This article is written by Gordon C. McCord, Associate Teaching Professor, School of Global Policy and Strategy, University of California San Diego and Co-Chair, SDSN USA and Guido Schmidt-Traub, Managing Partner, Systemiq Ltd., and SDSN Leadership Council Member. The article was originally published in Apolitical.
• The problem: Food and land use systems are managed unsustainably, as they are responsible for approximately one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions as well as unprecedented loss of biodiversity and forest cover.
• Why it matters: Unsustainable food and land use systems threaten the goals of economic development, biodiversity conservation, and climate action enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• The solution: Each national government should prepare long-term roadmaps explicitly mapping sustainable land use and food systems and create an inter-agency task force as a coordination mechanism.
In most regions of the world, food and land use systems are managed unsustainably. They are responsible for approximately one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, as well as unprecedented loss of biodiversity and forest cover. This undermines opportunities for equitable, low-environmental impact economic growth and threatens the goals of economic development, biodiversity conservation, and climate action enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). As governments prepare to meet at the upcoming COP28, they should all aim to raise ambition and articulate specific plans for the transformation of their food and land use systems to meet both climate and biodiversity goals.
Unsustainable land use and food systems impact nearly all aspects of life on Earth, including failing to provide decent livelihoods for many farmers who live in poverty; driving health deficiencies, such as persistent hunger, obesity, and malnutrition; contributing to global greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss; generating more than 90% of global water scarcity; and threatening the health of oceans and freshwater ecosystems through chemical and fertiliser runoff. Tragically, one-third of food produced globally is either lost or wasted.
These systems are also vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather events. If current demand trends for food, fibre, and raw materials for bioenergy continue, land use and food systems risk becoming even more unsustainable as the global population grows and per capita demand increases with rising incomes.
Addressing the twin crises of biodiversity and climate will depend critically on whether countries engage in land-use strategic planning that explicitly addresses nature and climate targets.
This requires sweeping transformations of our land-use and food systems. Yet, these transformations are particularly complex. They involve many government departments, scientific disciplines, and economic sectors; give rise to major trade-offs – particularly around competing uses of land – as well as synergies and co-benefits; and are prone to path dependency, including significant risks of lock-in in the form of long-lasting infrastructure or land use. Moreover, land use and food systems are deeply embedded in local cultures and socio-economic conditions and are often intensely debated political issues. The large international spillovers that are generated by the trade in food and other soft commodities, as well as transboundary pollution, add another element of complexity. For these reasons, the recently adopted Global Biodiversity Framework rightly makes strategic land-use planning target number 1.
Two key immediate actions are required for countries to drive the transformation of land use and food systems.
First, all countries need to develop national targets (e.g., by operationalising at the national level the Global Biodiversity Framework’s 30x30 target – to conserve 30% of the world’s terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine areas by 2030) and prepare long-term roadmaps explicitly mapping sustainable land-use and food systems that consider agronomy, nutrition, ecology, hydrology, climatology, economics, infrastructure engineering, the social sciences, and of course the local politics. This requires modelling tools to understand synergies and trade-offs across these areas and to determine which short-term measures must be undertaken to achieve long-term objectives. Just as it is impossible to design and implement economic policies without sound macroeconomic models, countries will not be able to make their land use and food systems sustainable without robust tools to model the integrated impacts of policies. These pathways should be geospatially explicit since mapping is critical to transparently evaluate and manage land-use tradeoffs. There is a strong case for scientific and technical institutions outside government ministries to lead these pathways in order to provide advice that is science-based and able to challenge current policies where necessary. Initiatives like the FABLE Consortium of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network are working to mobilise local knowledge institutions and stakeholders to develop national pathways.
"There is a strong case for scientific and technical institutions outside government ministries to lead these pathways in order to provide advice that is science-based and able to challenge current policies where necessary."
Second, governments should create inter-agency task forces as mechanisms to help organise themselves to transform their land use and food systems. An inter-agency task force on land would coordinate activities and regulatory approaches of multiple government departments and agencies in the context of meeting climate, biodiversity, and food system goals, including competing needs across renewable energy infrastructure, food, fibre, ecosystems, and urban expansion. Moreover, in countries where land-use decisions are devolved to subnational governments, such a task force should help coordinate relevant jurisdictions. A prominent example is the UK’s Climate Change Committee, which operates outside but in close coordination with government agencies and under parliamentary oversight to advise the government on integrated policies for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Beyond these two short-term actions, governments must do more over the coming years to foster the transformation of food and land use systems. Importantly, they must promote targeted research and development, fostering and financing research to close knowledge gaps with locally contextualised technological and policy innovations. Some of the more pressing research priorities include increasing agricultural productivity in more sustainable ways, improvements in measurement and monitoring technologies for soil carbon sequestration, next-generation biofuels that can achieve low carbon fuel goals, next-generation low carbon intensity animal protein substitutes and future foods, technologies for reducing food loss and waste, and renewable energy technologies that minimally impact agricultural production.
"As world leaders convene at COP28 in Dubai, they must recognise that large-scale transformation is only achievable with the right analytical tools, research, and long-term spatially explicit pathways, backed by sound mechanisms that foster greater collaboration within and across governments."
Finally, countries need to strengthen international cooperation. No country can make its land use and food systems sustainable on its own, but existing mechanisms for international cooperation are weak. These include the national climate strategies under the UNFCCC – comprising short-term Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and long-term Low-Emission Development Strategies (LT-LEDS) – which do not include land use and food systems at the level of ambition and operational specificity required for meeting the SDGs and the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Moreover, there is insufficient coordination between the UNFCCC strategies and the biodiversity strategies under the Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as with national pathways being developed under the auspices of the UN Food System Summit.
A fundamental shift in our food and land use systems is needed to mitigate the climate crisis. As world leaders convene at COP28 in Dubai, they must recognise that large-scale transformation is only achievable with the right analytical tools, research, and long-term spatially explicit pathways, backed by sound mechanisms that foster greater collaboration within and across governments.