The UN stance on food was a COP-out says Slow Food leaders

December 14, 2023 Blogs

SaveSavedRemoved 0

Deal Score0

Slow Food is a food movement in Europe that find the best Slow Cheese in Europe. So many organizations. So many labels. So many movements.

The Slow Food movement which started in Italy says everything that we love about real food that is sustainable. Slow Food brings people, farmers, and systems-thinking in agriculture, along with the joy of farming and the pleasure of community. Slow Food has been featured on Green Prophet over the years. Check out this article on the best cheese in Europe and how they make it.

“This was supposed to be the Food COP, but the conclusions were not good neither for the future of the food systems nor for limiting the effects of climate change,” said Edward Mukiibi, Slow Food president.

Slow Food cheese

“The expectations around potentially positive efforts such as the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, signed by over 150 States, the Sharm el-Sheikh Joint Work on Agriculture and Food Security and the FAO Roadmap were failed by the lack of concrete and binding targets, the influence of major emitters in the agriculture sector and the postponement of the discussions to transform the food systems at the next meetings.”

The main outcome of /, namely the Global Stocktake, was largely void, with just one mention of food systems under the Adaptation section but excluded from the Mitigation section.

At last, after long negotiations, the mention of a transition away from fossil fuels has been included for the first time, but the deal is full of loopholes that will allow countries not to move as fast as needed to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

In addition, despite the different historical responsibility for emissions between developed and developing countries it does not properly differentiate their roles in the transition away from fossil fuels.

“Most disappointingly, as expected, agro-ecology was sidelined and did not emerge in policy discussions as a key element, nor was it mentioned as the solution which will allow us to reverse the course and fight against climate change.”

Translated, this means a further worrying delay in addressing the urgent climate challenges the planet is facing, ignoring crucial climate solutions through a meaningful food systems transformation.