ActionAid International comments on Nature Day at COP26
Glasgow, 6th November – On Nature Day at COP26, ActionAid responds as 45 countries including the UK pledge to protect biodiversity and cut emissions from agriculture.
Teresa Anderson, Climate Policy Coordinator at ActionAid International, says:
“This package of pledges is a mish-mash of announcements directed at food and forests – but with no overarching standard for real transformation.
“The initiative fails to call out the big agribusinesses and industrial farming responsible for soaring greenhouse gas emissions from farming. Nor does it raise the bar for a shift to agroecological practices, which work with nature, tackle climate change and build climate resilience.
“We’re getting tired of COP26 being a succession of glossy announcements designed to distract from the fact that rich, polluting countries are stalling on both the action and finance needed to limit warming to 1.5°C. It’s time for governments get on with the hard work of making change not noise.”
The announcement comes as just hours after COP26 wrapped up the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture negotiations with text that for the first time included a reference to agroecology.
Ms Anderson adds: “The agriculture negotiations delivered signs that change is on its way, and that agricultural solutions to the climate crisis should be entrusted to smallholder farmers not corporate agribusiness.
“Parties including the Least Developed Countries, the Africa Group and the European Union fought hard for agroecology to be recognised as vital to cutting agriculture emissions and for a just transition in farming. Despite opposition from some countries, including the US, this outcome shows progress is being made at COP26.”
Ends.
For more information and interviews contact jess.midwinter@actionaid.org or call +44 7858436362.
