Opinion: The Amazon COP–How Local Leadership Can Transform Food Systems

• Early indications suggest that COP 30 will focus on implementation–which, in practice, refers primarily to the climate plans developed by national governments, known as NDCs, and the delivery of finance to implement them.
• As well as raising ambition on food systems in NDCs, it is crucial that we use COP 30 as an opportunity to explore synergies for food and agriculture across other global frameworks and processes, including NBSAPs under the CBD, and the Riyadh Action Agenda launched at UNCCD COP16.
• By uniting grassroots movements, civil society, farmer leaders, and Indigenous Peoples ahead of the COP, we can amplify bottom-up, community-led solutions and drive real food systems transformation.

2024 was recently confirmed as the warmest year on record, offering us a preview of what’s in store for our rapidly heating planet. Meanwhile, the impacts of the climate crisis are devastating communities worldwide, with extreme weather worsening hunger, displacement, and instability. In southern Africa, prolonged drought has left 27 million food insecure, while floods and droughts across the Sahel and South Sudan push more into crisis. Many of these disasters, compounded by climate change, remain overlooked.

Food systems are responsible for one-third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and small-scale food producers, particularly women, are on the frontlines of climate disasters. Transforming how we produce, distribute, and consume food is critical for the health of our planet and people. This requires a transition away from our dependence on industrial fossil fuel-driven agriculture, towards agroecological food systems that support biodiversity, communities, and our economy.

Not only is this possible–it is already happening in thousands of communities around the world, led by those on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Monicah Yator, founder of the Indigenous Women and Girls Initiative in Kenya, is one such leader showing how upskilling farmers in her community on agroecology and environmental feminism promotes resilience and food sovereignty, whilst addressing the interconnected challenges of climate change, food insecurity, and gender inequality.

On a global scale, however, progress is at risk of stalling. 2024 was the year of three COPs, with intergovernmental negotiations under each of the three Rio Conventions (biodiversity, climate change, and desertification) taking place back-to-back. While food systems were not a direct focus of negotiations, there were several outcomes that support food systems transformation–in particular the decision to prioritize the conservation and restoration of grasslands and rangelands adopted by the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Several challenges stand in the way of ambitious climate and nature agreements and the multilateral process, particularly with rising nationalism and climate skepticism.

The first international climate conference to be hosted in the Amazon offers an opportunity to show regional leadership under the Brazilian Presidency and it is only by understanding the opportunities and implications that we can make the UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 30) in Belém a success.

A COP of Implementation

Early indications suggest that COP 30 will focus on implementation–which, in practice, refers primarily to the climate plans developed by national governments, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), and the delivery of finance to implement them. As well as raising ambition on food systems in NDCs, it is crucial that we use COP 30 as an opportunity to explore synergies for food and agriculture across other global frameworks and processes, including National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the Riyadh Action Agenda (RAA) launched at UNCCD COP16.

Essential to advancing climate action and food systems transformation is securing the necessary finance. The New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) agreed at COP 29 was disappointing, and the CBD and UNCCD COPs also failed to deliver on the dollars needed. New research unveiled during COP 29 also revealed that the two biggest global climate funds are failing to get finance to grassroots farmer organizations where it would have the most impact.

Analysis by the Global Alliance for the Future of Food found that despite the overall increase in climate finance between 2017 and 2022 (from USD 321 billion to USD 640 billion), sustainable food systems–practices based on agroecological and regenerative approaches–received only 1.5% of public climate funding.

The cost of transforming our food systems is by far outweighed by the financial burden of our current system, and it is critical that we increase funding that is genuinely transformative, long-term, and flexible–and thus able to adapt to the ever-changing conditions on the ground.

We must ramp up financial support for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, recognizing that their deep-rooted knowledge is key to turning global climate commitments into real-world impact. Climate solutions are inherently place-based. What works in one region may not work in another, making locally led expertise essential for implementation. Yet, without meaningful investment and direct funding, even the most ambitious policies risk falling flat. As the first climate COP in the Amazon, COP 30 is a pivotal moment to back locally driven solutions–led by frontline food producers, land stewards, and advocates–to drive the lasting, systemic change our planet urgently needs.

The ‘Amazon COP’

Despite holding the key to transforming international agreements into action, food producers on the frontlines of the climate crisis–an estimated 600 million small-scale farmers worldwide–receive just 0.3% of international climate finance. Not only do they produce approximately one-third of the world’s food, many small-scale farmers, fishers, and food producers have a critical understanding of agroecological and organic farming, fisheries, and agroforestry, and are often key voices in holding governments and private sector stakeholders accountable.

Karina David is a Brazilian agroforestry organic farmer. As well as facilitating courses, consultancies, and lectures on agroforestry and organic farming in her own region, she has participated in international dialogues, including the climate and biodiversity COPs, using her perspective and expertise to advocate for farmers and food systems on a global scale. Meaningfully incorporating the demands of local experts like Karina will be key to securing fair, context-specific outcomes at COP 30. By uniting grassroots movements, civil society, farmer leaders, and Indigenous Peoples ahead of the COP, we can amplify bottom-up, community-led solutions and drive real food systems transformation.

What’s Next?

The success of COP 30 rests on whether policymakers will listen to the demands and the solutions from those on the frontlines of the climate and ecological breakdown.

There is reason to be optimistic. Despite the challenges of the Group of 20 (G20), Brazil’s leadership recently delivered several key outcomes, including the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, launched during the Brazilian G20 Presidency last year.

Despite the importance of COP processes, they are only a small part of food and biodiversity advocacy for frontline leaders, many of whom carry out community mobilization work in their local communities and regions year-round as food producers, researchers, community trainers, and food justice advocates.

It is only by ceding power to grassroots and local movements that we can strengthen civic mobilization in global processes–closing the much needed global-local loop for implementation.