“How do we do this?” WHO warns climate change failure will wreck nutrition security at COP27

14 Nov 2022 --- The World Health Organization (WHO) has released its I-CAN report (Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition), which stresses that nutrition insecurity will be further exacerbated if UN climate change goals are not met. Parallel to this at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, representatives from different governmental agencies came together for a session on how progress toward the Paris Agreement targets can be accelerated. 

The WHO report warns that 30% of the world’s population faces micronutrient deficiency, 647 million people are obese and 828 million are undernourished. The impact of climate change further threatens food security and nutrition through “a variety of forces.”

“It’s not yes I can, or yes we must – it’s yes we will. How do we do this? That’s the question,” Gerda Verburg, assistant secretary-general for scaling up nutrition at the United Nations (UN), said during the session.

Climate change impacts fundamental precedents for good nutrition, such as water and sanitation systems and social protection. Today’s current global warming has already caused a steep decline in crop productivity and a steep increase in food prices – leaving crops with a lower nutritional density while forcing people to turn to cheaper foods with less nutrients and more calories.

“We need to start with ourselves by embracing the planetary health diet through plant-based diets because this is our environmental footprint,” urged Dr. Omnia Omrani, presidential envoy on youth at COP27.

Coming together
The report argues that ending malnutrition and hunger requires action on food, social protection, health and WASH systems (water, sanitation and hygiene). Additionally, taking action could reduce climate and health costs by up to US$1.3 trillion.

Ending malnutrition and hunger requires action on food, social protection, health and WASH systems.“My task is to bring the UN agencies together for nutrition. We need to learn together, shout together and act together for better nutrition and better climate, and a healthier planet – and we can do that. We have spoken about healthier diets and food systems, but there is more out there,” says Stineke Oenema, nutrition executive secretary at the UN.

“We need to be consistent with sanitary systems that impact our food systems and the health care and education systems as we have future generations to take care of. We need to bring all these sectors together in the run-up to the next COP28 and make a joint program for action,” Oenema explains.

Beyond food systems
Food systems release greenhouse gasses such as CO2, methane and nitrous oxides directly into the atmosphere, which drives land-use changes. This further releases CO2 causing reductions of carbon sinks when forests are cleared, soils are tilled and wetlands drained, the report details.

“Dietary choices steer different production systems and result in varied emissions and environmental footprints,” it states, highlighting consumer appetite shifts toward more plant-based nutrition.

The WHO highlights four pillars of action. The first is on implementation, action and support, followed by capacity building, data and knowledge transfer. Thirdly, policy and strategy, and lastly, investments. Further details on how to proceed will be provided in June next year.

Dr. Nancy Aburto, deputy director of the Food and Agriculture Organization at the UN, stresses that we need to take advantage of this moment. 

“Food agriculture and nutrition have never been so high on the agenda. The leadership of Egypt has brought that to this place and we need to ensure that this moment does not pass us by. We must put the motto of COP27 into action – together for implementation. We need to build alliances until COP28 and all the COPs that will be held until 2030.”

“Finally, we need to raise our voices. This is an urgent problem – we have heard how climate change and malnutrition is impacting our lives, so we need to raise our voices together and make sure this gets in that outcome document, that nutrition and healthy diets is integrated in negotiations and that its on the table from now, into 2030 and beyond,” she concludes. 

By Beatrice Wihlander