Jean-Yves Le Drian : "We don’t have to choose between feeding humanity and protecting the planet" [fr]

Only the spoken word prevails.
 
Madam Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Distinguished Ministers
Distinguished Executive Secretaries of the Rio Conventions,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The shock of Covid-19 has not only reminded us that global crises call for solidarity and collective responses. But also that our common goods depend on each other. Human health depends on animal health, which depends on the major environmental balances of our planet, which in turn depend on our choices, particularly in economic matters, and therefore on the place we give to science in our societies. Because humanity cannot hope to live well on a sick planet, persisting in ignoring its disturbances.

This is why we must approach this next Summit on Food Systems as an opportunity to strengthen international action against the scourges of hunger and malnutrition and as an opportunity to become even more coherent and effective in our fight against climate change, biodiversity erosion and desertification.

Here again, current events remind us - and in a tragic way - how these issues are now linked: in Madagascar, for the first time in our history, global warming - as you know - was the direct cause of a famine.
In a world where, against a backdrop of inequality and instability of all kinds, the number of undernourished people has been rising inexorably since 2014, with a rise in 2020, linked to the impact of the pandemic on food systems.
A world where, at the same time, our food systems contribute to one third of global greenhouse gas emissions and where certain agricultural practices massively damage biodiversity and our natural resources.

It is therefore urgent that we act together, with determination, to break this vicious circle. Because, in reality, we do not have to choose between feeding humanity and protecting the planet. Our historic responsibility is to make the right decisions to reconcile these two central objectives of sustainable development.

You can count on France to play its full part in this collective effort.
By committing itself fully to the next three COPs - on climate change, biodiversity and the fight against desertification.
And by supporting innovative initiatives and concrete projects.

I am thinking of the "One Health" High Level Expert Panel, whose idea we launched in the spring of 2020 and which met for the first time last May, with the support of WHO, FAO, OIE and UNEP. As well as the international PREZODE initiative which will support, in the field, the integration and strengthening of networks of researchers and local actors in human, animal and environmental health to better prevent and fight against pandemics.

I am also thinking of the relaunch, during the "One Planet Summit" last January, of the Great Green Wall project to promote agroecology in the Sahel. The stakes are immense, on all levels:
 Restore, by 2030, 250 million hectares of degraded land;
 Capture 250 million tons of carbon;
 All this while creating 10 million jobs!

Our future, ladies and gentlemen, clearly depends on more resilient and sustainable food systems.

The Summit convened by the Secretary General will therefore be a major milestone on the road to multilateralism of the commons that we must build together, with all the driving forces of our local authorities, the private sector, the world of research, non-governmental organizations and civil society.

France will be there, and I know that you will too.

I thank you for your support.