Direct financing for small-scale family farmers is key to empowering their organizations and cooperatives as effective change agents. The aim is to enable millions of family farmers to directly contribute solutions,” said Penunia.

    Stakeholders are concerned that the food systems agenda has been inadequately represented in global climate discussions, but there is now a growing recognition of the substantial impact of agricultural emissions, including methane and carbon dioxide, on the climate.

    David Nabarro, the strategic director at the 4 SD Foundation, emphasized that while the contribution of agriculture and food to greenhouse gas emissions has been known for some time, there is now widespread recognition that it warrants serious attention. Moreover, climate change challenges have intensified over the past few years, with increasing reports from farmers about the near impossibility of dealing with its effects.

    Nabarro, also a senior advisor to the COP28 Food Systems team, underscored the significance of the upcoming COP28 in Dubai. “It places the issue squarely on the table despite the difficulties involved and brings together various groups. World leaders understand the imperative of addressing all sources of emissions and working with diverse companies and countries to effect meaningful change.”

    Gonzalo Munoz, a former high-level champion for COP25 and lead on the COP28 Non-State Actors Agenda for Food Systems on behalf of the UN Climate Champions, stressed the need to demonstrate a sense of urgency and the imperative of scaling up action.

    “This call to action endorses the Emirates Declaration and backs its implementation, developed in consultation with non-state actors. Consequently, at COP28, there will be a launch of a non-state actor call to action aimed at transforming food systems for the benefit of people, nature, and climate,” said Gonzalo.

    This initiative also underscores the critical need to respect and value the traditional knowledge held by indigenous people and the local knowledge possessed by farmers, fishers, and other food producers.

    In the local context, respecting and valuing the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and local farmers, fishers, ranchers, and pastoralists is vital. it is equally important to engage women and youth in climate negotiations and other processes at all levels, as Rebecca Brooks, a high-level climate champion, emphasized.

    “Strengthening the capacity of organizations representing these groups and providing appropriate resources, incentives, and technical support is essential,” Brooks, also the pillar lead for the non-state actors pillar of the COP28 Food Systems and Agriculture Agenda, told the press conference.

    Dr Tim Benton, the Research Director of the Environment and Society Program at Chatham House, emphasized the pivotal role of transforming the food system in addressing the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, pollution, human health, and well-being.

    He raised the question of how to make it profitable for farmers to adopt more sustainable, resilient practices without the pressures often stemming from globalized systems to maximize yield at any cost.

    Benton also acknowledged the substantial challenges facing smallholder farmers in many parts of the global south, particularly in the middle latitudes.

    “The challenges for smallholder farmers in many parts of the global south, and particularly the middle latitudes of the world, are huge,” he reiterated.

    Regarding potential trade-offs, Benton recognized that there are real trade-offs, such as balancing biodiversity conservation, nutrition, farmer livelihoods, and greenhouse gas emissions. The complex task is to find solutions that address these trade-offs effectively.

    IPS UN Bureau Report


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    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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  • Informal Workers Key to Successful Waste Management in Africa

    Informal Workers Key to Successful Waste Management in Africa

    The Mbeubeus dumpsite in Dakar, Senegal, where Practical Action, an international organisation is helping the communities phase out open burning of waste. Credit: Practical Action.
    • by Robert Kibet (nairobi)
    • Inter Press Service

    NAIROBI, Oct 02 (IPS) – With the African continent recycling less than 11 percent of its waste, COP28 provided leaders on the African continent to consider integrated waste systems that include informal waste workers.

    Akinyi Walender, Africa Director at Practical Action, an innovative international development group, says the informal waste workers are rarely involved. She was speaking recently at the inaugural Africa Climate Summit.

    “For us to tackle the issue of waste, we really have to look at how we can have a more integrated system in place, which means we need to bring everybody along,” she told a session on open burning of waste on the sideline of the summit.

    Coming ahead of the upcoming Cop28 summit, Wandeler says it provided an opportunity for the African continent to think concretely about what it wants to achieve on climate issues.

