[Title] Baku Harmoniya Climate Initiative for Farmers

Rationale

With only six years left until 2030, the urgency to address climate change is escalating. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has confirmed the unequivocal and unprecedented trends of current and future climate risks. The impacts of climate change on agriculture are threatening food and water security for people around the globe. Climate change adaptation and mitigation action in agriculture has the potential to address multiple challenges including food insecurity, land degradation and water scarcity while ensuring farmers' livelihoods and supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

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Thus, agriculture presents a unique opportunity to address multiple challenges, by offering wide-ranging solutions. Most of these solutions have been reviewed by the IPCC and quantified in terms of adaptation-mitigation and other benefits including socio-economic aspects. Furthermore, at COP23, the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture recognized the unique potential of agriculture in tackling climate change. The Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture addressed complementary and interrelated topics and identified no-regret climate actions, including on soils, nutrient use, water, livestock, methods for assessing adaptation, and on the socio-economic and food security dimensions of climate change across the agricultural sectors. Many countries have already recognized this by prioritizing agriculture and land use in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). These plans also emphasize the importance of addressing the vulnerabilities, needs, and capacities of women, smallholder farmers, Indigenous Peoples, and youth to increase the effectiveness of climate initiatives, specifically in rural areas and enhance sustainable and inclusive development.

Growing momentum for Agriculture at UN Climate Change Conferences

Agriculture has gained prominence in the last two Presidencies' agendas of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Earlier examples include the Agriculture and Food Security Action event, the Global Climate Action on Agriculture and the launch of the Agriculture Adaption for Africa (AAA) Initiative developed under the Presidency of Morocco at COP22 in 2016. More recently, in November 2022, the Egyptian COP27 Presidency increased the focus on agriculture with Adaptation and Agriculture Day, which was opened with the launch of the Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation (FAST) Initiative. The COP27 Presidency also launched the Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition (I-CAN) to catalyze, mobilize, connect and advocate for integrated climate and nutrition action. Additionally, at COP27, the Sharm-El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda was initiated under the lead of the High-Level Climate Champions.

There has been increasing momentum on the agriculture, food and water nexus in the global arena. COP28 witnessed a historic milestone with Food, Agriculture and Water Day, when 160 countries endorsed the "COP28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action" and the establishment of the Technical Cooperation Collaborative (TCC). This dedicated day also featured the first High-Level Event Inception Meeting of the FAST Partnership at COP28 as part of other high-level agriculture and food-related events.

Global climate discussions have increasingly focused on the keyword "implementation", in order to go from formal dialogue and commitments to concrete action on the ground. Several bottlenecks have been identified such as a need to reinforce capacities, access climate finance, and provide more clarity on the global landscape of agriculture initiatives.

Building on the multiplicity of initiatives, coalitions, networks, alliances, and partnerships: In addition to the above-mentioned COP Presidency-related initiatives, several other initiatives have been launched over the last ten years, either as direct COP Presidency initiatives (e.g. the AAA Initiative, the "4p1000 Initiative: Soils for Food Security and Climate" at COP21, the Platform of Latin America and the Caribbean for Climate Action on Agriculture [PLACA] at COP25, the UK Breakthrough at COP26, the Action for Water Adaptation and Resilience [AWARE] at COP27); or as initiatives indirectly related to the UNFCCC process that build on the momentum from the annual UN Climate Change Conferences (e.g., Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate [AIM4Climate], the Global Methane Pledge [GMP], the Global Methane Hub [GMH] etc.).

There are also initiatives and coalitions that are relevant to the nexus of agriculture, climate change and finance that have been established independently of a COP but remain relevant to the UNFCCC climate change agenda. Examples include the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), the Global Research Alliance for Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA), the Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance Partnership (LEAP), the Public Development Bank Platform for Green and Inclusive Food Systems (Agri-PDB), the Feed the Future initiative, the Climate Resilience Food System Alliance (CRFS) which hosts the Water-Resilient Food Systems partnership and others. An initial assessment estimates that there are more than 90 relevant global or regional initiatives, coalitions, networks, alliances, and partnerships focused on policy, capacity building or access to finance-related activities at the nexus of agriculture and climate change, with about half established after 2020.

The COP29 Presidency in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), launches the Baku Harmoniya Climate Initiative for Farmers.

Main objective of the Harmoniya Initiative

Given the multitude of initiatives, there is a clear need for coherence, alignment and sharing of lessons learned to deliver greater impact. The Harmoniya Initiative will serve as an aggregator, bringing together disparate initiatives, coalitions, networks, and partnerships to empower farmers, villages and rural communities. It will launch a portal with the goal of clarifying the landscape of programmes, sharing experiences, identifying synergies and gaps, and fostering collaborative efforts concentrated on the agriculture, food and water nexus. Harmoniya Initiative will focus on evidence-based knowledge and align with scientific best-practices, with a particular focus on technologies contributing to resilient and sustainable agriculture. The initiative will focus on agrifood systems transformation and enhancing climate policies, with the objective of creating an enabling environment for implementation, considering the diversity and complexity of agricultural systems.

Harmoniya Initiative will focus on three main goals:

Clarifying the landscape of initiatives and offering a platform for knowledge and experience exchange and fostering more efficient collaboration.

Catalyzing investments in agrifood system transformation from both private and public sectors, building on strong collaborations with Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and Agricultural Public Development Banks (PDBs), and developing synergies.

Empowering farmers, in particular women and youth and supporting the development of climate-resilient villages and rural communities for adaptation action in the food, agriculture and water sectors.

The Harmoniya Initiative will acknowledge the role of the food, agriculture, and water nexus in which farmers, villages, and rural areas are recognized, empowered and financially supported as key agents of change. Activities will encompass the broad scope of agriculture and food systems, considering the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals and taking into account tradeoffs and synergies, to unlock the entire potential and respond to the need for more sustainable and resilient agrifood systems. The initiative will look at opportunities to realize diverse co-benefits from climate actions in agriculture and food systems, such as increasing farmers' resilience and reducing the risk of loss and damage, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increasing GHG sinks when possible, reducing food losses and waste, conserving biodiversity and soil health and applying innovative approaches while considering national circumstances and knowledge. Harmoniya Initiative will also contribute with activities to build evidence and success stories for the 2026 International Year of the Woman Farmer.

The COP29 Presidency is also working with the FAST Partnership to identify further resources and climate funding opportunities to empower farmers and rural communities to develop skills and accelerate access to new digital technologies. The initiative will actively engage with farmers' organisations and relevant UNFCCC Constituencies to ensure that communities are heard, and their interests represented. As host of COP29, Azerbaijan is currently co-chairing the board of the FAST Partnership within the FAO, and the FAST Task Force will support the Harmoniya Initiative. The COP29 Presidency aims to enable action with governments, MDBs, national agricultural PDBs, the private sector, philanthropic institutions, international organisations and other stakeholders preparing to engage with the Harmoniya Initiative when it is launched.