Authored by: Morgan Gillespy, Executive Director, FOLU; Edward Davey, Senior Adviser, FOLU; Alessia Mortara, Director of International Policy & Engagement, FOLU
This November, the world turns to Belém. COP30, hosted in the heart of the Amazon, is a generational opportunity to make food systems, land use, and nature central to global climate action.
Momentum has been building. Food systems are no longer on the sidelines—they are now widely recognized as essential to addressing the climate, biodiversity, and food security crises. That shift is thanks to tireless work across our community.
But declarations are not the same as delivery. Time is short. Brazil has made clear that this COP must move from promise to implementation—translating strategy into action, mobilizing finance, and delivering results for farmers, communities, and the planet.
This is a moment for substance, not symbolism.
Brazil’s Leadership Is a Catalyst for the World
Brazil is uniquely positioned to lead. It sits at the crossroads of global food, climate, and nature priorities. With unmatched biodiversity and a major agricultural economy, Brazil brings lived experience—from tackling hunger and deforestation to advancing sustainable farming.
That domestic credibility now extends to the global stage. Following its G20 presidency and the launch of the Global Alliance on Poverty and Hunger, Brazil is well placed to drive convergence across food, climate, and justice agendas. The COP30 presidency can—and should—set the tone for a delivery-focused COP that shifts power and finance toward those driving change.
At FOLU, we see five urgent priorities to advance the food systems agenda in Belém and beyond.
1. From Strategy to Delivery: National Food Systems Plans Must Drive Action
Across the world, governments have developed national food systems strategies rooted in local priorities—resilience, livelihoods, nutrition, climate, and nature. These strategies now need to move from vision to investment-ready delivery.
This means three things:
- First, aligning food systems strategies with national climate and adaptation plans.
- Second, developing costed implementation pathways that crowd in blended finance and signal investment readiness.
- Third, integrating food into revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)—not as a box-ticking exercise, but as a central component of countries’ climate and development plans.
The Alliance of Champions for Food Systems Transformation is already setting a high bar. Sierra Leone’s “Feed Salone” programme has mobilized over $1 billion to support food sovereignty and climate-smart agriculture, with plans to embed the programme into its updated NDC.
Meanwhile, more than 300 non-state actors—farmers’ groups, companies, cities, Indigenous Peoples—have committed to action since COP28. At COP30, they must show credible progress and demonstrate how their delivery supports country-led strategies.
2. Finance Must Flow to Farmers, Food Systems, and Nature
Despite rising need, donor funding for food systems has been slashed. We cannot rely on traditional public finance alone. To unlock the $1.3 trillion envisioned in the Baku–Belém Roadmap, we must get serious about shifting existing public finance and mobilizing private capital.
The business case is clear. Transforming food systems could generate $4.5 trillion annually in business opportunities while cutting the $15 trillion in hidden costs imposed by current models. But finance will only move if the enabling conditions are right—starting with reforming harmful subsidies and creating credible investment signals.
Clarifying Article 6 of the Paris Agreement rules and advancing high-integrity carbon markets can also open new pathways for restoration, regenerative agriculture, and smallholder inclusion.
Brazil’s proposed Tropical Forests Forever facility is a bold example—channeling performance-based funding to countries that reduce deforestation. But funds must reach frontline actors. Farmers and land stewards need to be at the centre of every financing mechanism—because they are the ones delivering impact on the ground.
3. Food Systems Must Anchor the Adaptation Agenda
Adaptation will be a major focus of COP30. As the Global Goal on Adaptation develops its framework for tracking progress, food systems must be at its core.
What’s needed is clear: a small set of measurable indicators on food systems resilience—covering hunger, nutrition, local production, and supply chain integrity. These can guide National Adaptation Plans, steer funding, and help hold actors accountable.
At the same time, adaptation and loss and damage funding must include agriculture—especially smallholder farmers facing increasingly unstable growing conditions. Private sector actors must also step up, recognizing that food system resilience is not just a moral imperative, but a competitive one.
A 35% drop in staple crop yields by 2050 would upend food systems, drive hunger, and destabilize economies. Investing in food systems adaptation is not optional—it’s existential.
4. Latin America Can Lead on Restoration and Regenerative Agriculture
While global debates continue over definitions, Latin America is delivering on regenerative agriculture. In July, farmers and Indigenous leaders from across the region will gather in Cali to share practical solutions that have sustained their communities for generations.
Brazil is showing what large-scale transition looks like. Its plan to restore 40 million hectares of degraded pastureland, backed by the ABC+ low-carbon agriculture programme, is among the most ambitious globally. These efforts reduce deforestation pressure while boosting productivity and resilience.
The private sector is responding. Under the Action Agenda on Regenerative Landscapes launched at COP28, businesses are working to mobilize capital through a new Landscape Accelerator targeting regions like the Cerrado and Pará.
The message is simple: blending public funds, value chain investment, and concessional finance can unlock real results. Sustainable beef and soy production without deforestation could add $28 billion annually to Brazil’s economy.
COP30 is the moment to scale these models—showing how restoration and regeneration can deliver for people, planet, and prosperity.
5. Break the Silos: Align Climate, Hunger, Nutrition, and Nature
Too often, action on climate, hunger, nutrition, poverty, and biodiversity remains fragmented. COP30 offers a unique opportunity to bring these agendas together under a shared vision.
Brazil’s dual role—as host of COP30 and convener of the Global Alliance Against Poverty and Hunger—creates the conditions for alignment. Initiatives like I-CAN (the Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition), FAO’s SDG2/1.5 roadmap, and the anticipated emphasis in the upcoming EAT-Lancet 2.0 report all point toward the same truth: food systems are where climate, health, and equity intersect.
What’s needed now is coherence—from governments, funders, and civil society. Investments in food and nutrition must be climate- and nature-positive. And climate finance must deliver tangible outcomes for human development.
Philanthropy, in particular, can play a catalytic role—backing innovation, farmer-led solutions, and scalable models with multiple co-benefits.
A Call to Our Community
If food systems are to be central to climate action—not just rhetorically, but in practice—COP30 is the moment to prove it.
We at FOLU believe the food systems community must:
- Drive implementation of national strategies, ensuring they are fully costed, investment-ready, and reflected in updated NDCs and climate plans;
- Mobilize finance at scale, channelling public and private capital to farmers, landscapes, and communities;
- Anchor food systems in the adaptation agenda, with clear global indicators and dedicated support for smallholder resilience;
- Showcase successful models of restoration and regenerative agriculture, with Latin America leading the way;
- Break down silos between climate, hunger, nutrition, poverty, and nature—and champion coherence across goals and funding.
At FOLU, we are committed to doing our part—through our country platforms, global partnerships, and shared vision for a more just, regenerative food future.
But this is a collective effort. Let’s come to Belém ready to deliver—not just for food systems, but for the people and places they are meant to serve.
