00:00 Good evening everyone.
00:01 A very warm welcome to the COP 29 side event titled Climate Solutions in Agri-Food
00:08 Building Tomorrow's Sustainable Food Economy.
00:11 My name is Shobha Shetty,
00:13 and I'm the global director for the agriculture
00:15 and Food department at the World Bank.
00:18 Let me first introduce my distinguished panel.
00:22 Uh,
00:23 starting with Mr.
00:24 Fernando Matos Costa,
00:26 Minister of Livestock,
00:27 Agriculture and Fisheries of,
00:29 uh,
00:29 Uruguay.
00:31 And then we have Mr.
00:32 Stuart Horn,
00:33 who's the New Zealand ambassador for climate change.
00:37 Mr.
00:38 Peter Kain Kaindae,
00:41 who's the technical advisor to the government of
00:43 Sierra Leone on renewable energy and food security,
00:47 welcome.
00:48 And Mr.
00:48 Moises Savian,
00:50 Secretary of Land Governance,
00:52 Territorial Development and socio-environmental Affairs
00:55 of Brazil's Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming,
01:00 welcome to all of you gentlemen.
01:02 So
01:03 global food along with water demand is set to increase by 50 to 60%
01:09 in the coming decades as the world's population grows to 10 billion by 2050.
01:15 However,
01:15 food supplies will be severely threatened if little or
01:18 no action is taken to address climate change.
01:21 The numbers speak for themselves.
01:23 Over the past 30 years,
01:25 climate disasters such as floods and droughts have caused
01:29 $3.8 trillion in crop and livestock losses.
01:33 That's 5% of the value that agriculture generates annually.
01:38 Water shocks disproportionately affect the poor
01:41 and reduce the availability of a more inclusive agriculture and water system.
01:47 The global agri-food system is itself part of the problem,
01:50 being responsible for 1/3 of global greenhouse gas emissions.
01:55 That's more than the emissions from electricity and heating combined.
02:00 We know the hard facts.
02:02 Food systems are the
02:03 1 driver of deforestation
02:06 and the #1 cause of anthropogenic methane emissions.
02:11 However,
02:11 the good news is that agriculture can heal the planet.
02:15 It is a huge untapped source of climate change action,
02:20 not least by acting as a carbon sink for the world,
02:23 drawing carbon from the atmosphere through ecosystems and soils.
02:27 Cost effective solutions not only exist,
02:31 they are proven.
02:31 They include better fertilizer management,
02:34 enhanced agricultural water management that optimizes the use of both
02:39 green and blue water to achieve more crop per drop.
02:42 And the adoption of renewable energy from farm to table,
02:47 interventions like alternate wetting and drying for irrigated rice
02:51 and the use of nature-based solutions are also very promising options
02:56 for reducing the GHG footprint of agriculture
02:59 while ensuring food security.
03:02 But to reach momentum,
03:03 sufficient financing needs to flow into the agri-food system
03:07 that supports sustainable,
03:10 climate resilient agriculture practices,
03:12 including on irrigation,
03:15 instead of propping up
03:16 a failing food system.
03:18 Today,
03:19 the agriculture and food sector only receives 4%
03:23 of global climate finance,
03:25 but as my colleague Bill Sutton will show,
03:28 the benefits for people,
03:30 planet,
03:30 and economies could be game changing,
03:33 totaling as much as $4.3 trillion in 2030,
03:39 more than the value of the German economy and a 16 to 1% return on investment.
03:44 It is fitting that we are having this discussion here in Baku,
03:49 where one of the main priorities is to establish
03:52 a new
03:53 collective quantified goal on climate finance.
03:57 Before we head into our panel discussions,
04:00 I would like to welcome our keynote speaker.
04:03 William Sutton is the World Bank's global lead for climate and nature
04:07 in the agriculture and Food global department.
04:09 He will now open the floor with a keynote
04:12 speech on the World Bank's recently published flagship report,
04:15 Recipe for a livable Planet Achieving net zero emissions in the agri-food System.
04:21 Over to you,
04:21 Bill.
04:24 Thank you very much everyone.
04:25 Uh,
04:26 thanks for joining and uh hello to everyone who is
04:29 joining online as well.
04:31 Um,
04:32 I'm very excited to be here today and share with you
04:35 a selection of key findings and recommendations from our new
04:39 global flagship report Recipe for a livable Planet Achieving
04:43 net zero emissions in the Agri-Food System.
04:46 This is the first
04:47 comprehensive
04:48 global strategic framework on climate change
04:51 mitigation in the agri-food system.
04:54 And for those interested in the topic,
04:56 we've included the QR code.
04:57 We encourage you
04:58 to
04:59 download the,
05:00 the full report,
05:01 um,
05:02 which is freely available
05:04 online.
05:05 So,
05:06 um,
05:07 first off,
05:07 the,
05:08 the first question we often get when we talk about this topic is
05:11 why do we care
05:12 about climate change
05:14 mitigation in the agri-food system?
