Ending hunger is inseparable from ending ecosystem degradation.
© FAO

A vision for long-term climate solutions

Developing better and more inclusive ways to address climate challenges

Agrifood systems are sustainable, inclusive, resilient and adaptive to climate change and its impacts and contribute to low-emission economies while providing sufficient, safe and nutritious foods for healthy diets, as well as other agricultural products and services, for present and future generations, leaving no one behind. FAO Strategy on Climate Change 2022-2031

The future of the world as we know it depends on sustainable climate solutions and action.

Climate action also lies at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - an urgent, unanimous call to action.

The ongoing Decade of Action to deliver the SDGs calls for accelerated solutions to the world’s greatest, often intertwined challenges: these include poverty and hunger; inequality; climate change; loss of biodiversity; and ecosystem degradation and desertification.

Agriculture is a major part of our climate and environmental challenges. The hard truth in numbers:

Agrifood systems – encompassing all aspects of the production, distribution and consumption of food – are responsible for around 30 percent of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.
In 2021, only 20 percent of climate-related development finance was allocated to agrifood systems, a decrease of 12 percent from the previous year. The unique potential of agrifood systems to tackle the climate crisis can only be realized by scaling up investments in agrifood systems solutions and actions.
Land degradation is a driver of climate change through emission of greenhouse gases and reduced rates of carbon uptake. It also directly undermines our ability to produce food affecting the lives of more than 3.2 billion people.
With agriculture accounting for 72 percent of freshwater withdrawals, actions and investment are needed to produce more with less water and support climate-adapted and resilient agrifood systems.

But agriculture, more than any other sector, might be our best hope for curbing climate change.

Amid growing climate impacts and slow progress on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable food systems and agricultural practices can help countries and communities to adapt, build resilience, and mitigate emissions, ensuring food security and nutrition while reversing environmental degradation and its impacts.
FAO already supports countries to deliver solutions. However, a transformation of agrifood systems to tackle the climate crisis can only be realized by scaling up investment in action at local, national and global levels.
Transforming to more efficient, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems must be equitable, inclusive and gender responsive – addressing loss and damage in the agriculture sectors.
Science, innovation and data are critical for climate policies and informed decision-making –including on proactive measures to prepare for extreme weather.
Countries need to develop holistic and integrated approaches and national strategies to address the interlinked climate, food, nutrition, water, land, biodiversity and energy challenges.

Required citation:
FAO. 2023. Agrifood solutions to climate change – FAO's work to tackle the climate crisis. Rome https://doi.org/10.4060/cc8055en

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.

© FAO, 2023
copyright
Some rights reserved. This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo/legalcode).

Under the terms of this licence, this work may be copied, redistributed and adapted for non-commercial purposes, provided that the work is appropriately cited. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that FAO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The use of the FAO logo is not permitted. If the work is adapted, then it must be licensed under the same or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If a translation of this work is created, it must include the following disclaimer along with the required citation: “This translation was not created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAO is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation. The original [English] edition shall be the authoritative edition.”

Disputes arising under the licence that cannot be settled amicably will be resolved by mediation and arbitration as described in Article 8 of the licence except as otherwise provided herein. The applicable mediation rules will be the mediation rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/mediation/rules and any arbitration will be conducted in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

Third-party materials.
Users wishing to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such as tables, figures or images, are responsible for determining whether permission is needed for that reuse and for obtaining permission from the copyright holder. The risk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party-owned component in the work rests solely with the user.

Sales, rights and licensing.
FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through publications-sales@fao.org. Requests for commercial use should be submitted via: www.fao.org/contact-us/licence-request. Queries regarding rights and licensing should be submitted to: copyright@fao.org.