COP30: For a Just Transition of Food Systems 

The Climate Crisis Worsens Hunger 

Today, 673 million people suffer from hunger (8.2% of the global population). The climate crisis is one of the main causes of the increase in global hunger. Floods, droughts, destroyed harvests… In 2024, extreme weather events triggered food crises in 18 countries. In Africa, insufficient rainfall caused droughts, while torrential rains flooded entire regions. These disasters primarily affect the most vulnerable populations, often already facing poverty or conflict. This is a true injustice, as these populations have historically contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions and thus to the climate crisis. 
 
But the paradox is cruel: the agro-industrial food system, supposedly designed to feed the world, is responsible for more than one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. It harms health, the environment, biodiversity… and fails to fulfill the right to healthy and equitable food for all. 

A Historic Opportunity in Belém

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), to be held in Belém, Brazil, is a unique opportunity to link climate issues to the Zero Hunger goal. The right to food can be central to various negotiations, and the COP presidency has made system transformation one of the six pillars of its agenda. 

Action Against Hunger calls on governments and decision-makers to support and implement a just transition in agri-food systems through: 

• Integrating agriculture into just transition negotiations, supporting agroecological and resilient systems. 
• Strengthening the right to food and a healthy environment, highlighting the rights of Indigenous Peoples, farmers, and vulnerable communities. 
• Improving access to climate financing, especially in fragile and conflict-affected areas. 
• Combating greenwashing by adopting clear policies against conflicts of interest with fossil fuel and agri-food industries. 

Action Against Hunger also supports the Belém Action Mechanism (BAM) to make agriculture a pillar of the just transition. This international mechanism must guide farming communities toward sustainable, inclusive, participatory, and agroecological systems, while rejecting false solutions such as large-scale biofuels, which threaten the right to food and food sovereignty. 

In conflict zones, it is essential to maintain humanitarian funding, including for anticipatory action, invest in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) to prevent malnutrition, and ensure the participation of affected communities, who are still too often excluded from climate negotiations. 

Concrete Solutions Exist

With 3.8 billion people living off agriculture, it is urgent to support a transition to sustainable practices and livelihoods through climate policies. Agroecology enables the production of nutritious and healthy food while respecting ecosystems. It promotes crop diversity, reduces waste, protects water resources, and strengthens community resilience. 
 
This transition must be supported by public funding, training, social protection, and support for small producers, especially women. It must also be integrated into national climate and biodiversity strategies.  
 

At Belém, governments must listen to the voices of communities, as they are on the front lines of the climate crisis. A just transition of food systems is not optional: it is essential to ensure a healthy, equitable, and sustainable future for all.