05:16 Shouldn't we just be focusing on adaptation?
05:18 Well,
05:19 the,
05:19 the reality is that
05:21 climate change adaptation and mitigation are
05:23 inextricably linked in the agri-food system.
05:27 And that the agri-food system is currently caught in a vicious climate circle,
05:32 and adaptation alone
05:34 is not sufficient to feed the world.
05:36 So
05:37 as this
05:38 diagram shows,
05:40 we're increasing agri-food activities to feed a growing global
05:44 population that's expected to grow by another 2 billion people
05:47 by the middle of the century.
05:49 That generates greenhouse gas emissions
05:52 which in turn.
05:53 Contribute to global heating.
05:55 That global heating
05:57 reduces agricultural yields in crop and livestock production.
06:02 So to compensate for that,
06:03 we further increase
06:04 agricultural activities which generate more greenhouse gas emissions.
06:09 So essentially we're trying to
06:11 hit a moving target that we're shifting
06:14 through our own actions.
06:16 Instead,
06:16 what we need to do is scale up action in both adaptation and mitigation
06:22 and create an agri-food system that's sustainable
06:26 and can help feed the world population
06:30 while also help.
06:31 Uh,
06:33 healed,
06:34 the planet.
06:38 One of the key findings of the report is that
06:42 greenhouse gas emissions from the agri-food system are actually
06:45 significantly higher than what was previously thought,
06:48 and
06:49 in this figure,
06:49 the bar on the left shows total annual global
06:53 greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide.
06:55 The yellow sheeted portion represents
06:58 the agri-food system emissions.
07:00 We estimate those
07:02 at about 16 gigatons or 16 billion tons
07:05 of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions per year.
07:09 To put that into perspective,
07:10 that's 1/6 more
07:12 than the greenhouse gas emissions from all of the electricity and heat production
07:16 globally every year.
07:19 Um,
07:20 the,
07:20 and,
07:20 and it's about nearly 1/3 of total
07:24 global greenhouse gas emissions.
07:25 The
07:26 pie chart to the right,
07:28 that's a
07:29 breakdown of those agri-food emissions by
07:32 categories and sources.
07:35 It shows that in orange,
07:37 the,
07:37 the farm gate emissions,
07:39 um,
07:40 that's what we normally think of as crop and livestock production.
07:43 That's the biggest category,
07:45 but
07:45 at 45%,
07:47 it's still less than half of the total.
07:49 The second biggest category in blue,
07:52 those are the pre and post-production emissions,
07:53 that's everything from the upstream
07:56 production of fertilizers and pesticides to the downstream
07:59 transportation,
08:01 processing,
08:01 retailing,
08:02 household consumption,
08:03 and on to food loss and waste.
08:06 Together those pre and post-productions
08:08 represent about a third of.
08:10 Agri-food system emissions
08:12 and finally in green land use change
08:15 directly linked
08:17 to
08:17 agricultural production,
08:20 the single biggest source of
08:22 agri-food emissions is still
08:24 net forest conversion linked to agriculture.
08:27 However,
08:27 if we were to combine the different livestock related categories,
08:31 uh,
08:31 enteric fermentation,
08:33 manure management and so on,
08:34 those would actually be bigger.
08:36 Taken together,
08:37 this
08:38 underscores the importance of taking a food systems approach
08:42 to this
08:43 challenge.
08:45 The next key point that
08:47 I'd like to emphasize from the report
08:49 is we find that without significant climate mitigation action
08:53 in the agri-food system,
08:55 the Paris Agreement goals cannot be reached.
08:58 So this figure
08:59 shows projected cumulative global emissions pathways between now
09:04 and the end of the century,
09:06 as well as our likelihood of achieving
09:08 the Paris Agreement targets of limiting warming
09:11 to 1.5
09:12 °C or 2
09:13 °C.
09:14 The
09:15 red line at the top,
09:16 and this is a simplified version of a figure that's in the report,
09:20 the red line at the top
09:22 that represents what is projected to happen
09:24 if we were to eliminate all non-food emissions
09:28 by 2075 but continue with the business as usual approach
09:32 to
09:33 agriculture and food.
09:35 The agri-food emissions alone would be enough to drive us past
09:39 the 1.5 degree target,
09:40 and even the 2 degree
09:42 target would be in serious jeopardy.
09:45 Instead,
09:45 what we need to try to do is achieve
09:47 what's represented by the green line at the bottom,
09:50 and
09:51 that means
09:52 achieving
09:53 net zero emissions in both
09:56 the non-food sectors as well as food sectors
10:00 by 2050 in order to have a better than 50% chance
10:05 of achieving the Paris Agreement targets and thus the
10:09 theme of our report.
10:13 One of the interesting features of this work is that we
10:16 carried out the analysis and we developed recommendations
10:20 based on World Bank country income categories to better understand the different
10:25 challenges and opportunities
10:26 for each of the different country types
10:29 and one of the
10:31 surprising I think findings is that
10:33 in fact middle income countries
10:35 generate.
