SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14 -- A batch of announcements were made at the Global Climate Action Summit here by a cross section of industries and countries to take the efforts of battling climate change to a higher level.
A total of 17 announcements have been made under the umbrella of the 30X30 Forest, Food and Land Challenge, one of the five major challenges the summit aims to tackle.
The challenge calls for action to improve food production and consumption, better conserve forests and habitats and use land more efficiently and sustainably to deliver up to 30 percent of the climate solutions needed by 2030.
The announcements, which came from farmers, ranchers, foresters, chefs, Indigenous Peoples, business leaders and elected officials, represent a step forward on land stewardship climate commitments and will inspire greater ambition globally, according to Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, WWF's Global Lead for Climate and Energy.
He said forest was a forgotten sector in the global efforts to mitigate climate change in some sense because people working on the area tried to solve climate problems in an isolated way.
During this summit, concerned regional governments, businesses, and academia of all land related sectors such as farming, forestry, and food worked together for the first time to find a wholistic way to fight climate change.
"Agriculture, forestry and other land uses contribute more greenhouse gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, planes and ships in the world, yet land-oriented climate change solutions receive only 3 percent of climate funding," he said, when pointing out the urgency for more people to take action on land-focused climate change solutions.
He said he is optimistic that more achievements would be made as people are "on the right track." But he also acknowledged the challenges lying ahead.
"With the next round of UN climate talks right around the corner, countries must advance more of these conversations to set science-based targets and develop land-based solutions that will help mitigate the worst effects of climate change," said Pulgar-Vidal.
The 2018 Global Climate Action Summit which ran from Wednesday till Friday features more than 25 sessions, 325 affiliate events and 500 major climate commitments, aiming at enhancing cooperation in tackling climate change at various levels globally.