A Food System That Fights Climate Change — Instead of Causing It | Gonzalo Muñoz | TED

So when we speak about climate negotiations,

intergovernmental processes,

we always think that the people working there are, of course, diplomats,

ministers, politicians, right?

Well, last year, I was asked by the United Arab Emirates,

the country that was in charge of the climate negotiations,

to help deliver a significant progress

in the connection between food and climate.

My name is Gonzalo Muñoz, I'm a farmer from Chile,

and definitely, it's a pleasure to be with all of you here today.

So back in the farm,

I've been dealing with water scarcity for the last 15 years.

We've seen firsthand how much climate change is affecting

and reducing our capacity to produce,

as well as how much our conventional practices

are contributing to the problem.

That, of course, inspired us to innovate.

So, for example,

producing the best 2023 Chilean Syrah with only one liter of water,

instead of an average of 240 liters

as a normal practice in the region where we are.

I also got very much involved in the global promotion of circular economy,

as well as with certification standards

for companies that meet

the highest performance and social and environmental practices,

so-called B Corps.

Probably because of that, in 2019,

the Chilean government invited me

to serve as the United Nations High-Level Climate Action Champion.

And in that role, I had to mobilize all non-state actors.

Of course, companies like mine,

but as well as cities, some national governments,

financial institutions, civil society,

anyone that can deliver concrete action on the ground,

and through that, push for governments,

for them also to take bolder action on climate.

But there, I noticed that there was something missing.

The broader food system, from the way we produce, distribute, consume,

even the way we're wasting our food,

has a huge impact in the climate crisis.

As you all probably know,

food and agriculture are really complex topics.

I bet we won't find two people in this room

that have exactly the same understanding and relationship with food,

whether it's because of health reasons, or it can be because of ideology,

or religion, or culture, or even because of taste.

Well, same thing happens with countries.

For some countries, the number one priority is food security,

whereas some communities deeply rely on agricultural commodities like cotton,

or beef or soy.

So part of the problem as well

is that the food system nowadays is not fit for purpose.

At this precise moment in history,

there are around 800 million of hungry people.

And at the same time, we're wasting and losing

about one-third of the food production.

Our food system is both causing climate change

and being severely affected by the climate crisis.

Of course, it's also a system confronting many different challenges,

like a pandemic, right?

Or conflicts, or disrupted supply chains or droughts,

all types of shocks and stresses.

So at this point, you can imagine

that food and agriculture are really political topics, right?

And of course, we can no longer delay.

So I have some news to share with all of you.

In 2023,

led by the United Arab Emirates,

and with the help of so many brilliant people,

some of whom are here in the room,

we tried a new approach,

and that means that we work

with the UAE Food and Agriculture Declaration

to ensure the highest political recognition

that food must move from being a source of pollution and degradation

to become one of the most important tools for climate action,

benefiting both people and the planet.

Well, have you any of you tried ever to agree with your neighbors

on something like, whatever, paint the communal walls

and decide the color?

(Laughter)

Hard, right?

Well, try to agree on food and agriculture

with 200 countries.

(Laughter)

Yeah, wish you luck.

When we started this plan,

we set ourselves a goal of "Let's try to put together

100 heads of state signing the UAE Declaration.

At the end, we not have only 100,

but 159 heads of state signing the UAE Declaration on Food and Agriculture.

That and counting. That is absolutely --

(Cheers and applause)

Thank you.

That is massive, and honestly, absolutely unprecedented.

How we did it and most importantly, how can we accelerate progress?

First, focus on people building the resilience of food producers, farmers,

fisherfolks, anyone that is producing our food,

for those people to thrive despite the climate crisis and become real,

effective stewards of nature.

Second, set a goal, but not prescribe how to get there.

Every country is facing different circumstances.

We have to respect that,

and allow every country to design their pathway,

and of course, ask them to set precise goals and targets.

Third, we need, of course,

to reflect on the diversity and complexity of food systems.

Every region has a different starting point.

On the other side, during this process,

real economy actors started to discuss

what a food system non-state actors called to action could look like.

So with the leadership of the high-level champions,

and building on several experiences that happened before,

we started to get a very careful consultation process,

with many stakeholders from all around the world,

from smallholder farmers to big, multinational corporations on food,

from Indigenous communities to commercial banks,

to concretely have a common vision

and a set of ten priority goals to ensure climate action.

Amazingly, more than 1,000 groups of non-state actors

endorsed the call to action,

and with more and more endorsing every day,

as we continue rallying them towards the next cycle of negotiations.

So suddenly, we were in front

of what we can call, potentially, an ambition loop.

It's a positive, virtuous loop between states and non-state actors.

When countries strongly agree on something,

they send a message to the real economy,

where some non-state actors immediately react by raising the bar,

with concrete examples.

That act of leadership, proving that it can be done,

immediately sends back the message to the politicians,

encouraging them for also raising the bar through policymaking.

That's what we triggered in the run up and during the negotiations in Dubai.

So now, we have these two pledges.

It's great, but it's not enough. We know that.

And many of us, many here in the room and myself,

have a mission to continue to mobilize action

as we envision this next cycle of negotiations towards 2025,

in Brazil and beyond.

There will be many, many things that are needed, right?

But let me refer to a few of them that come to my mind as critical.

First, we have to stop damaging nature.

Our food system depends and relies on functional and healthy ecosystems

and resources.

Second, we need to scale all forms of finance

for the transition towards a sustainable food system,

but at the same time for innovating,

changing the incentives,

and at the same time, for securing a just transition for everyone.

We also need to develop

all types of metrics, goals and targets

for countries to own them

so we can also hold governments to account when we measure progress.

Of course, we will need much more than that, but just with that,

we can start envisioning the start of this new ambition loop,

just like we had in the previous decades, with renewable energy.

And of course, I have my ambition loop in my farm, too.

We will continue working on innovating on practices

for reducing the need of water,

we will continue working on regeneration,

with endangered species.

We will continue using renewable energy.

And let's imagine what happens when those practices are packed,

and therefore scaled up to the size of a country like Chile,

and you have more and more farmers, more and more businesses,

more and more value chains adopting those practices.

All of a sudden,

we can have a global food system that is fit for purpose,

nourishing everyone while restoring the earth.

That's the ambition loop I want to see.

Muchas gracias.

(Cheers and applause)