UN Resident Coordinator Speech at the launch of the Convergence Initiative: Linking Food Systems Transformation and Climate Action

Good morning, everybody. 

It's a pleasure to be here today with you. 

Your Excellency, Engineer Khaled Hunaifat, Minister of Agriculture, 

Mr. Pierre De Vries, Charge de Affairs for the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands,

Dr. Khaled, Senior Coordinator of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub,

 Representatives of UN agencies UNIDO, FAO, WHO, colleagues from the rest of the UN, and our esteemed partners. 

It's really a pleasure to welcome you to this inception workshop for the Convergence Initiative, where we are linking food systems transformation with climate action. Allow me to extend my gratitude to the Government of Jordan and to the Government of the Netherlands for their leadership and support on this initiative. 

Today's workshop inaugurates and marks the official launch of the Convergence Initiative here in Jordan. Over the next three days, you will explore how this initiative can advance climate-smart, people-centered, and nature-positive food systems. These are essential elements for resilient and sustainable development. Because transforming food systems is not just important, it's urgent. Food systems contribute to approximately one-third of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, including those from agriculture, land use, and related activities. And at the same time, food systems are highly vulnerable to climate change, with extreme weather events, water scarcity, and land degradation threatening food production and livelihoods. 

The UN Food Systems Summit +2  and the UN Secretary-General have made a call to action and made it clear that food systems must be at the heart of climate action. We must ensure that food systems not only sustain growing populations, but they also contribute to environmental protection and economic resilience. 

Achieving this requires bold, coordinated action. 

For real impact, national food systems transformation must integrate with nationally determined contributions and national adaptation plans, as these three mutually reinforce connected, overarching goals for humanity, particularly the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. 

Momentum from COP28 has further reinforced this urgency. The COP28 UAE Declaration marked a turning point, placing food systems at the center of climate strategies. This convergence initiative, launched at that COP28 with support from the Netherlands, is designed to bridge food systems transformation with climate action to ensure strategic, sustainable progress. So what will this deliver? 

It will deliver an ability to facilitate national dialogues, bringing together policymakers, experts, and stakeholders. 

It will empower national food system conveners to drive coordinated action. 

It will promote a whole-society approach, ensuring that solutions are inclusive and impactful. 

And it will connect national efforts with global and regional frameworks, reinforcing alignment with the UN Secretary-General's call to action and the COP28 commitments. 

The convergence initiative provides a coherent framework to integrate food systems transformation with broader climate, economic, and policy goals. And here in Jordan, a key priority is to translate these commitments into national action, to align Jordan's food systems transformation pathways with its other goals of strengthening governance, policy frameworks, and multi-stakeholder collaboration. 

Here in Jordan, it presents a critical opportunity to embed this food systems transformation within Jordan's national food security strategy, ensuring these food systems that are secure, sustainable, and resilient in the face of climate change. And it will provide an in-depth analysis as well of Jordan's food systems transformation and climate action landscape, helping to shape strategic cross-sectoral interventions. 

This convergence initiative represents a pivotal opportunity for Jordan to advance its food systems and climate action agendas together. 

Your expertise, those of you in the room today, your expertise, your insights, and your engagements are essential to this process. As the United Nations, we are pleased to support and participate in your journey and Jordan's journey in this endeavor and to take advantage of this pivotal opportunity. And it is for this reason you have so many parts of the UN in Jordan in the room today. 

I want to thank my colleagues for coming and for supporting this. 

 We look forward to the outcomes of this event. And we rely on the United Nations to journey with Jordan throughout its endeavors.