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Agriculture takes center stage: COP31 opens in Antalya, Turkey, on November 9, with food security, irrigation and climate adaptation among its first-day priorities as governments face pressure to deliver on previous commitments.
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Financing gap persists: Agrifood systems account for 54% of assessed adaptation needs but receive only 20% of global adaptation finance, according to a FAO-UNDP report.
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Africa faces mounting losses: Climate-related disasters have caused $611 billion in agricultural losses across Africa over the period studied by the FAO, highlighting the need for stronger adaptation funding, emissions reductions and post-disaster recovery support.
Agriculture will take center stage on November 9 as the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) opens in Antalya, Turkey. The summit runs through November 20, with its opening day focusing on food security, irrigation and climate adaptation, according to the official program.
Agriculture and food systems face a dual challenge: they suffer significant damage from climate change while generating nearly one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Their growing prominence in climate negotiations reflects their importance to global mitigation and adaptation efforts.
However, expectations extend beyond political recognition. More than a decade after the Paris Agreement, governments face increasing pressure to translate their commitments into measurable results rather than announce further pledges.
Climate Commitments Gain Momentum
For years, international climate negotiations gave agriculture less attention than energy and transport. However, successive climate summits have gradually brought food production and agricultural resilience closer to the center of discussions.
At COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, governments made progress on issues including soil management, nutrient use, livestock production and the socioeconomic dimensions of food security. These discussions formed part of the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture, an initiative adopted at COP23 in 2017 to strengthen agriculture’s role in climate negotiations by addressing adaptation, emissions reduction and food security.
A year later, COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, introduced a new institutional framework through the four-year Sharm el-Sheikh Joint Work on Implementation of Climate Action on Agriculture and Food Security.
The initiative explicitly recognized adaptation as a priority for vulnerable groups, particularly smallholder farmers, women and Indigenous peoples.
In 2023, COP28 in Dubai expanded political support through the Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action. A total of 159 countries backed the declaration, which called for stronger integration of food and agriculture into national climate plans ahead of COP30, improved water management and greater access to financing.
COP29 in Baku in 2024 introduced the Harmoniya initiative to improve coordination among organizations working on agriculture and climate resilience. Meanwhile, COP30 in Belém, Brazil, in 2025 gave greater recognition to the need for financing food systems in its decisions.
Climate Financing Still Falls Short
Despite these commitments, COP31 faces a major challenge: converting political pledges into additional funding that farmers can access more easily. Although many governments identify agrifood systems as a climate policy priority, financing remains insufficient.
A Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) analysis published in 2025 found that the share of climate-related development finance allocated to agrifood systems fell from 47% in 2000 to 19% in 2023.
Another report, which the FAO and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released at COP30, examined national adaptation plans from 64 developing countries. The analysis found that only 16% of the measures assessed directly addressed identified climate impacts, while just 14% targeted the needs of vulnerable populations.
The report also estimated that agrifood systems accounted for 54% of assessed adaptation needs but received only 20% of global adaptation financing.
COP30 already called for at least a threefold increase in adaptation finance for developing countries by 2035. At COP31, governments must now determine how to advance that objective, improve funding predictability and identify the financial instruments needed to turn commitments into investments.
Cutting Emissions and Addressing Climate Damage
Another major issue concerns the balance between climate adaptation and emissions reduction in agriculture. Preparatory discussions have highlighted competing priorities. Some stakeholders favor methane reductions, technological solutions and changes to agricultural subsidies. Others emphasize agroecology, land tenure, community rights and direct access to climate finance. These differences raise broader questions about which agricultural production models should receive financial support.
Reducing emissions from livestock farming and rice cultivation could deliver relatively rapid climate benefits. However, several observers argue that governments must tailor their policies to national circumstances rather than focus exclusively on carbon emissions.
Soil carbon credit schemes also raise questions about emissions measurement, the permanence of stored carbon and the distribution of financial benefits. During a June 2026 workshop in Bonn under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process on agriculture and food security, representatives of women and Indigenous peoples urged governments to avoid making agricultural financing dependent solely on carbon markets. They also called for stronger protections for land rights.
Meanwhile, analysts warn that even successful adaptation measures cannot prevent all climate-related damage. According to the FAO, disasters caused approximately $3.26 trillion in global agricultural losses over the 33-year period covered by its assessment. Africa accounted for $611 billion of those losses and recorded the highest relative burden, equivalent to 7.4% of its agricultural gross domestic product.
For African countries, COP31 negotiations must therefore address three interconnected priorities: financing climate risk prevention, supporting lower-emission agricultural production and improving access to resources for rebuilding after climate-related disasters.
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