Australia and New Zealand Push to Reduce Agriculture Climate Emissions at UN COP28

A new Agriculture Climate Alliance has been formed at the conference in Dubai.

Hornsdale Wind Farm in Adelaide, Australia on Sep. 29, 2017. Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images

Farming groups in Australia and New Zealand are pushing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and “adapt to climate change.”

The peak Australian body representing farmers and agriculture in Australia has signed up to an Agriculture Climate Alliance at COP28 in Dubai.

In an inaugural statement, the alliance says farmers from “around the world are at the front line of climate change.”

“We must be proactive and ambitious in our actions to mitigate GHG emissions from agriculture and adapt to climate change. A failure to act risks exacerbating existing food security issues around the world,” the alliance said.

The alliance also includes Federated Farmers New Zealand and the Federation of Rural Associations of Mercosur (FARM).

FARM includes groups from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Columbia.

The alliance is calling on government and civil society to develop and implement voluntary, market, and incentive-driven emissions reduction policies.

In addition, they are calling for a rapid increase in investment in climate research and a fair distribution of new technologies and practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Further, they want to see the fair distribution of new technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, recognition of the role of livestock in the global agri-food system, and a reduction in pre- and post-farm gate food waste (pdf).

The new alliance said “effective policies” and the “right support” would enable farmers to capture the benefits of a low-carbon economy.

“But to capture the opportunity of the transition to a low-emissions economy, governments must invest in agriculture to innovate and adapt economically, transition justly, and recognise the unique role that agriculture plays through both being an emitter, a sequester, and a food and fibre provider,” the alliance said.

“Farmers are essential to climate action and have always sought to adapt and mitigate the challenges presented by a varied climate. But farmer’s contribution isn’t a given. While the risks are great, opportunities exist.”

The 2023 United National Climate Change Chance conference in Dubai is running from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.

Early in the conference, 134 countries covering 70 percent of the world’s land signed the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action.

Australia, along with the European Union, Brazil, China, and the United States, signed up to this agreement, which committed to integrating food into climate plans by 2025.

“It’s a big deal that 134 countries today agreed to put food at the heart of their climate plans at the annual UN climate summit,” CEO of World Resources Institute Ani Dasgupta said on Dec. 1.

“There’s perhaps no bigger area where the world’s injustices play out than in our food. While many in richer countries eat excess food, hundreds of millions of others are starving.”