10:37 About 2/3 of agri-food emissions,
10:41 and that's compared to about
10:43 21% of agri-food emissions from the high income countries
10:47 and 11% of emissions from low income countries.
10:51 This figure shows those
10:53 emissions for the different countries' income categories both today
10:57 and
10:58 30 years ago.
10:59 And based on this,
11:00 there are a number of important implications for climate action.
11:03 First of all,
11:04 in order to have a significant impact
11:07 on combating climate change in the agri-food system,
11:09 we have to focus efforts
11:11 in those middle income countries.
11:13 Second,
11:14 the fastest emissions growth is coming from those blue
11:18 pre and post-production processes.
11:20 And third,
11:22 we need to help.
11:23 Uh,
11:23 low,
11:24 uh,
11:24 sorry,
11:24 low income countries
11:26 to avoid those mistakes of the past and,
11:28 and get on a more
11:30 sustainable pathway.
11:33 In the report,
11:35 we
11:36 actually developed a recipe
11:38 for how we can achieve net zero emissions in the agri-food system
11:42 by 2050
11:43 using
11:44 cost-effective actions in land use,
11:47 in on-farm measures,
11:48 and pre and post-production processes,
11:51 as well as demand changes.
11:53 And these are all cost effective
11:56 measures
11:57 that can help us achieve net zero emissions in the agri-food system by 2050.
12:02 3 quarter of those opportunities are
12:05 in the middle income countries.
12:06 So as I mentioned,
12:07 2/3 of the emissions,
12:08 agri-food emissions are coming from middle income countries,
12:11 but 3/4
12:12 of the cost effective.
12:13 are also
12:15 in those countries.
12:17 These
12:18 measures are
12:19 primarily based on existing technologies,
12:22 so this recipe is doable.
12:24 Some of the actions are even cost savings,
12:27 such as using fertilizer and water
12:30 more efficiently and reducing
12:32 waste.
12:36 However,
12:37 we have a challenge which is that
12:39 finance for agri-food mitigation
12:42 is very low and needs to be scaled up significantly.
12:46 Um,
12:47 again,
12:47 a third of emissions coming from agri-food systems.
12:51 However,
12:52 sorry.
12:56 OK,
12:57 I guess the um.
12:59 Animation isn't working,
13:00 but
13:01 anyway,
13:02 the large blue circle represents total global annual climate finance.
13:08 The slightly smaller light blue circle is
13:11 the
13:13 total global mitigation financing,
13:16 and then you come to the
13:18 much smaller green circles that represents
13:20 the mitigation and total climate finance
13:22 for
13:24 agriculture and food.
13:26 Only about 4% of total climate finance
13:29 is going
13:31 towards the agri-food system and only 2%
13:34 of mitigation finance,
13:36 so
13:37 we estimate that
13:38 annual investments in mitigation in
13:40 and food need to increase by about 18 times
13:43 to $260 billion a year,
13:46 represented by the yellow circle
13:48 in order to put us on a pathway to net zero emissions by 2050.
13:54 That sounds like a lot of money,
13:55 I know,
13:56 but
13:57 in comparison,
13:58 the world spends about $660 billion every year
14:03 on
14:03 public support
14:04 to agriculture,
14:06 including subsidies,
14:08 so
14:08 we estimate that by repurposing
14:11 at least $70 billion of those subsidies,
14:15 we could
14:16 in fact
14:16 cover about 25 to 30% of the cost of climate smart action in and food.
14:29 So,
14:29 um,
14:30 again,
14:30 the,
14:30 the
14:31 The recipe for a livable planet is doable,
14:33 and every country can contribute.
14:36 In the report,
14:36 we come up with recommendations for how
14:39 each of the different country types can best contribute.
14:42 For high income countries,
14:43 they can lead the way by promoting renewable energy in agri-food,
14:48 providing more financial and technical support
14:51 to low and middle income countries,
14:53 and shifting their own subsidies towards lower emitting foods.
14:57 For middle income countries,
14:58 they have the greatest potential for mitigation.
15:01 They can reduce conversion of forests and plant trees,
15:05 cut methane in livestock and rice production,
15:08 and manage soils
15:09 more sustainably to store carbon
15:11 and use cleaner and more energy efficient
15:15 pre and post-production processes.
15:17 And finally,
15:17 low income countries can play a proactive role.
15:20 They can bypass the high emissions development pathways
15:23 by learning from the mistakes of the past,
15:26 preserve and restore their forests,
15:28 and finally improve agricultural practices
15:30 through climate smart agriculture techniques.
15:34 So
15:35 that's the kind of
15:37 Reader's Digest summary of the report.
15:39 Again,
15:39 if you're interested,
15:40 um,
15:41 I'd encourage you to,
15:42 to download the full report,
15:43 and I just wanted to mention that this work
15:45 is supported by the World Bank
15:47 Food Systems 2030 Trust Fund and many thanks to the,
15:51 the various donors who have contributed to the trust fund.