    “The situation on climate is so dire that we do need to really act. We should already begin to look at opportunities within the continent and make those good while we wait for the funding that is supposed to come on adaptation,” Walender told IPS in an interview.

    Over 90 percent of waste generated in Africa is disposed of at uncontrolled dumpsites and landfills, often with associated open burning. Nineteen of the world’s 50 biggest dumpsites are located in Africa, all in Sub-Saharan Africa.

    The African Union set an ambitious target for African cities to recycle at least half of their waste by 2023, but many are still far from achieving this.

    According to the UN Environment Programme, the goal can be met and even surpassed with a shift of organic waste to composting and bioenergy recovery, along with the refurbishment, repair, reuse, and recycling of the waste.

    In 2016, Sub-Saharan Africa alone generated around nine percent of global waste or 180 million tonnes, of which about two-thirds is dropped in landfills and open dump sites, left to pollute the nearby environment and global climate. This is projected to quadruple by 2050.

    Last year, environment ministers from 54 African countries met in Dakar, Senegal, at the 18th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), committing to achieve a 60 percent reduction of open waste burning by 2030 and fully phase out open burning of waste by 2040.

    It is an ambitious target, which Walender says, “With the much wider UN 2030 Agenda on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in place, many countries have so much that they need to grapple with”.

    Akinyi Walender, the Director of Practical Action Africa, speaking during a session on open burning of waste at the sideline of the recent Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi. Credit: Robert Kibet/IPS
    Akinyi Walender, the Director of Practical Action Africa, speaking during a session on open burning of waste at the sideline of the recent Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi. Credit: Robert Kibet/IPS

    “We have many policies in place, but most are hardly implemented. The whole topic on open burning of waste and its 2040 timeline is very short. Many have yet to even put in place those policies that govern the open burning of waste. I feel that this timeline is actually very short,” Walender told IPS in an interview.

    Sam Dindi, director for training and community mobilization at Mazingira Yetu, a Kenyan-based environment organization, says if countries embrace a green and circular economy in which waste is reused, it has the potential to create job opportunities for the youth.

    “Open burning of waste is a quick way of addressing a problem, but again, it brings an even bigger problem that we may not be able to solve both as a country and as a continent,” he told IPS in an interview.

    Last year, Kenya passed the Solid Waste Management Act 2022, dubbed Sustainable Solid Waste Management Act 2022, which requires the closure of all open dumpsites and transit to landfills, a controlled form of dumpsite.

    “Kenya is making progress. Last year, Kenya passed the Solid Waste Management Act 2022, which transforms how we manage waste from the previous linear economy and promotes a circular economy in which waste is given a new lease of life. It is either upcycled or recycled,” says Dindi.

    According to Dindi, the implementation of the policies in place remains a barrier to the efforts of various stakeholders.

    “Implementation of the policies is where the rubber meets the road. This is where we lack the political goodwill because perhaps implementing these policies is perceived to affect some businesses, policymakers, or other interested parties,” Dindi told IPS.

    Dumping of waste, according to stakeholders who spoke at the session, agreed that the open burning of waste heavily impacts the impoverished and marginalized communities.

    A 2021 report by Practical Action dubbed Managing Our Waste indicates that nearly two billion people on the planet live without any form of waste collection, with Sub-Saharan Africa experiencing some of the lowest waste collection coverage.

    The report recommends monitoring waste management as a people-centred service, integrating the voice of those most affected and improving informal waste workers’ lives and working conditions.

    “At all levels, waste policies need to focus not only on environmental benefits but also on improving the lives of the poorest communities and workers. Their voices need to be heard in all key decision-making processes,” reads the report.

    In Senegal, Practical Action is working with local communities and government agencies to reduce the open burning of waste at two major dumping sites, namely, the infamous Mbeubeus site in Dakar and a second one in Thiès.

    “While it is generally seen as a responsibility of the local government, the community and the private sector need to be involved. If you look at the whole circular economy, there is the ability to reuse, recycle the waste, and reorient it in terms of packaging,” Walender told IPS.

    IPS UN Bureau Report


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    © Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

    Global Issues

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