IFAD social reporting blog

Written by Beatrice Gerli, Gender and targeting specialist, IFAD

Forget about travelling only with hand luggage. Forget about preparing presentations on the outward flight and writing Back To Office Report on the return flight. Time on the plane becomes a major test for developing skills in child entertainment: and the actual work is yet to start. Taking a baby on duty travel is a mission within the mission. But my daughter Adelaide and I survived and I am here to tell our story.

Field visit to the women’s cooperative “cuatros pinos” ©IFAD/B. Gerli

In the last week of October we travelled to Guatemala city to support a regional workshop on rural women's economic empowerment. When it was suggested that I would take part I was still on maternity leave, with a blurred sense of what it would mean to be both a mother and a professional. The workshop dates coincided with the period I intended to breastfeed so I quickly figured that it was going to be either with Adelaide or not going at all.

Why not try

I hesitated but the encouragement of my supervisor Clare Bishop and the Country Programme Manager, Glayson Ferrari made me wonder: why not try?

The mission’s agenda was encouraging: most of the workshop activities were in a hotel and only a one day field visit. And the country has no major health-related concerns. Perhaps the one thing that made me more enthusiastic is the fact that Glayson has a young son and immediately reassured me that he would help me find a trustworthy babysitter.

The IFAD travel policy entitles breastfeeding mothers to take their babies with them on duty travel, up to one year of age. This in practice means that IFAD provides for their flight ticket and an extra 10% of the total daily allowance, so that extra expenses – a.k.a. a babysitter- can be covered. This is a fantastic help for those like me who want to reconcile work and personal life: breastfeeding and a mission.

Starting the journey with new luggage.

And this is how it wentWe flew all the way to Guatemala, which I have to say was not the most relaxing journey of my life – nor for the poor person sitting next to us.

Once we arrived, Glayson had found an extraordinary babysitter: she looked after the baby during the workshop days and she would call me whenever Adelaide was claiming her meal – which easily tied in with the coffee breaks.

What made a real difference was also the help that the Guatemala team (Glayson, Klarisse, Oscar and Gabriela) and all the workshop participants gave me, together with the positive atmosphere they created. This didn’t make me feel like I was doing something out of this world, nor made me look less professional in their eyes. Quite the opposite. Many participants at the workshop, including men, opened up and came up to me to discuss their own experience in reconciling their role of parents with their work.

Reflection

I came back to Rome, very happy about this experience.

Duty travel with a baby is probably not something one can do too often, nor on all the missions we are asked to attend. But I just wanted to share my experience with other mother professionals and get the message out there: if you feel alright about it, if conditions allows it- one can actually do it.

It was a beautiful adventure and - yes - quite tiring. But I guess that is what parenthood is about.

It has finally arrived - the much anticipated COP21 in Paris. There is an optimistic buzz of anticipation here on the almost 18 hectare conference centre plot in northern Paris.

World leaders have all gathered here today in the hopes of finalising a new climate deal. A climate deal that will hopefully lock the world into no more than a 2 degree rise in temperature. A deal that will help those worldwide already feeling and fighting the affects of climate change.

Today saw 150 heads of state including the United States President Barak Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Russian President Vladimir Putin, all welcomed by French President Francois Hollande to COP21. Heads of states of countries that have previously hosted UNFCCC COP's all gave opening speeches in the plenary rooms.

“The word historic is often overused, but here, at this conference, it is not,” said Laurent Fabius, the French Foreign Minister.

“Let there be no doubt, the younger generation is watching what we do,” said US President Barak Obama.

IFAD has an exhibition space within COP21 where it will be encouraging COP attendants to sign up to IFAD's change.org petition asking for more climate finance to be pledged to smallholder farmers from the developing world.

As we know, smallholder farmers are on the frontline of climate change. IFAD is doing all it can to help, but hopes are high that at this historic event, the world will come together and pledge extra help and funds, so as to all end climate change together.

IFAD will also be promoting the work being done by its Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP).

The IFAD booth

ASAP is the biggest climate change fund for smallholder adaptation in the world. It is focusing on new and innovative ways to adapt to the impacts of climate change, whilst preserving natural resources and yields at the same time.

