Post-COP28: Food Systems an integral part of the climate change solution

As the dust settles post-COP28, it’s time to reflect on what it meant for agriculture. And Sierra Leone.

For the first time, food has been brought to the centre of COP discussions. +150 countries, including those with the highest food-related greenhouse gas emissions: Brazil, China, the EU, and the US, signed the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action, committing to integrate food into their climate plans by 2025.

Because at COP28, we all agreed that global food systems were a problem. Food production has become a primary source of environmental destruction, causing 90% of deforestation, 60% of biodiversity loss and 30% of greenhouse gases, using 70% of our freshwater supply.

But in the quest for economic growth and climate resilience, food systems are also the answer.

In Sierra Leone, food systems is at the heart of our national plan – and President Bio’s top priority. More than that – a resilient food system that encompasses the entire process, from research and planting the grain, all the way until food reaches our plates. Long before COP28, we decided to act and apply a systemic approach to transform our food system under the Feed Salone Strategy.

Feed Salone takes such a systemic, whole-of-government approach: The President created the Presidential Council for delivering Feed Salone, gathering all the important stakeholders to ensure we act as a collective in addressing the pressing issues of food: Ministry of Finance, Health, Environment, Energy, Transport and more.

Food Day at COP28 was a great platform to showcase President Bio's vision for Feed Salone and to launch an ambitious group aiming to build resilient food systems, the Alliance Of Champions for Food Systems Transformation (ACF), supported by the Food Systems Collaboration Network (FSCN). Sierra Leone is its co-chair together with Brazil and Norway; Cambodia and Rwanda joined as founding members. More here.

ACF will set new standards in food systems transformation through its whole-of-government approach, tackling the climate crisis head-on. Sierra Leone's leadership in this initiative, showcasing the goals of the Feed Salone Strategy – and the creation of the Presidential Council – positioned us as a key player in the formation of the Alliance.

This is to show our proactive approach to addressing both local and global food systems challenges. We wanted to be one of the vanguard nations willing to transform agriculture into a catalyst for growth and a solution to climate change, and we wanted to engage the whole world to follow and exchange experiences.

Our participation in ACF aligns with the President’s vision to transform our food system and achieve food sovereignty. We have no choice but to take a step ahead of the others, we need to achieve food security, and to do this we need the whole of the government on board. We have to increase production, but without harming the environment. We signed up for this Alliance with other countries so we can learn, share ideas, and gain technical resources to move forward.

But to succeed in transforming our food system, we require more resources, more daring initiatives and innovative policies, to not only improve farming but also diversify livelihoods and protect nature. The ACF is yet another way forward to show our commitment to being innovative, collaborative, and serious about what we want to achieve.

So, as the dust settles post-COP28, I believe that Agriculture is the path to growth and climate resilience. And that we are on the right path.