Aug. 7, 2025 at 12:22 p.m.
Updated Aug. 15, 2025 at 12:40 p.m.
Under Brazil’s presidency, transformation of food systems enters COP30 Action Agenda
UN gives more signals that family farming and agroecology are emerging as concrete pathways in the face of the climate and food crises
Transforming agriculture and food systems is one of the six pillars of the COP30 Global Climate Action Agenda. In a report published this week by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which highlights Brazil’s removal from the Hunger Map, one of the key recommendations to avoid escalating food inflation is to invest in resilient agrifood systems—that is, systems with greater capacity to recover from natural disasters, climate change, and economic crises. Can we conclude that the United Nations (UN) is increasingly signaling that family farming and agroecology are establishing themselves as concrete pathways to confront the climate and food crises?
To understand the challenges and opportunities for family farming and agroecology at COP30, we spoke with Bruno Prado, PhD candidate in Social Sciences at the Graduate Program in Social Sciences on Development, Agriculture, and Society at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (CPDA/UFRRJ). He is also a project coordinator at AS-PTA Family Farming and Agroecology, and a member of the Climate Justice Working Group (WG) of the Brazilian National Agroecology Alliance (ANA).
Prado attended the preparatory meeting for COP30, held in Bonn, Germany, at the end of June. He notes that, for the first time, the proposal to transform food systems has been included as a pillar of the COP Action Agenda, a set of initiatives proposed by the presidency of each COP to foster decisions and support formal negotiations among Parties.
“The Action Agenda is voluntarily adopted by different actors at the COP and serves to drive ambitious decisions and strengthen their implementation. But unlike the formal negotiation process, whose topics are decided multilaterally, it is the Presidency of each Conference of the Parties that defines its Action Agenda,” he explains.
“Agroecology has not yet been explicitly mentioned, but the role of family farming in the climate agenda is growing. The entry point into this debate is through food systems,” Prado adds. “The Action Agenda helps guide the directions of formal negotiations. While country negotiators are discussing climate finance and other major issues, the fact that this topic was proposed by the Brazilian presidency creates opportunities to influence the COP’s outcomes.”
In the interview, Bruno Prado discusses these and other points, such as the crucial role of family farming in climate negotiations, the UN’s treatment of family farming, and the sector’s main challenges at this COP.
Agroecology and Democracy: What role has family farming played in COP debates?
Bruno Prado: Family farming (FF) has historically played a peripheral role in the climate debate. However, there are growing demands from civil society organizations and social movements to change this position, securing a more strategic role in COP discussions. Some spaces created by civil society are key in this effort: in early June, for instance, ANA [National Agroecology Alliance] took part in the Family Farming pre-COP in Brasília, convened by the World Rural Forum. At the People’s Summit—a space built by social movements and civil society that will take place parallel to COP30—agroecology and food sovereignty will be central themes. All this has contributed to increasing recognition and efforts to overcome the marginal role of FF in formal climate governance.
How does the UN treat family farming?
The UN recognizes the essential role of family farming in food security, hunger eradication, climate resilience, and the sustainability of food systems. FAO launched an important initiative: the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (2019–2028), with a global action plan that includes promoting public policies, gender equity, access to finance, and the promotion of climate-resilient food systems. This plan also highlights the inequalities that family farming faces: limited climate finance, gender inequalities, among others.
Family farming produces more than 80% of the world’s food, yet climate finance still neglects this sector. According to FAO, women own only 15% of agricultural land but are responsible for over 50% of agricultural labor. These figures are significant because they show that vulnerable groups are the first to be hit by climate disasters. At the same time, there are strong pressures from “food empires” within UN spaces, meaning there is no homogeneous position on family farming within the UN.
In the preparatory document for COP30 resulting from the Bonn meeting and consolidated in the Action Agenda, were there mentions of family farming or agroecology?
Bonn reflected the trend I mentioned earlier. We can say that family farming and agroecology are increasingly appearing and seeking greater visibility. On the topic of adaptation, for example, family farming is highlighted as a way to strengthen sustainable food systems based on agroecological models and to expand access to healthy foods. On mitigation, agroecology plays a more marginal role, but it remains important in critiquing the replacement of meat with alternative proteins and ultra-processed foods.
