By Navam Niles
Keynote presentation Ms Ellysar Baroudy, Lead Carbon Finance Specialist, World Bank: Overview of the state of financing, technology transfer and capacity-building, including the role of partnerships, and major opportunities for investment and challenges
Expert panellist: Experts from international institutions will discuss opportunities for mobilising finance, technology and capacity-building to implement land use actions with climate benefits, with a focus on success stories and their replication potential, opportunities, barriers and how they are being overcome
1. CGIAR-CCAFS – Mr Henry Neufeldt
2. CIFOR – Mr Lou Verchot
3. GEF – Ms Junu Shrestha
4. LEG – Mr Ibila Djibril
5. WWF – Ms Susana Velez Haller
6. UN-REDD – Ms Thais Linhares-Juvenal
General discussion: The facilitator will invite Parties, UNFCCC-related institutions (such as the Green Climate Fund, Climate Technology Centre and Network, Technology Executive Committee), other international organisations and observers to share their experiences and views from the floor on how robust policy frameworks can be or are being supported to promote implementation of land use actions with climate benefits
Keynote address – Ellysar Baroudy (World Bank)
Ms Baroudy spoke on the importance of balancing rigour and practicality when approaching issues related to better landscape management. Procedures and protocols for highly effective processes must be relevant and sensible at different levels of decision-making and activity.
She also noted the establishment of a 1.5 billion financing scheme to address major landscape management issues such as readiness or capacity building, investment and better management. She also noted specific examples such as the forest investment fund and the pilot programme for climate resilience.
Looking forward, Ms Baroudy noted the need to incentivise governments to undertake “climate-smart” landscape programmes. In addition, there is a need to design and environment that fosters public-private partnerships. In particular, access to additional resources to delivery sustainable technology, processes to spur innovation on new models of sustainable land-use, and identifying pathways to ensure long-term sustainability.
CIFOR – Mr Lou Verchot
Mr. Verchot noted that landscape management requires the need for effective principles guiding the process. Thus, a coherent policy is vital and in this regard, CIFOR has helped develop a set of principles that emphasise adaptive management, stakeholder involvement and multiple objectives.
These principles are as follows:
Continual learning and adaptive management
Common concern entry point
Multiple scale
Multi-functionality
Multiple stakeholder
Negotiated and transparent change
Clarification of rights and responsibilities
Participatory and user friendly monitoring
Resilience
Strengthened stakeholder capacity
Together, these principles could drive landscape development in a sustainable and adaptive manner, to reduce vulnerability, improve participation and enhance the sector’s carbon profile.
UN-REDD – Ms Thais Linhares-Juvenal
Ms Linhares-Juvenal noted focused mostly on the lessons learned from a UN-REDD perspective, and then expressed her views on the challenges ahead.
Concerning lessons learned, she noted that UN experts on REDD have already noted that REDD+ readiness takes longer than initially estimated. In addition, support to REDD+ need to be tailored to meet needs of national contexts. When examining results, REDD+ success depends on high-level commitment, crosscutting coordination and policies and measures. In addition, efforts must be made to highlight the linkages with other land-based activities stakeholders understand the benefits of a landscape approach. Overall, there is also a need to strengthen cross-sectional support in the process.
Speaking on the challenges ahead, Ms Linhares-Juvenal, noted the need to ensure that implementation of UNFCCC decisions on REDD+ are not be jeopardized by lack of finance under the convention. Moreover, as countries make progress on readiness, tailor-made support is needed, demanding diversification of delivery modalities. It is also important to coordinate at the national level and different approaches should be adopted by different sources of support.
WWF – Ms Susana Velez Haller
Ms. Haller used a case study from Colombia, to demonstrate the issues driving deforestation and what organisations like the WWF, have done to address these issues.
She noted the main drivers for deforestation include agriculture, cattle-ranching, mining and infrastructure development. These activities create highly vulnerable situations concerning mitigation of GHGs and adaptation processes. Thus, she noted that the solution involved utilising a low carbon developing process to reduce deforestation. This also leads to mitigation and adaptation related issues.
