We, at Vaidic Srijan LLP, are honored and proud to become a member of CA4SH, The Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health, with an objective to improve...
Published on by Madhukar Swayambhu, Research Head at Vaidic Srijan
AT COP29: Baku, we got an opportunity to participate in a panel discussion titled “Towards Healthy, Inclusive and Sustainable Food Systems: Agroecology, Soil Health, and Healthy Diets” on 15th November, at UNFCCC COP29 Blue Zone, Action on Food Hub, organized jointly by Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH), CIFOR-ICRAF, Agroecology Coalition, Youth in Agroecology and Restoration Network (YARN), The Indigenous Partnership for Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty (TIP).
The discussions were done in light of the basic background that the food systems are responsible for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, 80% of deforestation, 70% of freshwater use, and the single greatest cause of terrestrial biodiversity loss and land degradation. Despite having sufficient food to feed 10 billion people with over 13% of food lost and 17% wasted each year, many cannot afford healthy diets. Additionally, only 30 crops provide 95% of human food energy needs.
With over one-third of the Earth’s surface being degraded, the ecosystems’ ability to produce healthy and nutritious food is limited. A powerful lever, agroecology provides sustainable solutions to issues of soil degradation, climate, biodiversity, food security and nutrition, including precarious livelihoods and social inequalities, faced by farmers and food system workers.
Understanding linkages across health, nutrition and environmental sustainability highlights opportunities for collaboration and generating knowledge to call for action to invest in agroecology, soil health, nature and people in transforming food systems.
The key objectives of the event could be summarized as –
To better understand linkages between healthy soil and healthy food and the role of agroecological approaches and bio-circular economy in producing food that is healthy for both the people and the planet.
To inspire actors to take aligned actions, strategies and policies that embrace integrated approaches and leverage synergies.
To bring the best practices and country approaches aiming at protecting nature, preserving the richness of biodiversity and restoring degraded land and ecosystems, while producing diversified, nutritious and culturally appropriate foods towards healthy diets inn forefront through this discussion table as well as focus on ways of implementing and amplifying such approaches at a global scale.
To get recommendations coming out of the session to get documented and studied by all the organizations involved as well as the member organizations, as a take-off point for future collaboration. The session also called for a holistic systems approach for transformation of the existing system of ‘farm to fork’.