Restoring Lands, Lives, and Livelihoods at COP16

The COP16 events highlighted the multifaceted benefits of regenerative agriculture and agroforestry practices, including carbon sequestration, improved food and water security, enhanced biodiversity, and increased farmer incomes.

"As stewards of our planet, we have a shared responsibility to prioritize sustainable land management and resilient food systems," stated Princess Noura bint Turki Al-Saud of Aeon Collective. "By investing in nature-based solutions and empowering smallholder farmers, we not only address critical challenges but also create a path toward equitable and sustainable growth."

"The outcome is quite clear: agriculture is front and center in what we need to address with land degradation, and regenerative agriculture is the only solution," said Princess Mashael AlShalan of Aeon Collective. "Now it's just a question of how do we ensure that we have the frameworks around them that would enable us to deploy it?"

Dr. Eliane Ubalijoro of CIFOR-ICRAF highlighted the importance of farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing and evidence-based practices. "Science tells a story about what nature has gifted us," she said. "We need to quiet our own cleverness and listen to the 3.8 billion years of this beautiful experiment called life."

Aline de Paula of Rabobank stressed the need for innovative finance opportunities to support the transition to regenerative agriculture. "We need to find innovative finance opportunities to support the transition towards regenerative practices, recognizing that 85% of our portfolio is dependent on ecosystem services," she explained.

Helmy Abouleish of Sekem emphasized the role of carbon credits in incentivizing regenerative practices and supporting farmer livelihoods. "What we experience in Egypt is that organic agriculture is part of the solution to so many of the challenges, also providing better livelihoods and caring for people," he shared. "What we have already now are solutions. And what we need is mechanisms to put these solutions in place in different contexts and apply them."

Walter Link of NOW Partners Foundation highlighted the success of combining regenerative agriculture with market-based mechanisms like EoL's Whole System Carbon Credits. "Successful agroecology innovations demonstrate on millions of acres how to prevent and reverse desertification," he said. "Combining this with market-based mechanisms such as EoL’s Whole System Carbon Credits, farmers are fairly compensated for their crucial ecosystem services and earn better incomes than with chemical ag."

Hunter Lovins of NOW and Global Academy emphasized the urgency of scaling regenerative agriculture. "The global expansion of regenerative agriculture is a key solution to the desertification and climate crises," she stated. "Only if we make regenerative agriculture into the new mainstream will countries and companies be able to reach their ambitious carbon neutrality goals."

Merijn Dols of Future Economy Forum underscored the importance of dialogue and collaboration. "Our connection here is on the belief that bringing solution owners together in dialogue holds a tremendous opportunity and is a key to solving these interconnected crises," he said.