The Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor: What next for the African continent?
February 25, 2021 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm CET
Youtube live-cast on the day of the event
(Open to public)
On January 1st, 2021, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) implementation began. Governments, producers, consumers, investors and NGOs watch the launch, eager to see if regional trade integration will deliver the promises of improved livelihoods and food security. This seminar will explore how leading trade experts, diplomats, agripreneurs and farmer cooperatives expect the AfCFTA to impact markets and trade flows across the continent.
The speakers considered the AfCFTA’s effects on Africa’s widespread informal cross-border trade, and how this essential livelihood for women might be integrated into formal systems. As countries recover from Covid-19 disruptions, to what extent can the AfCFTA’s trade integration help reinvigorate regional economies, alleviate poverty and support broader public well-being?
This was a joint event between the he International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
We are a unique freshwater facility in Canada now digitising data we have collected over 50 years. Ask us anything, Reddit.
The world's freshwater laboratory is hard at work digitizing its incredible database. Now we want Reddit to ask us how we are doing it.
February 26, 2021 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Central Standard Time
(Open to public)
THIS CHAT HAS NOW CONCLUDED, BUT YOU CAN READ ALL THE ANSWERS HERE
For over 50 years we have been collecting data on the biology and chemistry of our lakes on floppy disks, yellow waterproof notepads, and even the backs of manila envelopes.
These data have helped us understand everything from the impact of climate change on fresh water to what causes algal blooms and what happens when oil spills into a lake—and have informed protections for fresh water around the world.
Now we are hard at work digitizing those data collected in all those different formats over 50 years, so we can use digital technologies to protect lakes in Canada, the United States, and around the world.
These data will be more open, fair, available, and accessible so they can be used by new audiences to make new discoveries. They will help predict the changes of climate and new contaminants and ensure everyone has access to clean drinking water and healthy fish.
But it has been an intense process, and we have learned A LOT along the way.
So, on the afternoon of Friday, February 26, 2021, we are taking to Reddit to encourage anyone in a similar situation, planning on embarking on a similar project, or just plain interested in data, to Ask Us Anything.
Go on and ask us anything.
We dare you…
(More details to follow)
You can learn more about how and why we are digitizing our data here.
As the think tank of the United Nations, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) demonstrated its thought leadership in 2020 by providing agile support to member states as they battled the devastating economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. UN DESA’s experts oriented their intergovernmental support, as well as their analytical and capacity development work to provide stakeholders with the data, policy recommendations, and other tools needed to respond quickly and effectively to the challenges before them and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Now, UN DESA’s experts on economic, social, and environmental issues will share their experiences and predictions for the year ahead and take questions from the audience in two fireside chat events. Two separate sessions in one week will offer a rare insider’s glimpse into the work at the heart of sustainable development.
Session 1 on Equality and Inclusive Growth
Tuesday, 19 January 2021, 8:45–10:15 a.m. EST
Session 2 on Data for the Climate and SDGs
Thursday, 21 January 2021, 8:45–10:15 a.m. EST
Moderated by Stefan Jungcurt, Lead, SDG Indicators and Data, IISD
Nature-Based Solutions as a Catalyst for Achieving Mutual Benefits for People, Nature, and Climate: Lessons learned from China and globally
This virtual event featured speakers who shared their experience on the application of nature-based solutions (NbS) to provide long-term social, ecological and economic benefits. The outcome of the event was a practical understanding of the multiple advantages of NbS, including climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as ecological, social, and economic benefits.
January 20, 2021 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm GMT +1
(Open to public)
Nature-based solutions (NbS) can potentially provide up to 37% of cost-effective global CO2 mitigation targets by 2030, while limiting global warming to 1.5C can lower biodiversity loss by 50%. According to the World Economic Forum’s New Nature Economy Report, NbS could unlock an estimated USD 10 trillion of business opportunities and have the ability to create 395 million jobs in 2030, beyond providing important biodiversity, climate mitigation, and adaptation outcomes. NbS also provide important social and health benefits, employment opportunities, and poverty alleviation that make valuable contributions to several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
With this in mind, NbS are promoted as the best way to achieve human well-being, tackle climate change, and protect our living planet. The increasing political recognition of climate change and biodiversity crises and the need to protect and enhance nature’s multiple benefits has never seemed more urgent.
Despite many pilot projects, NbS are still underutilized for meeting specific climate, biodiversity, and infrastructure needs. One critical gap is a lack of evidence demonstrating that NbS solutions provide tangible, measurable outcomes that contribute to meeting climate, biodiversity, and other national and international needs and targets. This lack of evidence prevents the adoption of NbS projects, financing for NbS, and broad recognition that NbS are a cost-effective means of meeting climate, biodiversity, and related socio-economic needs.