Ms Haller, also argue that ultimately, countries facing deforestation must adopt climate smart landscapes. This involves a combination of mitigation, adaptation and rural smart development. This formula will help enhance livelihoods and decrease deforestation. Importantly, this model could also be useful in a global context.
Unliver
Uniliver made a surprise intervention on invitation by the chair. In its presentation, Unliver noted the importance of forging partnerships with the private sector. The company also highlighted its 2020 goal of ensuring all its agricultural sources are sustainable.
It also noted its partnerships through the Consumer Goods Forum, which collectively accounts for about three trillion dollars. In 2010, this organisation committed itself to zero deforestation by 2020. Importantly the CFA provides a space for public-private action and focuses on priority areas such as soy, beef, palm oil and paper. Thus, Unliver argued that that CFA has become a game changer because of its size and reach.
CGIAR-CCAFS – Mr. Henry Neufeldt
Mr Neufeldt, speaking on the agricultural sector outlined key areas of concern and elaborated on policies aimed at improving agriculture, especially in developing countries.
Accordingly, he noted that farmers cope with climate variability by diversifying their management practices and through financial, social and institutional safety nets. Moreover, farmers’ primary concern is food and nutritional security followed by considerations about longer-term ROI and the long- term provisioning character of their land. Thus, the responses to climate variability and change and other drivers of change may require shifts in management practices that can have beneficial effects on the climate system if they are considered from the outset. For farmers to consider investing in practices that can be considered climate-smart, they require technical and financial support, an enabling environment and appropriate supply chains
To illustrate his argument further, he highlighted three particular examples: East Africa Dairy Development program (EADD), Alternative Wetting and Drying (AWD) of rice in Vietnam and re-greening the Sahel in Niger with Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration.
Looking forward, Mr. Neufeldt noted that national and international policies can support the introduction of climate-smart agriculture practices by providing appropriate legal frameworks and funding. In this way, food and nutritional security targets can contribute to the mitigation of climate change without negatively affecting development outcomes. Furthermore, by focusing on development outcomes with mitigation co- benefits, international agreements can best support the introduction of agriculture and other land uses that are sustainable and provide secure livelihoods.
LEG – Ms Ibila Djibril
Ms Djibril sought to highlight adaptation action through NAPAs and NAPs. Accordingly, it noted that LDCs have been designing and implementing concrete actions mainly through land-based activities. In particular, it accounts for about 45% of all NAPA projects in forestry, agriculture and eco-systems. Importantly, this all involve actions that contribute towards increased carbon storage in soil aboveground thus benefiting mitigation.
LDCF Sectors are as follows:
She also noted the examples of NAPA project co-benefits.
1. Mauritania: Support to the adaptation of agricultural production system
2. Nepal: Catalysing Ecosystem Restoration for Resilient Natural Capital and Rural Livelihoods in Degraded Forests and Rangelands Of Nepal
GEF – Ms Junu Shrestha
Ms Shrestha highlighted the role of GEF and its 20 years of operation as a financial entity for UNFCCC. During this period, it has devoted attention to promoting low-carbon development with help of 11 other development agencies.
She noted that in the past 4 years (2010-14), there has been a significant increase for projects and demand in the land sector. Traditional GEF focus areas include climate change mitigation, land degradation and biodiversity.
Ms. Shrestha also described the work around Objective 5, which refers to climate change mitigation. In the context of sustainable land management, this involves forests (forestry and energy), peat lands, and agriculture. GEF 6, now focuses on upscaling projects to national and regional levels.
The GEF-6 climate mitigation strategy received a lot attention.
The strategy’s overall goal is to support developing countries to make transformational shifts towards low emission, resilient development paths.
[Photo Credits: IISD]
Navam Niles works as a Research Associate at SLYCAN, focusing on energy security and the politics concerning global environmental problems. His core research interests also include Public International Law, International Development, Foreign Policy Analysis, and International Security. In addition, he is a lecturer at the Royal Institute of Colombo, teaching subjects pertaining to Politics, International Relations and Development Studies.
