Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Launch Conference and Planning Workshop

4th -7th May. Nairobi, Kenya. The Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is a new 10-year research initiative by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) to facilitate new research on the interactions between climate change, agriculture, natural resource management and food security.

CCAFS will in late 2010, morph into the CGIAR mega programme seven (MP7) on climate change. Its initial focus regions are West Africa, East Africa and the Indo-Gangetic Plains.

It has four strategic thematic areas around which activities are designed:

• Adaptation to progressive climate change
• Adaptation through managing climate risk
• Poverty alleviation through mitigation
• Diagnosis and scenarios for making strategic choices

The workshop was to identify key research and development priorities and make inputs into implementation in the target regions of East Africa, West Africa and the Indo-Gangetic Plains.

Achim Steiner (UNEP) talked about implications of climate change for agriculture and underscored the need to break farmer dependency on seed companies and fertilizer suppliers. He further explained that promoting the ideology of more seeds, fertilizers and water as the sole means to achieving agricultural productivity will result in disaster. 

Lindiwe Sibanda discussed an Africa-wide policy on climate change adaptation and mitigation while David Radcliffe (European Commission) spoke about enhancing food security in the face of climate change and highlighted several global and European initiatives that support the same e.g. Global Initiative on climate Change, Global Initiative on Food Security, Global Climate Change Alliance, Food Security Thematic Programme, European Development Fund, Framework Programme 7.

Technology-Supported Learning for Environmental Education

27-29 May 2009. Dakar, Senegal. The fourth eLearning Africa conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training. Under the patronage of the Republic of Senegal eLearning Africa attracted 1315 eLearning users, newcomers, providers and experts from 85 countries, who gathered over the three conference days.

The benefits of e-learning systems are not, though, without disadvantages, and many respondents to a Survey of e-Learning in Africa Based on a Questionnaire Survey of People on the e-Learning Africa Database in 2007 drew attention to these, typified by the following:

Moodle has a quite steep learning curve and it needs a fair time investment in face-to-face, hands-on, training to get started, which is not easy to arrange when working on a voluntary base. The saying „The first online course you do well is the second“ is very true. To overcome this starting inertia is very hard because it takes time to really deeply understand the potential of eL and see the results, especially when working with a foreign language and being a newbie with PC. Prompt tutoring is crucial (Burundi) See also: Workshop A10: A Hands-On Guide to Using an Open Source Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle)

One of the pre-conference events related to agriculture and the environment: Technology-Supported Learning for Environmental Education. The overall objective of this seminar was to further the implementation of Decision 6 of the 12th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment 12 (AMCEN-12)1, which addressed the interrelated issues of environmental education and technology-supported learning with the aim of mainstreaming technology-supported learning in African environmental institutions to enhance the delivery of environmental education, training and awareness-raising.

Speakers and participants at the seminar included decision-makers, eLearning experts, educators, environmental education programme managers, eLearning programme managers and information specialists working in international organisations, UN agencies, environment ministries, environmental protection agencies, universities, non-governmental organisations, research institutions and the private sector.

Organic agriculture and food security in Africa

This publication (Sept. 2008, 61 pp.), co-published by UNEP and UNCTAD, argues that organic agriculture "can be more conducive to food security in Africa than most conventional production systems," and that it is more likely to prove sustainable in the long term.

Entitled "Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa", the study demonstrates that organic agriculture can be equal or better for food security than most conventional systems and is more likely to be sustainable in the longer term, as it builds up levels of natural, human, social, financial and physical capital in farming communities. It also favours the use of low carbon footprint production methods and local resources.

Background: The UNEP-UNCTAD Capacity Building Task Force on Trade, Environment and Development (CBTF) is one of two international partnerships through which UNCTAD conducts its work on organic agriculture as a trade and sustainable development opportunity for developing countries. The other partnership is the UNCTAD-FAO-IFOAM International Task Force on Harmonization and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture (ITF).
Read the full text here.

Regional Consultative Meeting of Global Climate Adaptation Network in Africa

Nairobi 19-20 January 2009. Regional Consultative Meeting of Global Climate Adaptation Network in Africa. The rapid escalation in demand for information on climate adaptation, building upon the many initiatives and actions underway was highlighted by Musonda Munda from UNEP, following up Jian Liu's summary of the state of planning of the network.

The development and work of the UNEP network needs to build on UNFCCC activities, particularly those under Decision 1/CP.10 (Buenos Aires programme), NAPAs, Nairobi Work Programme and Bali Action Plan. Much work has been done as part of the UNFCCC process to identify adaptation needs and gaps, so this can be used as a starting point for informing the activities of the UNEP Network.

After 2 carrousel sessions and much discussions the critical next steps for the Africa network identified include:

• consider the establishment of a Steering Committee to drive the start up phase - making it owned and driven by African institutions - should include institutions / organisations on the the supply and demand ends of the spectrum
• start with a loose group of organisations and see who displays capacity to deliver services in demand who will then move into forming the core group of the network
  make information on network available in French to give Francophone institutions the opportunity to input and get involved
• define specific functions for network in Africa
• communicate outcomes of meeting widely to involve and include those organisations with capacity on supporting adaptation not able to attend (possibly including at the SBSTA meeting in June and presenting to the Africa Group in preparation for negotiating on adaptation at COP15)
• use outcomes from existing institutional mapping exercises on climate adaptation in Africa, including that of the Swedish Environment Agency
  continue discussions with AU, AfDB and UNECA on ClimDev activities to avoid unnecessary duplication
• clarify and articulate in the strategy document what exactly the intent/purpose of the network (or networked facilities) is and who the target group of users/beneficiaries/members are - in a general sense it is intended to support national governments and communities in adapting well to a changing climate, what does this mean in the African context
• develop communique containing key messages from this meeting for UNEP Governing Council meeting
• look for synergies between other such networks and initiatives including ATPS, ClimDev, weADAPT, etc.
• do something that can continue, not simply another pilot Reference: wikiADAPT

Sub-Regional Capacity-Building Workshop on Biodiversity - CENTRAL AFRICA

22 to 25 September. Limbé, Cameroon. The purpose of the workshop was to strengthen national capacity for the development, implementation, review and updating of national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and for biodiversity mainstreaming into relevant sectors, through the exchange of experiences and training on the use of relevant tools and mechanisms.