In addition, the event featured an expert discussion on assessing the impact and results of NbS, their added value, and policy relevance. Panelists also shared research results and key lessons learned from the resulting evidence base and how NbS can support policy implementation. The outcome of the event was a practical understanding of the multiple advantages of NbS, including climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as ecological, social, and economic benefits.
Objectives
Promote NbS as a practical means to achieve benefits for climate, biodiversity, and well-being.
Highlight specific social and economic benefits from NbS, including how to assess the impacts of NbS and key lessons emerging from the resulting evidence base
Share and identify actions and opportunities to strengthen strategies and advance the uptake and implementation of NbS.
See below the webinar's full recording and the slides of the presentations given during the event:
Webinar's full recording
Nature-Based Solutions as a Catalyst for Achieving Mutual Benefits for People, Nature, and Climate: Lessons learned from China and globally
Nature-based Solutions – Integrated solutions for climate, biodiversity and societal benefits | Aloke Barnwal, Global Environment Facility
Nature-based Solutions: the European approach | Sofie Vandewoestijne, European Commission DG Research and Innovation
Valuation of nature-based infrastructure | Andrea Bassi, IISD
Biodiversity loss and nature-based solutions: a view from re/insurance | Oliver Schelske, Swiss Re Institute
Accelerating Climate Initiatives: Building the business case for Nature-based Solutions | Rachel Terry, Van Oord
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) leads the national knowledge assessment process, Canada in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action. The first product of the current assessment process, Canada’s Changing Climate Report, was released in April 2019. The Prairie Provinces chapter is the first chapter of the Regional Perspectives Report to be released, which will be followed in 2021 by the National Issues Report, other Regional Perspectives chapters and the Health of Canadians in a Changing Climate Report.
The PRAC is pleased to host representatives from NRCan and the author team of the Prairie Provinces chapter to share an overview of the national assessment process and to discuss the key messages from the chapter, which focus on shifting ecosystems, extreme weather events, water management, agriculture, social considerations and adaptation planning.
Enhancing Ecosystem-based Adaptation in National Adaptation Plans
UNEP’s Global Adaptation Network is hosting a webinar on the integration of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) into National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).
December 3, 2020 8:30 am - 9:30 am EST
(Open to public)
*Fully booked! Registrations are closed*
Colleagues from the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) will join to present the key findings from a recent analysis by the NAP Global Network to better understand the extent to which EbA has taken up in NAP processes. The presentation will identify gaps, trends, and opportunities in countries’ approaches to integrating EbA measures in NAPs, while drawing out lessons for future adaptation planning.
In addition, UNEP will be discussing its upcoming Guidelines for Integrating Ecosystem-based Adaptation into National Adaptation Plans. This presentation will describe some of the potential entry points for including EbA in the different steps of the NAP process, highlighting the opportunities and challenges involved. UNEP currently supports over 50 Ecosystem-based Adaptation projects and 17 National Adaptation Plan projects.
This event will be held under the auspices of the European Parliamentary Alliance against Hunger.
Sustainable investments throughout the agricultural value-chain can play a huge rule in achieving the 2030 agenda, supporting countries mitigating the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation and addressing rural poverty and inequalities.
Parliamentarians hold a strategic position to promote the enhancement of public responsible investments into the agricultural sector, and to put in place the conditions to increase private responsible investments, while ensuring well-defined safeguards are in place to prevent damages to the environment and communities. They can put in place actions that facilitate complementarity between different kinds of investments, and thus contribute to sustainable development.
The Green Deal is at the core of the EU’s COVID-19 recovery package and is an integral part of the European Union’s strategy to implement the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainable and responsible investments should be at the heart of the COVID-19 recovery to build community resilience, generate jobs, empower women and youth, invest in small-holder family farmers, and improve their access to agricultural assets, land, finance, knowledge. Interpretation will be available in English, French and Spanish.
The event is specifically targeted to Members of the European Parliament, parliamentary advisors and those who work within parliamentary contexts; participation is opened to all interested stakeholders, including parliamentarians and advisors from other regions.
Under the Paris Agreement on climate change, Canada committed to reduce its annual greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. Yet the country is set to miss this target, in part due to ongoing support for fossil fuels. In fact, a recent scorecard ranked Canada last among G20 OECD countries for progress in ending fossil fuel support, even as the federal government committed to net-zero by 2050.
