UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties UNFCCC COP27 2022

Egypt hosted the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC – COP27 – in Sharm El-Sheikh, with an ambition to drive further talks on climate solutions. Countries come together in order to find agreements and take action towards achieving the world’s climate goals of the Paris Agreement and the Convention. 

COP27 was the first of the climate change conferences to give food and food systems a prominent role. It had a dedicated venue – the Food Systems Pavilion – where multiple stakeholders could gather, present and discuss the opportunities that sustainable food systems provide in the fight against climate change. Food systems are a crucial piece to any discussion on achieving a sustainable future and addressing climate change. Food systems contribute to around one third of global GHG emissions and our climate crisis. Transforming our food production, consumption and waste is critical to addressing our climate crisis. The Food Systems Pavilion focused on actions, strategies, and solutions across the entire food value chain that have the potential to drive transformation towards healthier, more resilient, and more sustainable food systems. 

The Aquatic Blue Food Coalition at COP27 

The Aquatic Blue Food Coalition collaborated with members and partners for a day of programming on Water and Aquatic Food Systems as part of the Food Pavilion activities. This day was the perfect venue to advocate and engage diverse stakeholders on nature positive fisheries and sustainable aquatic food production in the attainment of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and National Action Plans (NAP). 

The Coalition also co-hosted a side event in the Resilience Hub titled “Unlocking blue prosperity: How blue food communities can survive and thrive in the climate emergency”. The side event was co-sponsored by the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions, the Environmental Defense Fund and WorldFish. Experts discussed the need to raise ambition from adaptation to a “shared blue prosperity” and called on leaders to effect justice-informed financing, innovation, and collaboration to enact this vision.