The panel session on the theme “The special case of the Food and Agriculture Sector” was held as part of the 29th High-Level Meeting themed “Pathway to COP29: Sustainable and Resilient Future” in Baku on Thursday.

The event was moderated by Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director of CGIAR, former Chief Scientist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Addressing the session, Ismahane Elouafi said: “While in every other sector which is contributing to emissions the best, we can do is to reduce the emissions and increase the efficiency of its operations. The Food and Agriculture Sector can actually be transformed so that it goes from being a major emitter of GHGs to being a major contributor to removing GHGs and thus an integral part of the solutions that humanity brings to meeting the challenge of climate change. Furthermore, that transformation would also enable the sector to be much more efficient and effective in its mission to reduce poverty and abolish hunger, even as it protects our ecosystems.”

Other speakers included Ismail Serageldin, Co-chair NGIC, former Vice-President of the World Bank, Ilhama Gadimova, Member of the Organizing Committee of COP29, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Meera Shah, Programme Manager for Enhancing Agricultural Adaptation at the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens, Filip Vujanovic, former President of Montenegro, and Abdulaziz Altwaijri, former ICESCO Director General.