This webinar will present Canada’s current state of fossil fuel support and identify where the problem spots are, comparing to other G20 countries. We’ll examine how Canada’s planned policies and actions will expand fossil fuel production, widening the gap from what’s needed for 1.5°C and 2°C pathways and creating other risks in the process. Special attention will be placed on what the US election means for climate action post-2021, helping to shed light on what can be expected from the new Biden administration and how it could affect Canada.
Trade in food and farm goods has been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, imperilling efforts to make progress on tackling hunger and malnutrition according to the framework set out under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the same time, the farm sector is under increasing pressure to respond to new environmental challenges, and especially those associated with climate change. With the World Trade Organization’s next Ministerial Conference postponed due to the pandemic, both the substance and process of talks in Geneva on updating the global trade rulebook have been affected, amid ongoing tensions between major economies. As governments revisit their priorities in this new context, it is important that they engage with different constituencies in their regions and beyond to ensure that negotiating strategies reflect an inclusive vision of public policy goals—one that can contribute to economic recovery and improve resilience to future food system shocks.
With South Asia home to millions of small farmers, and food insecurity a persistent challenge in both rural and urban areas, policies affecting markets for food and agriculture remain highly controversial. While economic growth has contributed to rising average incomes and evolving patterns of demand across the region, extreme weather events associated with climate change represent an increasing challenge to the food and agriculture sector, along with increasing water scarcity. Designing national policies to address these challenges not only requires governments to navigate the impact of new measures on different domestic constituency groups, but also on producers and consumers elsewhere in South Asia and beyond. Meanwhile, with major economies around the world increasingly pursuing their trade policy goals through bilateral and regional deals, countries in the region have faced new challenges in advancing their objectives in this area at the multilateral level.
This was the fourth of a series of events on the same topic but with a regional perspective. The events covered Africa, South Asia and Latin America.
Date: December, 17, 2020 Time: 06:00 a.m.to 07:15 a.m. EST
Speakers
Ms. Aisha Moriani, Joint Secretary WTO, Ministry of Commerce, Pakistan
Prof. Abhijit Das, Head, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), India
Amb. Gothami Silva, Sri Lanka Mission to the WTO
Dr Fahmida Khatun, Centrefor Policy DIalogue, Bangladesh
Africa Launch | The Role of Parliamentarians in Enhancing Responsible Investments in Agriculture for the Transition Toward More Sustainable Food Systems in Africa
December 15, 2020 2:00 pm CET
(Open to public)
* Un version française de cette page est disponible. Veuillez cliquez sur French en haut de la page au dessus de la photo.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Institute For Sustainable Development (IISD), the Pan-African Parliament, East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament jointly organized an event on the role of parliamentarians in enhancing responsible investments in agriculture for the transition toward more sustainable food systems in Africa on Tuesday, December 15, 2020.
Because of the agricultural sector’s influence on people and development, investment in the sector and in food systems is critical to supporting economic growth and reducing poverty and food insecurity. At the same time, it contributes to rural development and creating job opportunities, especially for young people, women, and other vulnerable social groups. In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, additional investment in agriculture is required to reduce its consequences and support recovery efforts toward the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In order to generate sustainable benefits for all, it is essential to ensure not only more, but above all, better investments that prioritize people’s food security and nutrition, uphold decent work, secure land rights and resources, recognize participation in consultation, and protect the most vulnerable.
Parliamentarians’ strategic position is fundamental to promoting enhanced public investments in the agricultural sector, such as the provision of public goods and services, including infrastructure, energy, research and development, especially in rural areas. These investments can also contribute to the emergence of the conditions to increase private investments, made by smallholders, by youth-led and women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and by larger-scale agribusiness investors, while ensuring well-defined safeguards are in place to protect legitimate interests and prevent damages to the environment and communities. Finally, they can act to facilitate complementarity between different kinds of investments. Members of parliament and parliamentary advisors also play a central role in building public awareness about the challenges and opportunities related to responsible investment in agriculture and food systems while ensuring that investments do not jeopardize vulnerable groups.
Based on their experience working with parliamentarians, in 2020, FAO and the IISD joined forces to develop a practical handbook that provides a comprehensive and systematic overview of the role that parliamentarians can play in the creation of “enabling environments” in several areas related to investment in agriculture and food systems. It includes guidance notes alongside examples of legislation and good practices.
This event aimed to
• Raise awareness of the importance of responsible investment in agriculture and food systems for the achievement of the SDGs.
• Bring together parliamentarians from different parties and catalyze discussions on their concrete role in the enhancement of responsible agricultural investment (RAI) within Africa.
• Launch Responsible Investments in Agriculture and Food Systems. A Practical Handbook for Parliamentarians and Parliamentary advisors.
