UN Food Systems meeting: Commissioner Sinkevičius underlines the importance of climate action to enhance food system resilience

On Monday, Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries attends the UN Food Systems +2 Stocktaking Moment in Rome, Italy, where he highlights the importance of environmental and climate action to strengthen food system resilience, and promote the transformation towards sustainable food systems. The meeting, hosted by Italy at the premises of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is an occasion for country representatives and stakeholders to reflect on the increasing pressure on food systems, fuelled by climate change and biodiversity loss, and on the need to make agri-food systems more sustainable.

Food security is critical to safeguard the health and wellbeing of citizens and to achieve the SDGs by 2030. The effects of climate change, biodiversity loss, drought, desertification, and floods, will increasingly impact farmers in Europe and on a global scale. Decisive environmental action and climate mitigation in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework are essential to make agri-food systems more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive.

Commissioner Sinkevičius said:

There is a clear and urgent need to make our agri-food systems more sustainable. We can do that with forward-thinking regulation and the appropriate incentives to encourage investment, as set out in the European Green Deal. Food producers are already feeling the increasing impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss, like droughts and desertification. This proves that climate mitigation, biodiversity protection and food resilience are closely interlinked, and that they need to be addressed together, including through international coordination.

Background

The 2023 UN Food Systems +2 Stocktaking brings together country leaders, ministers, stakeholders, and other partners to reflect on the progress made following the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit in New York, where the global community affirmed the importance of transforming the world’s food systems for the benefit of people, planet and prosperity. The attendants use the momentum of the Food Systems Summit to reaffirm the need for an integrated approach bringing together the issues of food production and climate change, and for transforming agriculture and food systems by 2030. Key discussion topics are the need for sustainable food systems and the importance of bringing down GHG emissions, ensuring a just and inclusive transition, and the role of public and private financing.