15:54 Thank you.
16:00 Thank you,
16:00 Bill,
16:01 for these uh highly relevant insights
16:04 and now let's explore how these challenges unfold in each country
16:08 and the solutions that our esteemed panelists are implementing.
16:12 So let me start with an opening question to all our panelists.
16:16 We have just seen an overview of the new
16:19 World Bank flagship report recipe for a livable planet.
16:22 Just as each country has its own unique cuisine,
16:26 different countries can have different approaches to developing
16:30 their own recipe for a livable planet.
16:32 So here we have 4 countries Uruguay,
16:35 New Zealand,
16:36 Sierra Leone,
16:37 and Brazil.
16:38 So maybe I can ask you,
16:40 starting with your,
16:41 uh,
16:41 with Minister Costa,
16:43 how are you scaling up climate action in your country's agri-food system?
16:48 Over to you,
16:48 Minister Costa.
16:50 Thank you very much.
16:51 Uh,
16:52 thank you for World Bank
16:54 and group for,
16:55 uh,
16:55 this space and they invite us
16:57 to share,
16:58 uh,
16:58 our opinions.
17:00 Uh,
17:01 first of all,
17:01 um.
17:03 I don't agree so much with the figures that we are responsible
17:09 for 30% of all the emissions from the agriculture.
17:13 So it's a point of metrics.
17:15 It's a point we have to discuss,
17:18 but
17:19 instead of this,
17:21 if we are responsible for 30%,
17:24 we are responsible also
17:27 for 100% of the sequestration
17:29 of carbon.
17:31 And also we are responsible
17:33 for 100% of the food security of the world,
17:36 so we can,
17:38 we have another point of view
17:40 from the agriculture.
17:42 No,
17:42 we are not
17:45 we face the problem
17:47 from this side,
17:48 we really are a problem.
17:51 We cannot discuss,
17:52 we can't improve.
17:53 We can't improve a lot.
17:55 But the fibers of the world,
17:57 the biofuel of the world.
18:00 And the and and to feed the world of an increasing population
18:04 is the responsibility
18:06 of agriculture.
18:09 So for answer to the question,
18:11 um,
18:12 Uruguay is an agro sporting country with
18:15 its economy heavily
18:17 reliant
18:18 on its natural resources.
18:20 For this reason,
18:21 our country has developed over several
18:25 decades
18:26 regulations and legislation for the protection of natural resources
18:31 and to promote efficient resource use
18:34 while also strongly committing to climate goals.
18:38 who are currently responsible
18:40 for
18:42 0.05% of the world's emissions,
18:46 with particularly
18:48 that we are a country that made its energy transition before
18:52 many other countries
18:53 and that has been protected by law.
18:57 98% of all electricity generation is from renewable resources.
19:03 Furthermore,
19:04 I want to emphasize that Uruguay is
19:06 highly vulnerable to increased climate variability.
19:10 Therefore,
19:10 the emphasis
19:12 of our climate policy is adaptation.
19:15 For our country,
19:16 many of the mitigation and adaptation co-benefits
19:20 efforts
19:21 lie
19:22 in implementing.
19:25 Improvements in the
19:28 efficiency
19:29 of production system based
19:31 on renewable energies protection of native forests
19:34 and livestock production mainly on native pastures.
19:38 The efforts proposals in our NDC
19:41 for the agriculture sector are based on science,
19:44 evidence,
19:45 and focused
19:46 in three aspects reducing methane emissions
19:49 intensity in meat and
19:51 dairy production
19:53 through.
19:54 The promotion of good herd and pasture management practices,
19:58 improvements in animal health,
20:00 and exploration of technologies to reduce emissions such as genetics,
20:06 metogenesis
20:07 inhibitors,
20:08 and biodisasters.
20:10 Reducing nitrous oxide
20:13 in agriculture through crop management
20:16 and innovation in fertilizer use.
20:19 And in promotion
20:21 of carbon conservation in soil and vegetation cover,
20:25 taking in account that the country protects soils by law
20:28 since 1980.
20:31 And
20:32 with our mandatory soil use and management plans.
20:36 In our 3rd NDC
20:38 we have worked.
20:40 Jointly with agricultural.
20:45 Private and public institutions to identify the actions
20:48 and means of implementation necessary to achieve
20:52 the proposed objectives
20:53 which resulted in sectoral roadmaps.
20:57 Thank you for.
20:58 Thank you Minister Costa,
20:59 and I couldn't agree more.
21:00 I think,
21:01 you know,
21:02 agriculture's blamed for a lot,
21:04 but we need to look at the metrics the other way too.
21:06 I think the potential to,
21:08 to address a lot of these issues is also in the agri-food sector.
21:12 But Ambassador Horn,
21:13 could you please
21:14 elaborate on how your country,
21:16 New Zealand,
21:17 is scaling up climate action in the agri-food system?
