At this year's COP27, food gained much attention on the ground at the food courts, in the halls at the refreshment stands and of course in the pavilions. While the experts discussed the transformation of food systems and how to change consumption, COP participants had a hard time finding a healthy lunch option at the conference and thanks to one of the main sponsors (Coca-Cola), conference participants never ran out of sugar-sweetened beverages. However, despite these unfortunate practical issues this was the first COP with a pavilion focused exclusively on food and food systems which was long overdue and attracted scientists, experts and stakeholders from all over the world and of course also from PIK.
Claudia Hunecke and RD2 Head of Department Hermann Lotze-Campen from the Land Use and Resilience working group attended several COP sessions as a representative of FSEC (Food System Economics Commission) together with partners from WRI (World Resources Institute) to discuss their work on the impacts of trade liberalization on smallholder farmers in Eastern Africa. Claudia says:
"I believe COP27 was a platform for marginalized groups and groups typically not over-represented in political debates. For example, the children's and youth pavilion was by far the loudest one, leaving the FAO pavilion next door suffering from their noise. Many representatives of indigenous peoples could be spotted in the halls and on many panels. Their stories and experiences enriched every discussion and often provided a different point of view on food, nature and climate. I agree with most of the criticism after this year's COP27: the political failures, the organizational issues, and the questionable travel arrangements. A reformation of the event is needed. However, the conference as a platform for underrepresented groups is too valuable to be abandoned."
Furthermore, Christoph Gornott, leader of the working group Adaptation in Agricultural Systems gave a keynote speech at the event "Scaling up disaster and climate risk management actions to prevent food crises" (video link to the event here) at the FAO Food Pavilion and joined a panel discussion on uncertainties in long-term projections of climate impacts on agriculture and their short-term benefits for early warning systems at the Rwanda Pavilion (with MeteoRwanda, WMO and Rwandaspace). Together with Julia Tomalka, he wrote an online commentary in 'Eine Welt ohne Hunger' on the value of agroecology towards a more climate-resilient and gender-equitable agricultural sector.
The PIK-led EU project CASCADES opened another well-attended "COP27 Cascading Climate Risks Virtual Pavilion", offering seven sessions on a wide range of topics, urging decision makers to take seriously systemic and cascading risks of climate change. The online sessions can be viewed here. Several members of the consortium also hosted a session at the Food Pavilion with the title 'Adapting to transboundary risks in food trade'.
