Tackling rural poverty, together

Bonn, 4 January 2010

The COP15 in Copenhagen failed to produce a legally binding agreement. Instead, the conference ended in the early hours of 19 December by “taking note” of the Copenhagen Accord (more below).

The good news is that agriculture has made major inroads in the discourse surrounding a future climate change regime.

This achievement is reflected particularly in the progress made on the REDD Plus initiative. A mechanism for paying rural people not to cut down trees, REDD Plus is mentioned explicitly in the three-page Copenhagen Accord.

This is especially encouraging for ARD stakeholders, because the ‘Plus’ acknowledges marginal farmers as key players in the equation.

“One of the attractions of a focus on agriculture is that even poor countries have farms”, states The Economist in a recent article on Agriculture and Climate Change: Why farms may be the new forests; “in some cases credits for carbon newly locked away in their soil may be a more plausible way of attracting money than rewards for low-carbon industrialisation”.

The Economist article goes on to highlight the 16 December decision by 21 countries to pledge $150 billion to the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases.

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Copenhagen, 18 Dec 2009 (13:55)

With 119 heads of government and state gathered at the Bella Centre or the final day of the UN Climate Change Summit, a three-page political accord is emerging as a possible best-bet outcome of the talks. The unlikely possibility that such a text would include reference to agriculture or food security remains to be seen.

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Copenhagen, 17 Dec 2009

Amid the dearth of information emerging from the increasingly "backroom" COP15 negotiations since the high-level segment began yesterday, news has surfaced of one promising breakthrough for agriculture.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Wednesday that it had joined 18 countries to launch a Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGs). The alliance, which brings together countries including Canada, France, Germany, India and Britain, will bring new resources and commitment to finding new ways of growing food productivity without increasing GHGs.

"The global partnership is expected to work on cheaper and more accurate methods of measuring greenhouse gas emissions and carbon stored in soil; new farming practises that reduce emissions and increase carbon storage in farmland in different countries; and farming methods that sustain yields while helping to mitigate climate change," a report from Reuters said.

The USDA said it expects to invest over $320 million in the next four years on research designed to help agriculture play a greater role in climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Copenhagen, 16 Dec 2009 (16:25)

Latest texts

• AWG-LCA: Draft decision CP.15 - Cooperative sectoral approaches and sector specific actions in agriculture. 15 December.
• AWG-LCA: Outcome of the work of the AWG-LCA - Draft conclusions proposed by the Chair. 16 December.
• AWG-KP: Report of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol to the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol at its fifth session. 16 December.

Latest developments

• New LCA text on agriculture is completely bracketed. The text is recommended for consideration by the COP in the AWG-LCA Chair's draft conclusions.

• Connie Hedegaard announces resignation as President, Prime Minister takes over. The decision was based on the high number of heads of state and government arriving at COP15 (119). Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen took over the presidency of the COP and COP/CMP for the beginning of the high-level segment, which began today. Rasmussen has asked Environment Minister Hedegaard to be his 'special representative', and to continue informal consultations for the remainder of the conference.
• Talks stalled amid tense environment. Developing countries began the day’s proceedings arguing that they had become in-transparent, non-participatory, and non-inclusive. They based their arguments on the fact that the conference's high-level segment began before an AWG-LCA text had been generated. The COP meeting that was to precede the beginning of the high-level segment at 11:00 CET this morning has been repeatedly delayed. It is expected to resume at approximately 17:00.

Copenhagen, 16 Dec 2009 (9:57)

HRH the Prince of Wales highlighted the important nexus between climate change, global food security and agriculture yesterday in his address to heads of state and government.

"It must be genuinely sustainable agriculture that helps to empower local communities and small farmers," he said.

Following the Prince, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Wangari Maathai emphasised that the poor and vulnerable in developing countries would be the most affected by the negative consequences of climate change. View the clip below.

Prince of Wales @ 40min.
Wangari Maathai @ 54min. (442MB)

Copenhage, 15 Dec 2009

Key developments:

Latest AWG-LCA 8, Item 3 drafts released:

• Cooperative sectoral approaches and sector-specific actions in agriculture
• Various approaches, including opportunities for using markets, to enhance the cost effectiveness of, and to promote, mitigation actions.
• Economic and social consequences of response measures
• Development and transfer of technology
• Enhanced action on capacity-building
• Adaptation 1 (c)
• Policy approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries
• Nationally appropriate mitigation actions by developing country Parties_Mechanisms to record nationally appropriate mitigation actions and facilitate provision and record of support

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Copenhagen, 14 Dec 2009.

Key developments

• Outputs from ARD Day were fed into a side-event gathering a range of stakeholders on the margins of the COP15 negotiations in Copenhagen.
• AWG-LCA draft texts of 11 December obtained. It is reported that a final draft of the AWG-LCA text on agriculture has been agreed, but will not be available until tomorrow.
• AWG-LCA 8, item 3: Cooperative sectoral approaches and sector-specific actions in agriculture (11 Dec draft)
• Chair's proposed draft text on the outcome of the work of the AWG-LCA under the convenstion (11 Dec draft)
• AWG-KP draft texts (11 Dec draft)

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Copenhagen, 12 Dec 2009.

Key developments:

• The SBSTA session closed today with the adoption of a draft decision on methodological guidance on REDD (texts L19 and addendum). This text will be forwarded for consideration by the COP next week.

ARD Day consolidates key messages for COP final stretch

Agriculture and Rural Development Day is gathered some 300 participants today at the Faculty of Life Sciences of the University of Copenhagen. Consolidated messages from the event will be fed into an official side-event at the Bella Centre on Monday, 14 December.

Click below to watch speakers from leading institutions addressing the issues for Agriculture and Rural Development going into the second and final week of UNFCCC negotiations.

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