21:21 Thank you very much and,
21:22 and thanks,
21:23 um,
21:23 to Bill for a really informative presentation there,
21:26 um,
21:26 which,
21:27 um,
21:28 from our perspective,
21:29 um,
21:30 New Zealand,
21:31 it really hits home to us because as,
21:33 as a developed country,
21:34 um,
21:34 we are somewhat unusual in our emission system.
21:37 Um,
21:37 10% of our GDP is based on agriculture.
21:40 We export 85% of the food.
21:42 But 53% of our emissions are from agriculture.
21:45 So this is a clear and present danger to New
21:48 Zealand as we try and manage our own NDC system.
21:50 So,
21:50 thank you for that report.
21:52 That is very much what we focus on in our country.
21:55 So,
21:55 thank you first of all for an invitation to this important event.
21:58 My apologies,
21:59 our minister,
22:00 uh,
22:00 for Climate Change,
22:01 the Honorable Simon Watts,
22:02 was wanting to attend,
22:03 but he's also co-facilitating the Article 6
22:05 negotiations,
22:06 and that is,
22:07 um,
22:07 keeping him somewhat busy.
22:09 Um.
22:10 As highlighted in the recipe for a livable Planet report,
22:13 there,
22:13 there are many effective options for improving
22:16 agricultural food systems to reduce emissions,
22:18 but obviously,
22:19 the key element is reducing emissions
22:21 while improving productivity and food security.
22:24 Um,
22:25 I'm gonna focus on my remarks over
22:27 both questions on,
22:28 on,
22:28 on a few items from the menu of options
22:31 and the recipe of,
22:32 for a livable planet report,
22:33 which are based on our own experience in New Zealand.
22:36 Um,
22:36 so I'll focus,
22:37 um,
22:38 Subsidies,
22:39 innovation,
22:39 and global collaboration.
22:41 So if I look at subsidies,
22:43 um,
22:44 you know,
22:44 as I said,
22:44 it's been the backbone of New Zealand and our
22:47 agriculture sector's prided itself on innovation,
22:50 capability,
22:50 and efficiency.
22:52 Our food producers are mainly family farms,
22:54 um,
22:54 but they're business people and they consider themselves stewards,
22:57 stewards of the land.
22:58 Um,
22:59 40 years ago,
23:00 um,
23:01 New Zealand removed all our support for
23:02 agriculture as part of economy-wide reforms.
23:05 This was a huge shift in New Zealand.
23:08 Um,
23:08 supported made up of 40% for our sheep farmers.
23:11 Farmers had to adapt.
23:13 They had to search for new export markets,
23:15 but they were also able to produce more
23:17 with using less.
23:18 For example,
23:19 as a As a result of the reform,
23:20 we had 70 million sheep in our country in 1983.
23:23 By 2005,
23:25 we had 40 million,
23:26 and production removals remained largely the same.
23:28 If you think of that from an efficiency and a sustainability perspective,
23:31 that's quite significant.
23:33 Um,
23:34 export revenue doubled in 10 years following these reforms,
23:37 increased by over 60% in the subsequent decade.
23:40 But there,
23:41 I suppose the point that's relevant here is it's
23:42 the elimination of subsidies that's had the positive environmental benefits
23:47 because it spurs the uptake of better farm management practices.
23:50 It reduces the use of environmentally harmful inputs
23:53 and stopping farming on marginal land,
23:56 and emissions intensities have continued to fall.
23:59 And in terms of other steps we're taking is we
24:01 are committed in terms to measuring all farm emissions by 2025
24:06 and by introducing,
24:07 um,
24:08 emissions pricing systems by 2030.
24:11 So I'll,
24:11 I'll stop there now and I'll continue perhaps on the themes
24:14 of collaboration and innovation a wee bit later in this panel.
24:18 Thank you,
24:18 Ambassador Horn.
24:19 Very,
24:19 uh,
24:19 very interesting innovations,
24:21 um,
24:22 that you've talked about here.
24:23 Um,
24:24 uh,
24:24 Mr.,
24:25 Mr.
24:26 Kainane,
24:26 could you please elaborate how you are dealing
24:29 with climate action in the agri-food system in your country of Sierra Leone?
24:34 Thank you very much,
24:35 Madam Chair.
24:37 Uh,
24:37 first of all,
24:38 apologies,
24:39 uh,
24:39 from Doctor,
24:41 uh,
24:42 Kanda Yamkela who could not be here
24:44 and I'm filling in for him.
24:47 Uh,
24:47 in Sierra Leone.
24:50 Realizing the importance of
24:53 Soil health
24:56 to
24:58 everything,
24:59 the government has just suddenly undertaken a national
25:03 soil survey
25:05 so we are able to identify
25:08 particular
25:08 soil characteristics
25:10 for
25:12 growing specific crops.
25:14 So that's one thing we have done.
