Slow Food HQ, September 25 – Slow Food has been working since years to seek to address the intersection between the food system and climate change and to describe possible pathways for tackling the climate crisis through the adoption of environmentally friendly practices along all stages of the food supply chain.
Now, while the situation is dramatically worsening to the point of a climate catastrophe, as UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez himself has recently declared, and as COP26 draws near, we want food and agriculture to be given due consideration and the place they deserve at the COP26 tables.
The Slow Food Climate Action mobilisation continues with the collection of signatures which will be presented in Glasgow. But the entire Slow Food network will intensify its awareness-raising and advocacy actions between now and November, when COP26 takes place.
On September 27, (11.30 pm – 1 pm GMT+3), Slow Food vice-president Edie Mukiibi will attend the Africa Climate Week 2021, which will be hosted (virtually) by the Government of Uganda between 26-29 September 2021 with the objective to build momentum in the region towards success at COP26. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for organizing the ACW 2021’s track 3 “Seizing transformation opportunities” which in Day 1 will focus on urban environments. In this context, Edie Mukiibi will present the Slow Food Gardens in Africa initiative in the session entitled “Urban agriculture for climate resilience and food security in cities”.
As shown in the research Monitoring and Evaluation pilot project Slow Food Gardens in Africa, agroecological practices offer climate change mitigation by increasing greater carbon sequestration in the soil hence reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as encouraging less reliance on fossil fuel-based inputs.
“Today the planet is facing a number of crises ranging from social, economic, political and most importantly environmental crisis. The current and future climate crisis and rampant biodiversity loss has a lot to do with how we produce, distribute, trade and eat out food” Mukiibi states. “Ecological gardens in both urban and rural areas, do not only give us a chance to produce our own diverse vegetables and fruits, they provide an opportunity to rethink our production models to more ecological ones and save our local economies from exploitative climate-intensive food trade and distribution systems, and the Slow Food Gardens serve this exact purpose”.
On September 28-30, Slow Food Youth Network Italy (SFYN-Italy) will exhibit at the leading Youth4Climate: DrivingAmbition event, within the framework of the Pre-COP26 in Milan. An incredible assembly of some 400 youth climate leaders—two each from roughly 200 countries—will convene ahead of the Pre-COP26 to develop innovative strategies for implementing climate action.
Furthermore, on October 2, from 12.00 to 13.30, SFYN-Italy together with the Slow Food Lombardy’s Regional Committee will host a conversation-and-tasting event at the Milan’s Slow Food Earth Market to shed light on the relationship between Italian gastronomic tradition, food waste and the climate crisis, focusing on the importance of traditional recipes, witnesses of a past more sensitive to the issue of waste. The event will consist of a round-table discussion with experts, journalists and young activists, and an aperitif at the market, organized in collaboration with young chef Silvia Santosuosso of the Slow Food Cooks’ Alliance who has distinguished herself for her commitment in the field of food waste, and the Franciacorta Consortium, which over the years has shown particular commitment to sustainability issues.
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NOTES FOR THE EDITOR
The key points of the Slow Food Climate Actions are the following:
- We advocate for agroecology in agriculture and farming to be recognized as a central tool to protect biodiversity. Agroecology integrates science with economic, social, and ecological systems.
- We advocate for climate neutrality to be met by 2050.
- We advocate for a food system that is low-energy, low waste and supports small-scale producers and short supply chains, and for COP 26 to clearly indicate how we will reach it.
- We call for an action plan to significantly reduce and improve the production and consumption of meat, dairy, and eggs, and to halve food waste by 2050.
Globally, food systems are responsible for 60% of territorial biodiversity loss, around 24% of greenhouse emissions, about a third of degraded soils and full exploitation of at least 90% of commercial fish populations. Researchers predict that even if fossil fuel emissions were halted now, emissions from the world food system would make it impossible to reach current international climate change targets. They say that emissions from food production alone could push world temperatures past 1.5 degrees Celsius by the middle of this century and above 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
Slow Food International Press Office
Paola Nano – [email protected] (+39) 329 8321285
Alessia Pautasso – [email protected] (+39) 342 8641029