UNFCCC COP.13 side event on climate change and sustainable land management

A side event on Climate change, rural development and sustainable land management, co-organized by the Global Mechanism (GM), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP), in collaboration with EcoSecurities and Terra Carbon, was held on 5 December 2007 during the 13th Session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP.13) in Bali.

 

COP.13 represented a unique opportunity for strengthening dialogue with the private sector in order to promote synergistic activities to combat climate change, land degradation and rural poverty, increase investments in sustainable land management (SLM) for rural development, and maximize existing and emerging climate change finance mechanisms and investment frameworks.

 

Discussions focused on the integration of climate change and land degradation issues into rural poverty alleviation, including through carbon financing to promote rural development and SLM, and the effective exploitation of financing opportunities in the agricultural, forestry and land-use sector, now and beyond 2012. Issues relating to the role of private sector financing, community involvement as an imperative for adaptation, and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) methodologies were also debated.

 

Alejandro Kilpatrick, Programme Coordinator of the GM’s Climate Change Environmental Services Strategic Programme, outlined the GM’s support to developing methodological approaches and tools for synergistic implementation through climate change-related funding mechanisms. He also indicated the GM’s contribution to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and UNFCCC policy dialogue, and its commitment to mainstreaming the linkages between land degradation and climate change into national and international programme and budgetary frameworks. These linkages are high priorities in UNCCD’s 10-year strategic plan.

 

Robert Tippmann, Head of Policy Advisory Services at EcoSecurities Global Consulting Services, acknowledged the need for private sector support in the development of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures that promote poverty alleviation while responding to rural energy needs.

 

Atiqur Rahman, IFAD, outlined how the commercialization of climate change made private sector collaboration increasingly important. Luc Debreuil, FAO, indicated FAO’s objectives of providing technical support to countries and ensuring food security. Menghestab Haile, WFP, emphasized the need to address the basic food requirements of the rural poor on marginal lands before tackling climate adaptation. Bernhard Schlamadinger, Terra Carbon, called for a significantly expanded scope of the CDM and proposed a range of post-2012 projects.

 

 

Meetings throughout 2008 will further the development of a facilitation platform and mechanisms for reaching consensus on the identification, development and implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation projects and programmes that support rural development, rural energy needs and SLM.

For more information:

 

Programme Coordinator, Climate Change Environmental Services Strategic Programme

Tel. +390654582524

a.kilpatrick (at) ifad.org