25:17 And
25:18 we have introduced
25:21 on a very large scale.
25:23 Agroforestry.
25:25 I mean here we are talking about
25:28 uh
25:30 mixing
25:31 crops,
25:33 food crops with tree crops
25:35 to the extent that um
25:37 um the uh
25:39 there's a symbiotic relationship between them
25:42 um some fixing nitrogen,
25:44 but also the fact that
25:45 you could have on the same
25:47 um soil,
25:48 uh,
25:49 the same land size
25:50 different uh activities going on.
25:54 And then,
25:54 uh,
25:57 recently
25:57 we are exploring,
25:59 uh,
26:00 the concept of agrivoltaics,
26:03 which is actually,
26:04 uh,
26:05 combining solar energy production
26:07 with,
26:07 uh,
26:08 agricultural,
26:09 uh,
26:10 production,
26:12 and this will ensure that,
26:13 uh,
26:14 we maximize land productivity
26:17 per
26:18 unit of,
26:19 uh,
26:20 the land,
26:21 unit of the land.
26:23 And then cover cropping is one thing
26:26 we are doing.
26:27 It is to ensure that um.
26:30 Um,
26:30 it protects soil
26:32 and also sequester carbon.
26:34 Our view is that all of these solutions
26:37 align with the global climate
26:40 goals
26:41 and can transform agri-food systems.
26:44 Into
26:45 drivers of resilience and sustainability.
26:49 Over.
26:51 Thank you very much,
26:52 uh,
26:52 Mr.
26:52 Savian,
26:53 could we hear from you about what Brazil is doing
26:56 to scale up climate action in the agri-food sector.
27:00 Thank you,
27:00 uh,
27:01 very much,
27:02 which is,
27:03 everyone
27:04 in 2023,
27:07 uh,
27:08 which in 2000.
27:11 23.
27:12 The minister of agrarian Development and
27:15 Family Farming returned the Brazilian institutions
27:20 after being shined by a coup
27:23 that overthrew President Dilma Rousseff.
27:27 Now
27:28 President Lula government understand that
27:31 family sustainable agricological farm.
27:34 is fundamental to face climate change
27:38 and also for the future of the world.
27:42 It is only which action
27:45 that we will achieve the sustainable transition
27:49 that our time demands.
27:51 Between
27:53 2023
27:55 and 2024,
27:57 Brazil had accept deforestation by more than
28:02 30% in the Amazon,
28:04 the biomeome that holds more than half of the planet's biodiversity.
28:10 Deforestation
28:12 was also reduced
28:14 by
28:14 25 in the Cerrado
28:17 Cejado biome,
28:19 which has more than 6000 different species of trees.
28:26 It is by understanding the importance of combining
28:31 the creation of opportunities,
28:34 food production
28:35 and environmental preservation.
28:38 That the government of Brazil
28:41 has launched the product Flores agreement.
28:45 The goal is to create a production
28:48 system
28:49 that combine family farming and the restoration in Brazilian biomes.
28:55 The program
28:56 is work to disseminate techno technical
29:01 knowledge
29:02 which is essential for each the need that climate change impose on us.
29:09 Seed banks,
29:11 seedling,
29:12 nurseries,
29:13 demonstration units,
29:15 and community centers for collective education
29:19 will also be encouraged.
29:22 President Lula's government
29:24 and your country
29:26 are committed to face climate change.
29:29 I feel privileged
29:31 of building a sustainable ecological transition
29:35 for Brazil.
29:37 In 2025
29:40 we want to meet everyone in Berlin
29:43 at Copy 30
29:46 and we also want to be
29:48 able to share
29:50 the policies and the results
29:52 of
29:53 your work.
29:54 Thank you very much.
29:56 Thank you very much Secretary Savian.
30:01 Yes,
30:01 I think we're all looking forward to being in Belem next year.
30:04 So thank you very much for that.
30:06 Um,
30:07 let me follow up with a few questions for our panelists.
30:11 Um,
30:11 maybe a question for,
30:12 for Minister Costa.
30:14 Um,
30:14 Uruguay recently secured a $350 million World Bank loan
30:20 with a unique mechanism that reduces interest payments
30:24 if the country meets targets
30:26 for lowering methane emissions in beef production.
30:30 So could you,
30:31 could you tell us about
30:35 How your ministry is approaching the
30:37 challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions
30:41 from livestock
30:42 while maintaining productivity.
30:46 OK,
30:47 thank you for the question.
30:48 Uruguay
30:49 made a significant step in its climate commitments
30:53 by linking mitigation targets to the country's finances.
30:58 The first to highlight
31:00 is the strong institutionality in our country.
31:03 In this case,
31:04 the Ministry
31:06 of Agriculture,
31:07 the Ministry of the Environment,
31:08 and the Ministry of Economy and Finance
31:11 worked together to design an intervention
31:15 at the field level financed by the interest rate savings generated.
31:20 Based on the evidence,
31:22 we generated a program for technical assistance
31:26 for livestock producers.
