The Save Movement

Food emissions are on the COP27 agenda, but will the Parties follow the IPCC science and negotiate a plant-based food transition this decade?

Plant Based Treaty publishes itinerary and six position papers ahead of UN climate negotiations

November 6, 2022

Media Assets

Photos & video: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/5/folders/165NORO-OoP9Y75ZwLzM9D3qAX_VeZIEz
Position papers: https://plantbasedtreaty.org/position-papers/ 
Itinerary: https://plantbasedtreaty.org/cop27/

• A delegation of seven representatives from the Plant Based Treaty will be attending COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. They comprise a global team: Yael Gabay from Israel and Hoshimi Sakai from Georgia (heads of the delegation), Aprajita Ashish from India, Nilgün Engin from Turkey, Maximilian Weiss and Ludmila Widmer from Germany, and Lia Phillips from UK.

   

• Yael Gabay, Plant Based Treaty campaign coordinator, says, “I’m going to COP27 to remind delegates and key stakeholders that food systems have to be put at the forefront of all climate negotiations. It’s imperative for our survival to move towards a plant-based diet, shift away from animal agriculture and negotiate a global Plant Based Treaty.”

   

• Aprajita Ashish, Plant Based Treaty campaigner, says, “Nature does not cry with tears, it cries through the forest fires, acres of barren deforested land and shifting rain cycles. The climate crisis is real and we have to end fossil fuels and animal agriculture this decade to avoid catastrophe.”

   

• Nilgün Engin, Plant Based Treaty campaigner, says, “The climate crisis is impacting us now and I feel a duty to do all I can to stop it. Negotiating a Plant Based Treaty is essential to combat the crisis and it is imperative COP27 embraces plant-based solutions and acknowledges the role of animal agriculture.”

   

• Ludmila Widmer, Plant Based Treaty campaigner, says, “Animal agriculture is highly neglected as a main contributor to the climate crisis in the political landscape, even though the science is clear. We are here to make sure it is not ignored any longer and a transition to plant-based food systems is seriously negotiated.”

   

• Their mission is to make sure climate science on the methane emergency, land use and plant-based agro-ecological farming is correctly communicated. If we switched to plant-based diets, we could reduce our land use by 76% allowing us to rewild and restore carbon sinks.

   

• Plant Based Treaty has released six science-based Position Papers calling for plant-based solutions. The position papers draw on the work of the IPCC and George Monbiot’s Regenesis (Allen Lane, 2022).

   

• Monbiot, a British journalist and author known for his work on environmental and political issues is featured in each of the position papers, shows how land use is the most important environmental issue we face. He said, “Every hectare of land we use for extractive industries is a hectare that can’t support wild forests, savannahs, wetlands, natural grasslands and other crucial ecosystems. And farming swallows far more land than any other human activity.”

   

• There will be media, photo and interview opportunities at the side events, press conferences, and actions.

Itinerary

Plant Based Treaty Press Conferences
When: Sunday 6 Nov, 14:30 – 15:00 EET
Where: Blue Zone, Press Conference Room – Luxor Area B
Title: Plant Based Treaty: What do we expect from COP27

When: Wednesday 9 Nov, 14:00 – 14:30 EET
Where: Blue Zone, Press Conference Room – Luxor Area B
Title: Plant Based Treaty calls for a Soil Treaty as necessary climate action 

When: Thursday 17 Nov, 18:00 – 18:30 EET
Where: Blue Zone, Turkish Pavilion
Title: Plant Based Treaty: Solutions to the climate crisis

When: Friday 18 Nov, 16:30 – 17:00 EET
Where: Blue Zone, Press Conference Room – Luxor Area B
Title: Did COP27 address the cow in the room?

Plant Based Treaty Panels and Events
When: Tuesday 8 Nov, 18:00 – 19:30 EET
Where: Blue Zone, Food4Climate Pavilion
What: Plant Based Treaty campaigner Aprajita Ashish joins Oatly and Proveg International for a panel discussion: ‘Young Voices on the Urgent Need for Food System Transformation’   

When: Thursday 10 Nov, 09.30 EET
Where: Blue Zone, Food4Climate Pavilion
What: Plant Based Treaty campaigner Nilgün Engin joins IPES Foods research think tank and World Animal Protection to discuss the Plant Based Treaty City campaign

When: Thursday 16 Nov, 13.15 – 14.30 EET
Where: Blue Zone, Food4Climate Pavilion
What: Plant Based Treaty side event. Your hosts Aprajita Ashish, Nilgün Engin, Max Weiss & Hoshimi Sakai will discuss why we need a Plant Based Treaty.

Background

A bottom-up pressure coalition of individuals, groups, businesses and cities is calling for a global Plant Based Treaty with three core principles to (1) relinquish the expansion of animal agriculture, (2) promote a shift to healthy sustainable plant-based diets through public education and redirecting subsidies and taxation, and (3) reforest and rewild the Earth and restore carbon sinks to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Governments are being urged to support food justice, help farmers in a just transition to plant-based agroecological agriculture and rewild the Earth so we can live safely and ethically within our planetary boundaries.

The Plant Based Treaty has been endorsed by 60,000 individuals, 2000 groups and businesses and 20 cities including the latest to sign on, Los Angeles.

Media Contacts & Interview Requests:
Egypt: [email protected] and [email protected]
Global: [email protected]