Over the coming days, IFAD will be presenting various aspects of its work with smallholder farmers at a range of events and meetings. We will be reporting from all of them over twitter and the dedicated IFAD web page, found at the following links:

IFAD's COP21 webpage

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Written by: Alessia Valentini

195 countries and nearly 150 Heads of State and Government gathered on Monday 30th November, in Paris, for the United Nations climate change conference (COP21) to give their public support and reach a new and universal climate change agreement.

This level of participation makes COP21 one of the largest diplomatic conferences ever organized. It has been described by Laurent Fabius, French Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of COP21, as “a first” for France.

At the opening ceremony of the conference, which was webcast live around the globe, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres, said that the eyes of millions of people around the world are on the governments meeting in Paris. And that this gives them the opportunity and the responsibility to finalize an agreement that enables the achievement of national climate change goals, delivers the necessary support for the developing world, and catalyses continuously increasing ambition and action by all.

“Future generations will judge us for our actions,” said Fabius, in his opening remarks. “In a time when nations share a sense of growing urgency, let’s make COP21 the historic success the world is waiting for.”

Barack Obama, President of the United States at COP21. Credit: A. Valentini

Barack Obama, President of the United States, stated that no nation, large or small, wealthy or poor is immune to climate change. He noted that for all the challenges we face, the growing threat of climate change could define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other before.
“The future is in our hands, and that future is not one of strong economies, nor is it one where fragile states can find their footing. That future is one that we have the power to change. Right here. Right now,” said Obama.

Obama noted that America is doing its share and will reduce carbon emissions in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Last year, the President set a new target to reduce emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels within tenyears from now.

In her speech, Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, described the agreement that needs to be reached at COP21 as ambitious, comprehensive and binding.

“Today, in Paris, we have to show that what we promised in Copenhagen we will deliver,” she said, explaining that Germany is playing its role by doubling the funding for renewable energy to reduce emissions of 40 percent by 2020.

Her closing remarks were straight to the point.

“Billions of people are pinning their hopes on what we are doing in Paris these days. Let’s not have them lose their hope," said Merkel.

From the statements made at the opening ceremony, world leaders seem to share a common purpose here in Paris, and this is to make the world a better place for our children and the future generations to come.

In Obama’s words, this should be:
“A world that is marked not by conflict, but by cooperation; and not by human suffering, but by human progress. A world that’s safer, and more prosperous, and more secure, and more free than the one that we inherited. Let’s get to work.”

By Gernot Laganda

The 1st of December was Agriculture Day at CoP21 in Paris Le Bourget.

A number of journalists asked for interviews with IFAD today to find out if there are any new insights and innovative approaches to climate change in the agriculture sector.

Agriculture has traditionally been a difficult topic in these negotiations due to its twin nature of being on the one hand a contributor to, and on the other hand a victim of, global warming.

Only recently has the issue gained in prominence, mainly due to opportunities for scaling up and to reach climate change mitigation and adaptation objectives in one go.

One of the events that were organized on agriculture day at COP21 was a high-level event to present scaleable multi-benefit initiatives in the agriculture sector.

French Agriculture Minister Le Foll presented the new '4 per 1000' initiative to store more carbon in soils, WRI presented an initiative to reduce the 1.8 billion tonnes of global food waste per year, and IFAD’s President Kanayo F. Nwanze showed how programmes such as ASAP (IFAD's Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme) can help to reduce 80 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions solely by investing in climate adaptation for smallholder farmers.

David Nabarro, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Food Security, told the audience - which included dignitaries such as the King of Sweden - how he followed the birth of ASAP and saw it develop into the leading global flagship programme for smallholder adaptation over the course of only three years.

The general impression of this day has been very positive. Agriculture has finally made it into the consciousness of the COP as part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.

Agriculture is unlikely to feature in the main text of a global climate agreement, but it will be a building block of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) of many countries and thereby an integral part of turning an agreement into practice.

Gernot Laganda- Lead Technical Advisor

Recent changes in climate have had widespread impacts on humanity and ecosystems. A transformative adaptation agenda with real innovative actions is needed to accelerate action on key issues such as the water sector, food security and oceans.

Here at COP21, the Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA) is hosting another of its 'Action Days'. Today's focus is on Resilience. Resilience can have many different meanings to many different people, and today, in Paris, saw a nine hour marathon debate on the subject.

The first speaker was the president of last year’s COP20 in Lima, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Peru’s Minister of Environment.

