Agriculture trade reform is also needed.Ottawa-Programs to promote sustainability and combat climate change should not be used by countries to interfere in the international trade of agriculture and food products, says the Cairns Group Farm Leaders (CGFL).Agriculture organizations from the 12 CGFL countries said in a statement they are very concerned at the growing use of sustainability and climate change measures to create further barriers to freer and fairer international agricultural trade.The group is not opposed to sustainability or climate change measures but is concerned about their use for protectionist purposes. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture and the Canadian Agrifood Trade Alliance are member of the CGFL.Its statement said, “that imposing sustainability conditions on trade and market access lacks understanding and appreciation of unique local agricultural contexts, including geographic, environmental, cultural, and socio-economic. There is no 'one size fits all approach' to sustainability.”International trade is critically important to agricultural producers and the adoption of further agriculture liberalization has the potential to contribute to the solutions to many global concerns, CGFL said.Sustainability policies established by countries must be mindful of “the challenges of feeding a growing world population, in the face of increasing climate variability, to implement practices and policies that assist agriculture and food systems to adapt and produce more with less to safeguard global food security and reduce agricultural emissions.”International and domestic efforts on sustainability and climate action should be science and evidence-based and in line with international agreements and WTO disciplines. They should also not hinder the critical role of international trade in agriculture in achieving global food security, CGFL said.Countries should “promote the positive environment and climate co-benefits that can result from open trade enabling each country to fully develop their comparative advantage.”They should recognize “that the net impacts of some types of agricultural subsidies on GHG emissions can be harmful to the environment and human health.” Non-tariff barriers which cannot be justified by reference to evidence-based exceptions recognized by the WTO should not be permitted.CGFL said countries must redouble efforts to reduce trade- and production-distorting domestic support measures along the lines of the Cairns Group's proposal to cap and reduce such support entitlements substantially and significantly.The upcoming COP28 meeting on climate change needs to recognize “the unique potential for the agricultural sector to meet global ambitions on addressing climate change and the special vulnerability of the sector to the effects of climate change,” CGFL said.The meeting should recognize “the key role played by farmers in ensuring sustainable land management, the implementation of nature-based solutions to address climate change, and the further improvement of the sustainability of agri-food systems and in this context acknowledge that policy responses in agriculture are most likely to succeed if they are built upon the concept of farmers as primary agents of change.”There should also be recognition of the proactive agricultural practices implemented by farmers around the world to achieve sustainable agricultural production.The COP28 meeting should promote the appropriate use of multilateral forums including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) to further accelerate the transition to resilient agri-food systems and to further improve the productivity and sustainability of agri-food systems.