When global leaders convened on Day 10 of COP30 under the banner “Fueling the Future Food System,” the message was clear: the way we grow, protect and consume food will determine not only our climate future, but whether communities everywhere, especially in vulnerable regions, can thrive. Advocates launched ambitious initiatives, from restoring degraded lands to decarbonising fertiliser to scaling aquatic food systems. For Africa, this momentum offers both an urgent clarion call and a profound opportunity.
COP30’s Action Agenda lit up with practical, people-centred commitments. The RAIZ Accelerator was announced, a coalition of ten countries mobilising private capital to restore degraded farmland at scale. Its goal is not just ecological healing but economic viability, using advanced mapping tools to identify priority areas and blended finance to reduce risk for investors. Meanwhile, the TERRA Plan elevated family farming, agroecology and local communities, recognising that smallholder farmers, indigenous peoples and traditional systems are central to future resilience. On the blue-food front, two Plans to Accelerate Solutions promoted aquatic food systems, including seaweed and algae farms, with a strong focus on inclusivity, especially for women and youth.
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Emissions from fertiliser also came centre-stage. The Belém Declaration, supported by the UK, Brazil, and key partners, laid out a framework to reduce greenhouse gases from fertiliser production and use through standards, innovation, and new financing models. And importantly, COP30’s Global Mobilisation pillar gave voice to communities: grassroots movements such as Mutirão in the Territories underscored that climate adaptation rooted in local knowledge is not a fringe project, but a global imperative. Youth, too, made their appeal, demanding multilateralism with justice, culture, and shared responsibility at its heart.
Why Africa Matters
COP30’s breakthroughs resonate deeply across Africa. The continent, home to some of the world’s most climate-sensitive landscapes, stands to benefit enormously, but also must grapple with the scale of its challenges. Land degradation is not just a distant abstraction in Africa; it is a lived reality. Up to 65 per cent of productive land on the continent is degraded, while desertification affects nearly 45 per cent of Africa’s land area.
According to WRI’s AFR100 initiative, more than 63 million hectares have already been committed for restoration by 2030. The African Union’s target of restoring 100 million hectares is thus not just an environmental ambition, but a socio-economic necessity.
These numbers frame RAIZ’s promise. If similar private-public restoration models are adapted for Africa, the continent could unlock vast tracts of degraded landscapes, sequester carbon, restore fertility, and utterly reshape its agricultural future. Indeed, restoration pays: the Regreening Africa project points out that the benefits of restoring degraded land can outweigh costs by multiples, improving soil health, boosting yields, and strengthening resilience.
One African success story underlines the power of community-driven regeneration. Through Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), the International Land Coalition’s Platform 6 has helped restore some 600,000 hectares in Mali and other countries, impacting over a million people. This is not just tree-planting, it’s a social transformation rooted in traditional knowledge and local leadership.
In Ethiopia, a national commitment under AFR100 is already bearing fruit. The country has pledged to restore 22 million hectares and has planted billions of seedlings, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, many held by women and youth. Such models echo the RAIZ architecture of mixing mapping tools, finance and social empowerment.
Family, Gender, and Agroecology
COP30’s launch of the TERRA Plan brings family farmers to the centre of the global climate food effort. In Africa, smallholders (many of them women) produce a disproportionately large share of food. The African Climate Foundation reports that in sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 80 per cent of food production comes from smallholder farms.
Yet women farmers face systemic barriers, limited access to credit, land, mechanisation, and extension services. COP30’s gender-responsive frameworks and blended finance strategies speak directly to these challenges.
Efforts are already underway in Africa. In Nigeria, the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF), in partnership with GIZ, validated a climate-smart, gender-inclusive financing model. The framework bundles mechanisation, advisory services, microfinance, and risk-sharing tools tailored to women and youth farmers. For a continent where women form 70–75 per cent of the agricultural workforce, this shift is not optional; it’s foundational.
Beyond finance, knowledge matters. The African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) initiative is cultivating a new generation of female climate leaders — fostering homegrown solutions and amplifying women’s voices in agrifood systems transformation.
