COP27: First official Food and Agriculture Pavilion

The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), CGIAR and The Rockefeller Foundation announced today that they will host the official Food and Agriculture Pavilion at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) to be held from 6 to 18 November in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. This marks the first time that such a pavilion has been set up COP.

As world leaders gather for COP27, communities around the world are grappling with the compounded impacts of a global pandemic, growing pressures from the climate crisis, high energy and fertilizer prices, and protracted conflicts, which have disrupted production and supply chains and dramatically increased global food insecurity, especially for the most vulnerable.

Some 193 million people faced crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity across 53 countries or territories in 2021 undermining decades of progress, according to the 2022 Global Report on Food Crises.

Set against this backdrop, the official Food and Agriculture Pavilion will put the transformation of agrifood systems at the heart of the COP agenda for the first time as an important part of the solution to the climate crisis.

Endorsed by the UN System and located in the “Blue Zone”, the Pavilion will bring together community leaders alongside government, philanthropic, youth and academic partners. The aim is to advance a shared understanding of the most pressing food and agriculture issues facing people and planet and share knowledge and innovative solutions.

A rich programme of events will showcase innovative solutions to help countries take effective climate action to protect agri-food systems.

QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General, said: “We are proud to have our first ever Food and Agriculture Pavilion at COP27, which is timely with the launch of the two new thematic FAO Strategies on Climate Change, and on Science and Innovation, to be implemented in synergy. The Pavilion will convene local, national, and global actors including farmers and youth  to seek solutions for transforming agrifood systems to make them more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable, and ensuring that no one is left behind in our efforts to eradicate hunger and malnutrition.”

Claudia Sadoff, Executive Managing Director, CGIAR said: “Supporting the transformation of food, land and water systems in a climate crisis is CGIAR’s mission and the stakes have never been higher. Millions more people are on the brink of food insecurity and threats to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers are increasing. We are honored to collaborate with FAO and The Rockefeller Foundation to ensure that these important issues are firmly on the agenda of this year’s COP.”

Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation, said, “Climate change is a singular threat to humanity, and we cannot fully address it without building equitable, resilient, and sustainable food systems that nourish both people and planet. Good ideas and actions for transforming our food systems can come from anyone, and we are proud to support a space where knowledge can be shared.”

The 250m2 Pavilion includes a conference room, a meeting room for delegations and an office for bilateral meetings, as well as a Fairtrade stand providing free low carbon and organic tea and coffee. Using state-of-the-art digital and interactive technology, Pavilion will allow delegates, participants and media to browse and download information on projects and programmes developed by FAO, CGIAR and The Rockefeller Foundation.