• Home
  • IFAD website
  • Subscribe to posts
  • Subscribe to comments
Showing posts with label Lima. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lima. Show all posts

COP20 Day Six – The Global Landscape Forum

Posted by Christopher Neglia Sunday, December 7, 2014 0 comments

Written by Jessica Morgan

"The Global Landscapes Forum is a platform where we can interact with different stakeholders and also learn about the way they see this movement," said Juan De Mattos, IFAD’s Regional Climate and Environment Specialist for Latin America and the Caribbean.


Today is the first day of the 2014 Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) which takes place over the weekend outside the main UN climate summit agenda here in Lima, Peru.
It explores the role of sustainable landscapes in the new climate and development agenda. Topics such as agriculture in a new climate regime, land use, climate resilience, vulnerability and climate-smart agriculture are major topics for the GLF. 

IFAD is very interested in the issues being raised and the different stakeholders participating at this event. Representing IFAD at the GLF were Estibalitz Dimas Morras and Juan De Dios Mattos:

Q: Why is the GLF an important event for IFAD?

JDM: I think it's important for IFAD to participate because lots of grass roots organisations, communities, indigenous groups, producers and local NGOs are all taking part. It's kind of a different angle for the climate conversation and negotiations than we have at COP20. Here is a platform where we can interact with different stakeholders and also learn about the way they see this movement. I guess we can learn more about what has been going on in different parts of the world. This event is important for us because we need to know and differentiate different players and groups and target our projects and research towards the right people. 

Q: So what is IFAD actively doing at this event?

JDM: We want to share our knowledge and projects with other agencies. At this event we are going to distribute our materials, with a focus on IFAD's Adaptation for smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP. We will explain to participants what our goals are and the growing needs of smallholder farmers for climate change adaptation. There's a lot going on here for IFAD. 

Q: Building from Juan's answer, what do you think IFAD can share at this event?

EDM: I think this event can give us a space to connect with participants of many different communities and local and regional governments. What IFAD can share is its ASAP programme and its knowledge for smallholder farmers adaptation strategies. There are many organisations here that are working at a community level so I think the ASAP programmes will have a lot of relevance for them.

Q: So what can IFAD take from this event back to Rome?

JDM: Contacts and relationships built at this event. I think we can take these back to Rome and continue working with them. It's difficult of course to see and forecast how it's going to work out in the future, but I think we're closer to relationships with more local NGOs and grassroots organisations. As we continue working with small farmers and climate change adaptation it is essential to have good partners and this Forum and ones like it can help us identify them. 

COP20 runs until 12 December in Lima, Peru. IFAD is working throughout the conference. Keep up to date with our Twitter and read more about IFAD’s events taking place at COP20 in Lima.

Lima day one: #COP20 climate summit kicks off

Posted by Timothy Ledwith Monday, December 1, 2014 0 comments

Delegates gather at COP20 UN climate summit in Lima, Peru. ©IFAD
Written by Brian Thomson

There was a thrill in the air this morning as thousands of delegates made their way to the United Nations climate summit in Lima. The meeting has an added importance this year, as it is the last ministerial-level gathering before the new climate compact, which is due to be signed in Paris in 2015.

The Lima round of negotiations follows on the publication of the final instalment in the fifth assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Science is more certain than ever before that it is human actions, particularly burning fossil fuels for energy, that have contributed to warming of the earth and the consequent changes in climatic patterns.

There is a level of optimism about the outcome in Lima on account of various developments seen in the past few months – such as the UN Secretary General's Climate Summit, the US-China climate agreement, the European Union's emission reduction targets for 2030, and the pledging of $9.7 billion to the Green Climate Fund.

Outside the climate summit site in Lima. ©IFAD
At the same time, there is a quieter push under way to give more of the limelight to ways of adjusting to the unavoidable effects of climate change. These include building more resilient infrastructure, putting in place disaster warning systems and teaching farmers to harvest more rainwater.

IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme plays a key part in working with smallholder farmers in developing countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
For more information, go to www.ifad.org/climate/asap.

Over the coming ten days, IFAD will be presenting its work with smallholders at a range of events and meetings at the climate summit in Lima. For more information on these events, go to www.ifad.org/climate/cop20.

The writer is Communication and Advocacy Manager in the Environment and Climate Division of IFAD's Programme Management Department.