More than 80 experts and partners came together at the Commonwealth Secretariat’s headquarters in London this week to tackle the intersection of food security and climate finance, amid global development spending cuts.
The event, titled a Roundtable on Climate Finance and Food Security, was hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science & Technology. The Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt. Hon Patricia Scotland KC, shared her opening remarks in a pre-recorded video message. She thanked the Government of Nigeria for convening the dialogue. She said:
“This is a moment of real urgency. Across the Commonwealth, food security and climate finance are not just policy challenges – they are existential imperatives. The ability of our people to access sufficient, nutritious food is directly linked to our collective capacity to mobilise resources for climate adaptation and resilience.
“But climate finance is not keeping pace with climate change. Support for vulnerable nations remains inadequate. At the same time, asymmetrical rules in developmental financing have made it increasingly difficult for governments alone to bridge the gap.”
Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji, the Honourable Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Nigeria, who spearheaded the roundtable, presented the path forward to integrate innovation, climate finance and food security. He shared the Nigerian experience:
“Agriculture is the backbone of Nigeria’s economy, driving 25% of our GDP and providing livelihoods for 70% of our workforce. As the world’s top cassava producer, our key crops are fundamental to ensuring food security and driving economic growth.
“Yet, despite these strengths, our agricultural sector faces significant challenges. In Southern Nigeria, deforestation has dramatically reduced forest cover, while in the north, desertification is advancing at an alarming rate of 0.6 km per year.”
Image
Participants heard from international non-governmental organisations how agriculture does not equate food security. Crop nutrition is required to feed the world, and with the increase of tobacco farms, especially in East Africa, though land is cultivated you cannot eat the crops. The relationship between climate change, land, health and nutrition is complex.
Climate-smart agriculture
During three smaller groups to discuss the issues, participants were tasked with sharing expertise and asking probing questions on bridging climate-smart agriculture with global capital. Discussions touched on carbon credits, which one participant likened to a “maze”.
One delegate from Kenya said, “Messaging is aimed at emphasising the need for carbon credits, when this should be in addition to positioning the wider value of good practise which will lead to the needed trust and track-records.” Another delegate from India suggested that adding “soil quality” on food labels would be an incentive to produce better food whilst protecting the land.
Collectively, the issue of navigating policy regimes was raised and how cross-departmental work is almost “impossible” when that is exactly what one needs for more secure food systems, or to generate the usable and accessible data needed for access to climate finance.
Digitalisation is acknowledged as a tool to scale the climate-smart agriculture solutions but for this to happen, capacity building for countries to better coordinate their data as the foundation for digital solutions is a must. Countries need national space for data exchange, where harmonisation takes place, to reduce the current duplication and conflicting national statistics.
Roundtable outcomes
Outcomes of the roundtable centred on holistic approaches for national food systems and, in some cases, continental challenges like infrastructure and technologies, breaking away from piecemeal solutions and instead, strengthening value chains.
The discussions also touched on the need for better soil management and water irrigation, improved production systems, and the provision of storage facilities. Also emerging was the need for quality data collection - including on weather, production and post-harvest loss. Issues of market access, clean cooking and equitable, gender-responsive climate finance were also raised.
The teams from the Commonwealth Secretariat will use the outcomes from the roundtable to inform cross-sectional programmes and how to take learnings from the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub – now in its tenth year – to replicate unlocking and mobilising finance.
Media contact
-
Suné Kitshoff Senior Communications Officer, Communications Division, Commonwealth Secretariat
- M: +44 7740 450 901 | E-mail
