Seminar
13 November 2025 18:00 — 19:30
The Lobito corridor: Boosting climate action, food security, and regional trade
On 13th November 2025, from 18:00 to 19:30 BRT, ECDPM together with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), will host a side event taking place during COP30 in Belém. The event will focus on the Lobito Corridor and will explore how this corridor presents a real opportunity to catalyze investments that simultaneously promote agricultural development, food security, and climate resilience, while also improving infrastructure and regional integration.
This event will take place at the AquaPraça, Italian Pavilion and is an in-person event only.
Background
Africa faces an increasingly complex challenge: feeding a rapidly growing population while grappling with the escalating impacts of climate change on its food systems. The continent’s food security is highly vulnerable to climate variability, which threatens agricultural productivity and food availability. Integrating climate action into food systems is not only essential for survival but also an opportunity to build resilience, improve productivity, and enhance economic growth.
In response to these challenges, global efforts to integrate climate and food systems have gained momentum. In 2023, 159 world leaders endorsed the COP28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action, calling for scaled-up financial and technical support for adaptation and resilience activities to reduce the vulnerability of farmers, fisherfolk and other food producers, and committing to speed up the integration of agriculture and food systems into the climate action agenda.
COP30 provides a unique opportunity to take stock on this momentum by bringing together policymakers, the private sector and other stakeholders to further embed climate-resilient strategies into Africa’s economic growth and diverse food systems. This high-level event will discuss how to link climate action and sustainable food systems, emphasizing the importance of sustainable agricultural practices, innovative financing, trade, infrastructure and policy reforms that promote resilience in African communities. In particular, it will highlight the emerging results of the continental programme funded by the Italian Development Cooperation and led by AUDA-NEPAD and ECDPM, in support of the COP28 Leaders’ Declaration implementation and to assist African countries and RECsin integrating climate and food systems policies and translating them into investment pipelines, with a focus on regional dimensions and infrastructure and trade corridors.
Speakers
- Francesco Corvaro (Special Envoy for Climate, Italy)
- Estherine Fotabong (Director, Agriculture, Food Security and Environmental Sustainability, NEPAD)
- Catarino Fontes (DG, Agência Reguladora de Certificação de Carga e Logística de Angola)
- Hélène Miaswekama Kiese (Directrice Générale de la Direction Générale des Corridors de Développement Industriel, DRC)
- Julius Kamau (Director for Sustainability, Equity Bank Group)
- Carl Jensen (CEO of Zambia Goodnatureagro)
- David Laborde (Director of Economics Division of FAO)
Moderator
Francesco Rampa, Head, Sustainable Food Systems, ECDPM
ECDPM staff involved
