CIFOR-ICRAF at UNFCCC COP27

The Forest and Climate Leaders’ Summit is the first event of the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership. It will focus on delivery and accountability of forest and land use commitments made at COP26 and other relevant fora.

This event brings together producer and consumer countries, some of the largest global traders and brands, civil society, and indigenous communities, to reflect on progress to date and explore the challenges and opportunities for turning ambition into collective action. We will assess progress on the FACT Dialogue’s Roadmap for Action, the Agricultural Commodity Companies Roadmap for increased supply chain action, and the Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPs and LC) Forest Tenure Donor Pledge.

The Congo Basin is home to the largest carbon sink in the world, absorbing 4% of global emissions annually, regulating Africa’s climate, and supporting 80 million people’s livelihoods. This event will explore the vital importance of the Congo Basin, discussing challenges and solutions with key stakeholders to drive forward action.

This panel will discuss this pivotal moment the world is facing in everyone’s continuous effort to combat climate change. Speakers from the private sector, government and research sectors will shared various views and experiences on how can work together to help Indonesia achieve net Zero ambitions by 2060.

On the sidelines of COP27, this high-level event will bring together key government, civil society, and C- Suite leaders in climate innovation from across the planet to showcase ground-shifting thought leadership and path-breaking ideas that accelerate the scaling of regenerative agriculture across the planet.

Conflict, COVID, and climate change have exposed the vulnerabilities of our food systems as a direct result of our dependency on costly chemical inputs, lengthy commodity chains, and over-reliance on staple foods imports. The livelihoods of small-scale farmers and consumers around the world will be greatly impacted unless we upscale practices that work with nature and deliver on the sustainable development goals, such as agroecological, organic, and regenerative farming.

Panelists will discuss ways to empower communities to take climate action, and how to balance individual and collective actions, and how social media tools can be leveraged.

Business opportunities and climate actions balancing economics, ecological and social benefits

In November 2021, the European Union (EU) published a legislative proposal for a regulation on deforestation-free products. This proposal aims to reduce deforestation by setting targets for commodities with a high risk of deforestation, such as soy, beef, palm oil or coffee.

One year ago, 141 governments signed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use committing to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. Only eight years remain to achieve these twin goals, and recent data suggests we are not yet on track to succeed. Information gaps remain on the effectiveness of actions to achieve global and national pledges, and their impacts on the environment and social justice.

Buyer Countries Perspective on Smallholder Production

Speakers at this side event will share research findings to inform policymakers and practitioners on how they can develop and implement REDD+ policies and projects with stronger and more rigorous data in the Congo.

Healthy soil is the foundation of sustainable and regenerative food systems and provides vital ecosystem services, while also representing significant emission-saving opportunities. Efforts to combat desertification, to move from scarcity to prosperity, will need to consider how to scale soil health, globally. With over one-third of the Earth’s surface degraded and over 3.2 billion people negatively affected by degradation, continuing business as usual is no longer an option. Now is the time for multi-stakeholder action to build an enabling environment at multiple levels for supporting, financing, scaling, and monitoring healthy soil ecosystems.

Speakers at this session will discuss progress on the integration of adaptation actions into NDCs in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Focus will be on options for enhancing targets and integration, tracking progress, investments and capacity building for both agroforestry and forestry adaptation practices.

Indonesia’s first NDC was submitted to the UNFCCC in 2016. In 2021, the country updated this pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 29 percent (unconditional) and by 41 percent (conditional on international support) by 2030. In the adjusted NDC, Indonesia is targeting to reach a net carbon sink in the forestry and land use (AFOLU) sector by 2030.

In response to Egyptian COP27 Presidency’s call for new initiatives that support adaptation action on the ground and private sector engagement, the African Development Bank (AfDB) in collaboration with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) other international organizations and African governments, are launching a stakeholder consultation on the operationalization of the Adaptation Benefits Mechanism. This is a new global instrument for mobilizing public and private sector finance for activities enhancing the resilience of vulnerable communities and ecosystems.

COP26 emphasised the urgency to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, both via emission reductions and the sequestration of atmospheric CO2, while ensuring a just transition to a low carbon economy.

According to The Land Gap Report, over 1 billion hectares of land is implied in countries Net-Zero or NDC pledges, more than can be assumed available. Ensuring biodiversity, food security, land rights and other ecosystem services can see land contribute to climate change mitigation without creating a ‘land gap’. 