It provided an opportunity for Parties to identify ways and means to overcome obstacles associated with the implementation of national biodiversity strategies and action plans, as well as inform the ongoing review of implementation of goals 2 and 3 of the Strategic Plan of the Convention.

Reference: Convention on Biological diversity

Applying Ecological Economics for Social and Environmental Sustainability

More than two hundred scientists from six continents converged in Nairobi on 12/08 to discuss ways to apply economics to social and environmental sustainability.
The five day conference, under the theme 'Applying Ecological Economics for Social and Environmental Sustainability', was attended by over 250 scientists and practitioners from a broad range of fields and institutions in six continents.

The goal of the conference was to further trans-disciplinary dialogue in the face of climate change and globalization, and particularly to engage young scientists in developing countries to explore the relationship between the natural world and human social systems.

Reference:
Environmental law Review 11/08/08 Ecological economics on the agenda as scientists from six continents gather in Nairobi
ISEE Nairobi 2008 conference site

Expert Group Meeting of the Twelfth Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment

South Africa hosted the 12th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), 7-12 June 2008 and will also be taking the helm of AMCEN for the next two years. The official opening ceremony for AMCEN took place on 10 June 2008 to which FARA participating.

View of the Sandton Convention Centre,

venue of AMCEN-12

The first Extraordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for Cooperation in the Protection and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the West and Central African Region will also run parallel to AMCEN from 9-10 June 2008.

Another Associated meeting is the Special Conference of Parties of the Abidjan Convention COP 9, on 9 -10 June 2008.

The Expert Group met in plenary to hear presentations and discuss a number of items, including: a report by the AMCEN Secretariat; implementation of the Action Plan for the Environment Initiative of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD); reports from the African Union Commission (AUC) and NEPAD; AMCEN’s draft indicative work programme for the biennium 2009-2010; and the forthcoming launch of Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment.

Participants during Working Group I (WGI): Climate Change

The Expert Group then convened in three working groups to prepare draft decisions for the ministerial segment on climate change, AMCEN’s Work Programme for the 2009-2010 Biennium, and policy-related matters. It forwarded to the ministerial segment the draft Johannesburg Declaration on the Environment for Development (the Johannesburg declaration), the draft indicative work programme for the biennium 2009-2010, and draft decisions on the following matters:

• implementation of the Action Plan of the Environment Initiative of NEPAD; status and use of the general trust fund; chemicals management;
• environmental education;
• Africa Environment Day;
• the Africa Environment Outlook process and the Africa Environment Information Network;
• Africa’s preparations for developing a common negotiating position on a comprehensive international climate change regime beyond 2012;
• and the comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes, containing an indicative list of Africa’s climate change decisions and an indicative conceptual outline of a comprehensive framework for African climate change programmes.

UNEP Resources

• Ministerial Agenda
• Experts Agenda
• Report of the Bureau of the AMCEN on the work of its 22nd meeting
• Status report on the implementation of the Action Plan for the NEPAD environment initiative - June 2006–May 2008
• Status of the general trust fund of AMCEN
• Status of implementation of the decisions taken by the 11th session of AMCEN
• History of AMCEN
• Abidjan Special COP Session

IISD RS Resources

• African Regional Coverage
• Linkages Update - Bi-weekly international environment and sustainable development news

Reporting on environment and sustainable development from Africa to the world

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) - Reporting Services Division (IISD RS) and the South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs & Tourism (DEAT), in partnership with the UN Environment Programme’s Regional Office for Africa, have joined together to assist in communicating the policy outcomes of regional meetings on environment and related sustainable development issues to the larger international community. These three partners have launched a new three-year project to provide coverage of regional sustainable development policy meetings in Africa.

The project is the result of the identified need to give African meetings and activities a higher exposure to the international community. Building on the success of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) in covering international environment and sustainable development meetings, this project expects to replicate this success at the regional level in order to make the outcome of Africa’s NEPAD follow-up meetings available to the world in real-time.

This first phase of the project will consist of reporting from meetings of ministers in Africa on sustainable development and environment as well as those on water, energy, transport, human settlements and technology. Through the distribution of targeted policy briefs on upcoming international meetings, IISD RS will also be building a network of environment and sustainable development policy experts working in African capitals. The meetings to be covered by IISD Reporting Services will be selected from meetings of the following organisations but not limited to the following:

• African Union and its subsidiary bodies Southern African Development Community and its subsidiary bodies United Nations Environment Programme New Partnership for Africa’s Development
• International Agreements and Conventions that may be hosted by African Governments
• Relevant South-South Cooperation Meetings
• Bi-annual meetings of the African Ministerial Conference on Environment
• African preparatory meetings for the Commission on Sustainable Development
• Planned meetings of the NEPAD Environment Initiative Meetings of the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s Committee on Sustainable Development.

In addition, IISD RS will publish periodic policy briefs for governments in the region in relation to multilateral environmental agreements and sustainable development in the context of the follow-up to the WSSD and the NEPAD Environment Action Plan.

Reference: African Regional Coverage