ONCE AGAIN THE OUTCOMES OF COP26 ARE JUST A CONTINUATION OF THE STATUS QUO.
The Aim for Climate initiative (Aim4c), launched at cop26, is a perfect example of the greenwashing we have seen throughout this event.
An initiative with the obvious, underlying aim of keeping large private sector agricultural businesses in the driving seat of farming, sold with Environmental jargon and manipulative language.
Aim4c, led by the United Arab Emirates and the United States governments is investing $4 billion into ‘climate-smart agriculture’. Which basically means: ‘let’s continue the same destructive BS we were doing before, but slap a load more technology onto it to make it slightly more efficient.’
None of this will actually change the damage caused by the dominant food systems. It’s the equivalent of putting a better-branded plaster on a tumour – and just hoping for the best. These corporate technofix solutions are merely designed to further line the pockets of the companies who are creating the problems in the first place.
This initiative has been partnered by 30 other governments including the UK, and also by 47 private sector partners including giant fertilizer & seed companies and large global food and drink conglomerates.
The ‘technofix’ solution centres around increasing food production and building resilience through gene technologies and chemical inputs – also known as ‘sustainable intensification.’ The truth is, we already produce far too much food globally – and over 60% of this food isn’t eaten, but is wasted within unjust food systems.
We need a fairer and better-in-all-the-ways alternative; a more localised, non-soil-killing food system.
One where food doesn’t need to travel thousands of miles – and likely be ruined in the process. A food system based on community benefit, rather than corporate gain at the expense of everyone and everything else.
This is why I’m so angry about these initiatives, because they don’t care about the root problems in our food system – for example, our use of chemical fertilisers and toxic pesticides which are killing our ecosystem.
No new ‘technofix’ solution is going to resolve that problem… that is because the solution is agroecology.
Agroecological farming does not need massive corporations or new gene technologies. What it needs is redistribution of the land, funding and support for new entrant farmers, effective policy that prioritises better farming and penalises destructive farming practises – and access to fresh, nutritious, safe and affordable food for all.
If you would like to find out more about agroecology and it’s potential, particularly within the UK, then please visit the Landworkers’ Alliance website www.landworkersalliance.org.uk. You can become a supporting member of the amazing work they are doing to build a just, sustainable and all-together more beautiful food system for all.