Aquatic Foods and Africa’s Coastal Promise
COP30’s spotlight on aquatic food systems, especially algae and seaweed, is more than symbolic. It reflects a global understanding that blue foods can deliver nutrition, livelihoods, and climate-smart growth. For Africa, where many coastal and riverine communities depend on fisheries, this is an opportunity long overdue.
In Kenya, for instance, the Climate-Resilient Aquaculture Systems for Africa (CASA) project, led by WorldFish and backed by the Gates Foundation and Qatar Fund for Development, is scaling sustainable aquaculture. The ambition is to serve over 5 million people, support women and youth, and retrofit aquaculture for climate resilience, all while boosting domestic fish production (Kenya currently produces only around 147,000 tonnes annually against a national demand of 600,000 tonnes).
By aligning with COP30’s agenda, African governments and communities could leverage similar models to integrate aquatic foods into their national climate strategies. Seaweed, for instance, is becoming a powerful economic engine in parts of East Africa, where it offers jobs, especially for women, and contributes to the ‘blue economy’ in a way that restores ecosystems.
Fertilisers, Emissions, and African Soil
One of the more technical but momentous outcomes from COP30 was the Belém Declaration on fertilisers, a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from both fertiliser production and application. Fertilisers are significant climate actors: according to the IEA, they contribute around 1.23 gigatonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions annually, with the majority of emissions coming from use rather than production.
In Africa, where fertiliser use remains uneven, the conversation is not simply about reducing emissions but ensuring access to efficient, low-carbon fertilisers. Excessive or inefficient fertiliser application can degrade soil, while under-use limits yields, a delicate balance, particularly for smallholder farmers. COP30’s plan to create global standards, invest in low-emission fertiliser production, and promote digital tools (such as AI-driven nutrient optimisation) could reshape how Africa farms in a warming world.
Moreover, nitrogen-based fertiliser emissions, especially nitrous oxide (N₂O), present a climate risk: a recent global assessment found that N₂O emissions have risen by 40 per cent since 1980, largely driven by fertiliser use. The race is truly on to decarbonise agriculture, and Africa could be a testing ground for scalable, low-emission fertiliser solutions anchored in local needs.
Communities & Voices: The Heartbeat of Adaptation
COP30’s Mutirão in the Territories initiative put communities centre stage, reminding the world that climate action must emerge from the ground, not just the summit rooms. For Africa, this is deeply resonant: nature-based solutions, agroecology, and community stewardship have long been part of traditional practice. Strengthening these pathways, recognising local leadership, scaling training, and linking to national mechanisms — could unlock some of the most resilient climate strategies.
Youth, too, are stepping up. Young African climate leaders are increasingly demanding multilateralism that recognises equity, justice, and ancestral knowledge. By aligning this energy with global frameworks, Africa can help redefine what climate leadership looks like: not as a burden, but as an asset.
Financing the Future
All of COP30’s lofty ideals, from RAIZ restoration to aquatic foods to gender-sensitive farming, hinge on capital. Fortunately, financial momentum is already gathering in Africa. The African Development Bank, for example, is exploring a $500 million facility to support smallholder farmers, even as it backs climate-resilient technologies and finance for women-led agribusiness.
Yet the gap remains large. According to data tracked by Climate Funds Update, Africa’s adaptation finance needs could reach as much as US$96 billion per year by 2050, but cumulative approved flows for adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa have only reached USD 3.2 billion between 2003 and 2023. COP30’s call for blended finance, accessible instruments, and locally tailored risk-sharing mechanisms offers a clear blueprint to close that gap.
From Global Aspiration to African Reality
COP30’s Day 10 was a watershed moment: it shifted food systems from theory to implementation, from promise to practice. But for its ambitions to truly flourish, Africa must not be an afterthought. The continent stands at the crossroads of risk and reward. With its vast degraded landscapes, its young farming populations, its coastal communities, and its drive for climate resilience, Africa has both need and potential in equal measure.
The challenge now is to ground COP30’s global framework in African realities, ensuring that capital, science, and policy meet the soil, the sea, and the people. If Africa steps into its role, this could be more than a climate turn: it could be a food-systems revolution.