31:28 This program is based on working together with producers
31:33 on what we call the triple win
31:36 reduce methane emissions per kilogram of meat produced,
31:41 increase productivity
31:42 and income of producers,
31:44 and improve biodiversity indicators of the farm.
31:47 With previous similar programs we achieved
31:50 18% of reduction
31:53 in emissions intensity
31:55 per kilogram of meat produced,
31:57 80% increase in beef production,
32:01 and
32:02 17% increase in sheep meat production,
32:06 7% increase in plant biodiversity.
32:09 A particular feature
32:11 of this program.
32:13 Is that
32:14 it's being designed
32:16 and will be implemented jointly with academic institutions,
32:20 universities,
32:21 research institutes,
32:22 agricultural institutes,
32:24 and monitoring
32:25 of the main producers associations
32:28 with the aim
32:29 of the making in a country program
32:31 that we all support because there is a great responsibility
32:35 associated with the use of public funds.
32:41 Thank you very much Minister Costa.
32:43 Um,
32:44 question for you,
32:44 Ambassador Horn.
32:45 Uh,
32:45 New Zealand has recently become
32:47 the latest donor to support the World Bank's Food System 2030 Trust fund,
32:52 so we thank you for that.
32:53 Um,
32:54 which key policies do you think have
32:56 been effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions?
33:00 In New Zealand's agrifood sector,
33:02 specifically with regards to methane.
33:05 Well,
33:05 well,
33:05 thank you very much,
33:06 and,
33:06 and also thank you to Minister Costa.
33:08 I was listening very carefully there because obviously when we talk methane,
33:11 like yourself,
33:11 it's biogenic methane
33:13 very much related to,
33:14 to livestock.
33:15 So,
33:16 um,
33:17 and,
33:17 and I'll come back to that in a,
33:18 in a minute.
33:19 So,
33:19 obviously,
33:19 we don't do subsidies in New Zealand anymore,
33:21 but obviously,
33:22 the government still has a role in supporting the provision of,
33:25 of public goods.
33:27 Wow.
33:31 Is that all right?
33:32 Um,
33:32 shifting our focus,
33:33 um,
33:34 to supporting the,
33:35 the sector through levers like research and development,
33:38 we believe the best way to support our food producers
33:41 is to empower positive changes at the farm level,
33:43 incentivizing constant innovation that benefits sustainability,
33:47 basically.
33:48 Producing more with using less.
33:50 These are the areas we can make movements on.
33:52 New Zealand's had a long history of
33:54 actually having significant amounts of renewable energy.
33:56 We currently sit at over 90% of our energy production is renewable for our grid.
34:00 So the place that we can actually make a change is in the biogenic methane.
34:04 Area.
34:05 One thing we've committed is 400 million over the next 4 years
34:08 to accelerate the availability of tools
34:10 and technology to reduce on-farm emissions,
34:14 including through our domestic agricultural greenhouse gas Research Center
34:18 and through AgriZero,
34:19 which is a 50/50,
34:21 um,
34:21 public-private joint venture
34:23 aimed at commercializing promising solutions.
34:26 Um,
34:26 these are different kinds of promising solutions.
34:28 These are ranging things from UV treatment of seeds to improve,
34:32 to improve,
34:32 um,
34:33 lower methane.
34:34 Genetics,
34:35 vaccines,
34:36 bolus.
34:37 It's,
34:37 it's basically,
34:38 there's not a silver bullet here.
34:39 It's going to be a whole range of different
34:41 initiatives that are going to bring down methane.
34:44 Um,
34:44 we are getting some very promising results in some of these areas.
34:47 We're investing not just in New Zealand,
34:49 but also offshore.
34:51 This is the one area we really are committed to,
34:53 to making a difference.
34:54 And obviously,
34:55 New Zealand has a pasture-based system which like many
34:57 developing countries and like our friends in Uruguay.
35:00 So that gets me to the second point,
35:02 which is about global collaboration.
35:04 Domestic's important,
35:05 but the scale of the challenges
35:06 for agrifood systems requires global collaboration.
35:10 New Zealand's a founding member of the Global Research Alliance for Greenhouse,
35:14 agricultural greenhouse gasses,
35:15 the GRA.
35:16 That's got 68 members now,
35:18 and that alliance has got a commitment
35:20 to working together
35:22 to find ways to grow more food
35:24 without growing greenhouse gas emissions,
35:26 and that is the magic solution we've got to aim for.
35:30 Through the Alliance,
35:31 our international development program,
35:33 and other initiatives,
35:34 New Zealand collaborates with and provides support to the Pacific
35:37 and to the rest of the world.
35:38 to improve food security,
35:40 improve access to irrigation,
35:42 and build the climate resilience of indigenous crops and plants,
35:45 and build sustainable food systems.
35:47 Um,
35:48 as you noted,
35:48 we are proud to partner with the World Bank through its Food Systems 2030 fund.
