Advocacy and Events

Modernization of the African agriculture

Berlin, 1 Mar.  Africa has not only the potential to feed its people, with its abundant and diverse resources, Africa is an economic area and partner to the world, that is increasingly supplying agricultural commodities and processed agricultural products and foods. This is a key message of a roundtable with over 150 participants that took place on 15 January 2010 in the context of Global Forum for Food and Agriculture 2010 in Berlin. The high-level event was organized by GTZ on behalf of BMELV and brought together development experts, decision-makers and private-sector representatives. There was concensus that business as usual will not be sufficient to set the scene for a highly productive and sustainable African agriculture and food industry in the future. A paradigm shift is needed. Some key requirements are:

• Agriculture and rural areas must be multifunctional, and any strategy must take into account the role of smallholder farmers
• Capacity development is crucial
• Partnerships with the private sector should be enhanced
• A transparent and reliable regulatory and good governance must be in place
• Products must be improved and markets be developed to provide best chances to serve national and international needs
• in the face of a changing climate sustainable or even mitigating agricultural practices are inevitable

UNFCCC COP 15 and Kyoto Protocol COP/MOP 5
and 31st meetings of the UNFCCC’s subsidiary bodies

Copenhagen, 7–18 Dec.  The 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) set out to reach an agreed policy framework to replace the Kyoto Protocal when it expires in 2012. Falling short of its ambitions, the conference took note of the Copenhagen Accord.

Agriculture and Rural Development Day at COP 15

Copenhagen, 12 Dec 2009.  Agriculture and Rural Development Day was held to coincide with UNFCCC COP15 negotiations. Co-organised by the CGIAR Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development (Platform) and other stakeholders, ARD Day followed the FAO / GoDenmark event and preceded Forest Day (13 December). Outputs were fed into an official side-event hosted by a range of ARD development and research institutions and introduced into the UNFCCC by the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP).

The post-event report and further details are available from www.agricultureday.org.

Forest Day at COP 15

Copenhagen, 13 Dec 2009.  Also on the COP15 sidelines, CIFOR, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) and the Government of Denmark hosted Forest Day 3. Forest Day 3 built on the success of Forest Day 1 and 2 in helping ensure forests are high on the agenda for future climate outcomes. It set the tone for making these outcomes work beyond Copenhagen.

More information about the Forest Day 3 on the CIFOR webpage.

Advancing Agriculture in a Copenhagen Agreed Outcome and Beyond

Brussels, 25 Jun 2009.  The event provided a venue for representatives of multilateral and bilateral donor organisations, UN agencies, farmers’ associations and civil society to exchange information and views, and to advance the agenda for agriculture in the run-up to the UNFCCC COP15 negotiations in Copenhagen and beyond.

Full documentation of the event, including presentations, interviews and the outputed roadmap and report, available on the event webpage.