"We must have resilience as a main objective whenever we engage in climate change talks’” said the Minister. “Why has it taken since 1992- to get resilience as a main talking point or objective in climate change talks?"

He also offered up an opinion on where he believes the answer to climate change resilience lies, "Science is key, it is the only way to know!"

Garry Conille, former Prime Minister of Haiti, stated: "Resilience cannot be built over night. You cannot just invest in resilience and then it is done. Building resilience is a journey of continuous learning and innovation".

The second speaker was Ségolène Royal, Minister of Environment, France. Her speech was very much aimed at a discussion on water, and the many terrible problems the Earth faces in regards to water.

"Millions lack access to drinking water. Millions die from it. And then in other areas, we have such an excess of water, rising sea levels, floods, that people are dying from that."

The French Minister went on to say: "Resilience is about more than just adaptation or overcoming adversity, it is also about learning from that adversity and starting over. It is not just about returning to the starting point. It is about rebuilding, strengthening, powering something strong from a negative experience".

By Bertrand Reysset

Evergreen Agriculture

Side event Rio Convention Pavilion, 12:30-14:00, 2 Dec. 2015

COP21, Paris

The green revolution- to optimize food production and the use of inputs, has widely promoted ultra simplified systems: annual mono cropping. But these simplistic systems have proven to have many drawbacks: demand for external inputs, simplifying landscapes and biodiversity, sensitivity to minor shocks, and they only produce a single commodity.

But Evergreen Agriculture proposes to change this super simplified approach by recalling what agriculture is: not only a food producing activity but also a partnership with our environment. If we ensure that vegetable cover is there all year round, we can improve the resilience, to climate change, of farmlands and farmers incomes, we’ll improve biodiversity and ecosystem services such as carbon storage and water retention. Evergreen agriculture promotes landscape restoration, multi layer crops and diversification of cropping systems even at the micro level: mix legume trees and cereals to create a micro-climate and free nitrogen supply, mix cotton, shrubby legume trees and maize to get income, food and fodder etc. all at the same time.

It simply proposes to get back to basics and build a solution that will increase tolerance to shocks. As ICRAF’s Ravi Prabhu says “We must phase out the clean field paradigm and restore landscapes, hedgerows and diversity in farmers plots. Evergreen agriculture not only produces food but also energy, fodder, services and increases farmers, and in particular smallholder farmers, independence from external shocks.”

Farmer-managed natural regeneration of Faidherbia albida, a nitrogen fixing tree, in millet plots has been presented as an archetype of what Evergreen Agriculture can provide to farmers and food security. In Niger, satellite imagery proves that this approach has contributed to the recent greening of Sahelian areas, increasing cereal yields, producing firewood and fodder, and then improving and sustaining food security. This agro forestry system is widely recognized and expanded, for instance, by IFAD investments in Niger for more than 20 years. The latest IFAD supported project in Niger will expand this approach on 100,000 hectares. Evergreen agriculture is one solution to the climate change puzzle; let’s help smallholders seize the opportunity and mobilize the resources needed in order to upscale.

The Make the Change petition IFAD started last month is gaining momentum at COP21 in Paris. IFAD’s delegation, attending the UNFCCC Climate Change Summit, is spreading the #Adaptnow message.

The petition currently stands at over 750 signatures. Signatures from people who believe, as IFAD does, that smallholder farmers hold the key to food security in our changing climate and as such should be included in any climate deals being made.

IFAD believes strongly that smallholders should be given a voice at any climate discussions where decisions are being made that will affect them. That’s why IFAD is working with the World Farmers Organisation (WFO) who have brought approximately 35 farmers to COP21 in Paris.

Smallholder farmers are on the frontline of climate. Smallholder farmers worldwide are suffering from different climate impacts. Whilst one farmer in Niger is getting low yields from a prolonged drought, another in Vietnam is losing fertile soil to increased salinity levels from encroaching seas. The problems are diverse and geographically spread, and the responses need to be as adaptive and fluid as possible, in order to help all smallholder farmers who need it.

Smallholders are currently providing food for a disproportionate amount of the world’s population. With shrinking cultivated lands, lower yields and the destruction of natural resources, food supplies are under pressure. And because of population growth, the number of hungry mouths will grow. Without a solid climate deal, there is a real possibility of a food security crisis.