35:53 We're providing over $16.5 million New Zealand
35:55 dollars through this fund to support countries
35:57 in East and Southern Africa to develop food system climate action plans,
36:01 which highlight mitigation and adaptation
36:04 at each stage of the value chain.
36:06 And identify bankable investment strategies because it's getting that private
36:11 sector investment in here that will make the difference.
36:14 The aim is to enable countries to access climate
36:17 and gender-smart finance and make sustainable investment decisions,
36:21 including around options
36:22 to repurpose environmentally harmful agricultural subsidies.
36:27 We're also investing another 25 New Zealand
36:30 million.
36:30 That,
36:30 that's about.
36:31 About 15 US
36:32 um into our climate smart agriculture initiative,
36:34 um,
36:35 at our Ministry of Primary Industry
36:36 and that focuses on identifying opportunities to build
36:40 opportunities to build low emission production food systems
36:43 across Africa,
36:44 across ASEAN,
36:45 Latin America and the Caribbean.
36:48 This emission,
36:48 it supports emissions measurement
36:51 because
36:52 you can only manage what you mission,
36:53 and this gets back to your point,
36:54 Bill.
36:54 You only know what the problem is when you measure it,
36:57 um,
36:57 to meet international targets.
36:59 So,
36:59 um.
37:00 I think at that point I'll,
37:02 I'll wrap up.
37:03 I think my thanks to the speakers for your insightful words,
37:05 and I look forward to hearing a few more discussions from the other panelists.
37:08 Thank you.
37:09 Thank you,
37:09 Ambassador Horn.
37:10 So maybe let me,
37:11 I know we're running out of time,
37:12 but,
37:14 but,
37:14 um,
37:15 uh,
37:15 Mr.
37:15 uh,
37:15 Kainane,
37:16 Sierra Lee.
37:17 faces growing challenges to its food and nutrition security
37:20 as a result of climate change and other threats.
37:23 What measures is your government taking?
37:26 Is your government taking to enhance the climate resilience
37:29 of the food sector while reducing emissions where possible?
37:35 Yeah,
37:36 thank you very much,
37:37 uh,
37:37 Madam Chair.
37:39 Yeah,
37:39 uh,
37:39 Sierra Leone,
37:41 the,
37:41 the,
37:41 the president of the Republic of Sierra Leone is very,
37:44 very serious about,
37:45 uh,
37:46 uh,
37:46 reducing,
37:47 uh,
37:48 climate
37:49 challenges for,
37:50 for
37:51 initially for
37:53 the country,
37:54 but
37:55 globally for
37:56 the whole world.
37:57 Um,
37:59 with,
37:59 with this in mind,
38:01 there has been a lot of outreach to
38:05 smallholders
38:06 because they account for
38:08 75% of the producers in the country,
38:13 and
38:13 if you are able to target them
38:16 and ensure that they are aware of,
38:18 um,
38:19 that they are aware of the challenges,
38:22 because as I speak here.
38:23 Uh,
38:24 over 30% of
38:26 the rice
38:27 feeds
38:29 were devastated this year
38:30 because of the rains,
38:32 so
38:33 they are aware of that,
38:34 but how
38:37 What measures are they going to take to
38:40 to
38:41 ensure that this does not
38:43 affect them?
38:44 These are the things that the government of Sierra Leone is doing,
38:48 and we are working together
38:50 with colleagues from
38:53 other uh we are we are.
38:56 A member of
38:57 the Alliance of
38:59 champions for Food Systems transformation,
39:03 I mean
39:03 Sierra Leone,
39:04 Brazil,
39:06 uh,
39:06 Rwanda,
39:08 uh,
39:08 uh,
39:08 Norway,
39:09 and Cambodia,
39:11 we are
39:12 talking to each other on how we can mitigate some of these issues.
39:17 So
39:18 because of the,
39:18 the,
39:19 the importance of uh.
39:21 This,
39:22 how this will affect
39:23 the,
39:24 the,
39:25 the,
39:26 the smallholder farmers,
39:28 uh,
39:28 the country,
39:29 the the government is doing everything possible
39:31 to make sure we uh resolve these issues.
39:34 Thank you.
39:36 Thank you very much.
39:37 Um,
39:37 unfortunately we are going,
39:38 we have run out of time.
39:40 I would like to thank all the panelists
39:42 for this really energizing and interesting discussion.
39:45 We've heard about major challenges,
39:47 but also innovation,
39:49 successful policies,
39:51 and the critical role of global cooperation.
39:54 I think it's clear while each country faces unique challenges,
39:57 there's a lot that we can learn from
40:00 and achieve with each other.
40:02 As we move forward,
40:03 let us take inspiration from the examples shared today
40:06 and continue to foster collaboration,
40:09 innovation and inclusivity in our efforts to combat climate change.
40:13 Thank you all very much and maybe a big round of applause for our panelists.
40:17 Thank you.
- add-style
- lp-body-content