Food systems change, even ‘transformation’, has been highlighted as a way to accelerate adaptation and mitigation in agriculture. As the focus shifts from ambition to implementation, key questions remain about how to tangibly implement food systems change. Yet many of the necessary building blocks have already been identified and trialed through research-for-development projects.

Resilient food systems enhance dryland productivity and investments for advancing the food security and livelihoods of those exposed to climate change. Speakers will highlight innovative approaches and successes in Resilient Food System country projects towards achieving these objectives.

Global food systems account for more than one-third of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Cereal-based food systems do not sustainably produce quality and nutritious food and negatively impact the ecological cycles, environment, climate, livelihood, poverty and equity, governance, and resilience. The assessment of global diets in the last three decades elucidates the declining trend of vital elements and diversity in food and increased dependence on a few staple crops.

This session is a discussion and knowledge-exchange on how traditional ecological knowledge can support climate change adaptation and how different organizations can support local adaptation efforts.

This session will contribute to discussions on the urgent need to tackle climate change and reach 1.5 Degrees Celsius effectively and timely through a collective response under Indonesia’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) which also aligns with the enhanced transparency actions of the Paris Agreements.

Men and women experience climate impacts in different ways. This event will focus on sharing best practices on ensuring the implementation of climate agreements is gender inclusive, to support the implementation of the UNFCCC Gender Action Plan.

The general assembly of the 19th Meeting of Parties of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) held on 8 July 2022 decided to set up a task force to develop key elements for the political debate on a concept for long-term sustainable financing of ecological services of forests and peatlands in the Congo Basin – in line with the “COMIFAC Declaration” of September 2021 in Berlin.

Speakers will illustrate how partnerships across different sectors are key to driving credible action for the protection and restoration of blue carbon ecosystems – mangroves, seagrasses, tidal marshes – contributing to climate change mitigation, adaptation, biodiversity, ocean economies and livelihoods of coastal communities.

Drought puts livelihoods and ecosystems at risk. This high level session will feature the importance of a collaborative approach to address drought the global, regional and national levels, through holistic approaches that include early warning, prevention, response and ultimately building drought resilience.

The theme for the 6th Day of the “4 per 1000” Initiative is Healthy Soils for a Healthy Planet. Speakers will present their views and the actions they will undertake in implementing the Strategic Plan 2020-2050 of the “4 per 1000” Initiative.

Interconnected action at various levels is needed to achieve ecosystem and community resilience across the Sahel. Speakers will highlight the potential for nature-based solutions to increase resilience and harness finance for the Great Green Wall. The session will showcase applications of nature-based solution approaches helping to restore the Sahel and address food insecurity, climate change and biodiversity loss.

Planning, sustainable forestry, agriculture and land-use are key factors in implementing adaptation measures in dryland ecosystems. Speakers will address adaptation strategies in various fields to promote best practices in obtaining global targets for climate resilience.

The forests of the Congo Basin, the second largest tropical forest on the planet after the Amazon, play a major role in regulating regional and global climate. These forests cover southeastern Cameroon, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, the northern and central Democratic Republic of the Congo, and portions of southern and central Africa.

This event will highlight the key role of forests and trees in simultaneously supporting climate stability and food security through the launch of three complementary publications by FAO and partners. Diverse stakeholders will discuss the implications of the findings for climate policy and action.

This session aims to take stock and explore ways to better take peatland issues into consideration in the definition and implementation of climate change responses. More specifically, the session will address the status of ongoing mapping activities and efforts to integrate peatlands into climate change response processes in Central Africa.

Directly speaking to the Glasgow Leader’s Declaration on Forests and Land Use, the event will feature speakers from governments, producer organizations and key international partners who work on agrifood systems transformation to reduce deforestation and land degradation. They will present examples of agriculture-forestry win-win opportunities that directly contribute to climate change mitigation, resilient landscapes, food security and improved livelihoods.

The Congo Basin forests play an important role in regulating the regional and global climate. The protection of these forests through climate mitigation actions has taken precedence over adaptation to climate change, which is however the priority for the African continent. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is high on the climate agenda of Central African countries. On the eve of COP26, a plea was made for funding to support forestry research in the Congo Basin.