Still, the COP30 Action Agenda, presented by the Brazilian presidency, included “transformation of food systems” as one of its pillars. Social movements and civil society organizations had explicitly demanded the inclusion of agroecology in the COP30 Action Agenda, particularly in debates with the COP Presidency during the Bonn meeting.
Which points regarding family farming and agribusiness are likely to stand out at this COP?
First, the inclusion of FF and agroecology in national climate plans, particularly through their effective incorporation into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which are commitments by each Party to keep global warming below 1.5°C, as well as in climate adaptation and mitigation plans. This is especially important at this COP because, for the first time, each country must submit revised NDCs. Brazil, notably, is placing part of its Climate Plan into public consultation this August. Another priority is creating climate finance mechanisms for family farming.
Agroecology is a structuring practice for climate mitigation and adaptation, as it values the sustainable management of nature’s commons, productive diversity, and territorial resilience. Socio-environmental justice is also a priority for our field, especially regarding the active participation of local communities, traditional peoples, youth, and rural women in decision-making and climate governance.
Agroecology also plays a fundamental role in confronting the predatory agribusiness model—based on monocultures, large-scale export, dependence on chemical inputs, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These issues highlight the urgency of restructuring agrifood systems around agroecological models, which are fairer, more sustainable, and centered on the collective actors of agroecology.
What would it mean to position family farming within the international climate agenda?
First, securing its political visibility in multilateral negotiations and recognizing its strategic role in confronting the climate crisis. It also requires the concrete integration of family farming into official climate policy instruments, such as NDCs and adaptation and mitigation plans. Central to this is democratizing food system governance, through territorial decentralization and strengthening the protagonism of collective actors in agroecology.
What is the difference between family farming and agribusiness in terms of climate impact?
Family farming focuses on diversified production, agroecological practices, and agroforestry systems, with low use of external inputs and ethical land management. It is exemplary for greater resilience to climate change and is therefore crucial both for climate mitigation and adaptation and for food sovereignty in territories.
Agribusiness is based on monocultures, high dependence on fertilizers and pesticides, and expansion into forests through deforestation. It generates high GHG emissions, increases social vulnerabilities in affected regions, and is strongly oriented toward the export of agricultural commodities, thus significantly worsening the climate crisis.
How is this seen in practice?
In practice, this contrast is evident between agroecological systems—present in family farming and in the lands of traditional peoples and communities with soil conservation practices—and the agribusiness model—based on soy, sugarcane, and intensive livestock monocultures, which continue to drive deforestation and high emissions.
Agroecology collectives, in turn, build short supply chains, delivering healthy and affordable food based on solidarity economies and sustainable practices, reinforcing food sovereignty and democracy from the territories.
What are the prospects that COP30 will recognize the importance of family farming for restructuring food systems?
First, I would highlight the active engagement of Brazilian and international civil society in the COP30 preparatory process with an agroecology agenda, including the drafting and submission of proposals to the COP30 Presidency. This reflects strong capacity for advocacy, coalition-building, and creating alternative agendas.
In this context, civil society and social movement spaces such as the People’s Summit are highly relevant, as they bring together social movements, grassroots organizations, traditional peoples and communities, promoting public debate, international articulation, and the denouncing of false solutions while showcasing the strengths of agroecology. The Summit is a concrete opportunity to give visibility to agroecology’s proposals and amplify their political power, reinforcing narrative disputes and influencing the course of the global climate agenda.
In formal spaces, the inclusion of the “Transformation of Agriculture and Food Systems” pillar in the COP30 Action Agenda signals institutional openness to a debate in which family farming and agroecology assert themselves as concrete pathways to address the climate and food crises.
What is the biggest challenge for family farming at this COP?
The main challenge is to translate civil society and agroecological movement proposals into concrete instruments within official UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] texts. This means ensuring explicit inclusion of agroecology, access to adequate climate funds, direct financing for family farmers and traditional peoples and communities, and formal participation in decision-making mechanisms. It also requires confronting the dominant agribusiness model, which has blocked transformations. COP30 must move forward on climate justice and resilient food systems.
This is an opinion article and does not necessarily represent the editorial line of Brasil de Fato.
Edited by: Martina Medina
REPRODUCTION OF ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN BRASIL DE FATO