There is hope though. COP21 is proving that. As you can see many people agree that we should 'Make the Change'. Please if you haven't yet spread the message further and share the below link. Sign it yourselves and share it across any platform you desire in order to get as many signatures as possible. Let’s send a clear message to the negotiators at COP21, we want to #Adaptnow and MAKE THE CHANGE: invest in farmers in the developing world now.

At COP21 IFAD has caught up with some rural farmers that through its partnership with the World Farmers Organisation (WFO) it has helped to bring to Paris to take part in the UNFCCC conference on climate change.

Smallholder farmers are already feeling and fighting the effects of climate change, so we wanted to speak with them to highlight their first-hand experience in the daily battle they face on their farms.

We spoke to Mildred Crawford, a pig farmer from Jamaica. She is primarily a livestock farmer, rearing pigs, however recently she has specialised in artificial insemination.

IFAD: How is climate change effecting your farm?

Mildred: The global crisis of precipitation variability is having a negative impact on the quality of rain-fed agricultural produce in Jamaica.

The Caribbean region depends entirely on rain. Jamaica, Dominica, Grenada are some of the many Caribbean countries that experience severe flooding, especially within the last 15 years. For Jamaica, the impact of climate change sees us experiencing many climate shocks such as severe droughts and storm surges. High storm surges lead to mass displacement.

We are also experiencing the invasion of reptiles and farmers are increasingly noticing that their farms are subject to soil erosion, which is especially bad in coastal areas. Many farmers who inhabit coastal lands are experiencing drastic reduction in farm land.

Reduction in rainfall also results in smaller and lower quality agricultural produce. This in turn makes it more difficult for small farmers to compete in a competitive marketplace, further damaging incomes.

IFAD: What would you like to see coming out of COP21 in Paris?

Mildred: I believe it is the dream of every person living within the Caribbean to see balance. Balance for us means equality. Between the rich and the poor, and also between men and women, more specifically rural women in agriculture. We hope that these negotiations at COP21 can bring us that.

IFAD: What can IFAD do to help?

Mildred: I believe there are two things IFAD can do to help. The first is strengthening the capacity and the modus operandi of primary producers in advocacy. And the second is to continue their support for women in agriculture.

Today at the UN Climate Summit in Paris (COP21) the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the European Union (EU) and the global research partnership, CGIAR, presented results from an EU-IFAD co-financed CGIAR research programme which promotes adaptation to climate change and reduced emissions for smallholder farmer.

Megan Rowling from the Thomson Reuters Foundation said that the number of hungry people worldwide has dropped by around 20 per cent. But, there is still a long way to go to get to zero per cent hunger by 2030.

There are a total of 836 million poor children, women and men in the world today. The majority of them live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods. Agriculture is both a victim and a significant contributor to climate change, according to IFAD’s President Kanayo F. Nwanze.

"Investing in smallholder adaptation is key to fighting climate change and also protecting food security,” said Kanayo F. Nwanze. “Smallholders are not just victims they are an important part of the solution to climate change.”

Kenyan farming leader, Purity Gachanga said that if farmers all used climate smart technologies smallholder farmers in developing countries could go far towards meeting the zero hunger goal.

"Everything used to grow - we expected rains in March and they would come,” Said Purity Gachanga. “That doesn’t happen anymore. Plants germinate without rain and yields suffer."

Tony Simons, head of one of the CGIAR research centres reinforced the case for further research to help farmers adapt to climate impacts.

"If we could predict the future, we wouldn't need research,” said Simons. “If things never changed, we wouldn't need research - if we had all the answers we wouldn't need research - This isn't the case, we need research!"

"Sustainable agriculture, the truth is...it works!” said the EU’s Roberto Ridolfi.

"The average farmer’s age is too high. It is not appealing to younger people. We need drive. The kind you can only find in humans. Farming is the biggest private sector actor and needs to be given that respect."

Moving forward in the COP21 negotiations we need to heed the words of IFAD's President: "Move from declarations to actions, now we have to to walk the talk!"

By Ilaria Firmian

Friday, 4 December 2015

A side event co-led by IFAD, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) brought together scientific and programme and policy related stakeholders to discuss the role of science in the climate change policy-making processes.

Both Mr Anote Tong, President of Kiribati, and H.E. Mr John Kufuor, UN Special Envoy for Climate Change and Former President of Ghana emphasised ‘people-centred science’ that addresses the needs of local communities.

Mr. Kufuor stressed that scientific information is crucial. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) proved that immediate action has to be taken to combat climate change.

“This action has to be collaborative, with both North and South together. We should admit that the developing world is not as equipped as the developed world. The civil service and public sector do not have the capabilities required, therefore we need to create partnerships and encourage those who can to come forward and bring those at the bottom up”, stated Mr. Kufuor.

Mr Hoesung Lee, IPCC Chairman, along similar lines, said that the IPCC needs to be as inclusive as possible to ensure a truly global assessment of climate change and recognized that many of the existing knowledge gaps are found in developing countries. He also stressed the need to improve the way the IPCC communicates, and overcome the challenge of simplifying the language of climate change so that it is understood by everyone.

Communication, and especially communication to young people, was also at the centre of WMO Secretary General Michel Jarraud speech. Mr Jarraud said, “The scientific reality is that almost no one is aware of issues such as negative emissions (resulting from carbon dioxide removal technologies), we need to give people a very honest and clear appraisal”.

“The IPCC is not policy prescriptive, but is policy relevant” – He continued – “The decisions we are not making now will have huge costs over the years. We need to look at the consequences over the future generations”.

The intervention of Ms Margarita Astralaga, brought concrete examples from IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme. The examples illustrated the roles and needs of local communities in climate-related policy making processes, including how smallholder farmers, when receiving climate information, can start to frame a local response to buffer climate impacts and engage more effectively with local planning processes.

“Local communities need to have information, understand it and influence policy”, Ms. Astralaga said, as concluding remarks. All panelists agreed that this is the only way forward.

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Ms. Margarita Astralaga and H.E. Mr John Kufuor

By Brian Thomson

Paris, 5 December 2015

The German government announced today at the Soils Matters event at the UN’s Climate Summit in Paris that it is pledging €13 million to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to help smallholder farmers in developing countries deal with the impacts of climate change and improve their food security.

“This contribution will enable IFAD to broaden the reach of its Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP), which can be expanded into a second phase to support an additional 7 million smallholder farmers to cope with, and adapt to, the effects of climate change,” says IFAD Vice President Michel Mordasini.

“We would like to thanks the German government for this sizeable donation to our work which will enable IFAD to strengthen the climate resilience of at least 280,000 smallholder farmers.”

Poor smallholders are the group that is most exposed to the impacts of climate change.

“To eliminate rural poverty and hunger we must make sure all our programmes are climate sensitive."

Thomas Silberhorn, Parliamentary State Secretary to Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development said that smallholder farmers are among the best possible clients for climate finance, and if we invest more and better in them we will be able to feed a growing planet while at the same time restoring degraded ecosystems and reducing agriculture's carbon footprint.

By Bertrand Reysset

Global landscape forum. 5 Dec. 2015

Climate is not only modifying what is inside our dishes, but also what is in our coffee cups. The Global Landscape Forum, held in Paris Saturday, presented some recent works showing that Arabica coffee production is tremendously threatened by global warming. Warmer climate means warmer soils, and that means less production.

Hopefully some technical solutions can help to save time for a while: shading coffee crops with trees can buffer climate warming impacts while at the same time increasing soil fertility and carbon storage. Mulching or intercropping can reduce heat stress on coffee trees roots. Many options have been tested by the Coffee and Climate Initiative , a public private partnership, and are now going to be scaled up for 70,000 smallholder coffee producers.

But this will not be enough to ensure our daily cup of coffee tomorrow.....As Mario Cerutti, Coffee Corporate Relations Director at Lavazza, says “there are 20 million coffee producers in the world, mainly smallholders. If private companies, governments and extension services do not join hands, coffee supply is to shrink soon”. A sad perspective for smallholders and customers!

IFAD is nonetheless already committed in climate resilient coffee production through for instance its NICADAPT programme in Nicaragua where shading and diversification is promoted to buffer the impacts of climate change on smallholder livelihoods. Increased effort is still needed if we want to enjoy our daily cup, but hopefully we have some recipes to deal with it!

By Christopher Neglia

An empty stomach has no ears

-Senegalese proverb

The development and climate days were held today at a converted factory in Saint Denis, Paris. The event was led by the Red Cross Climate Center, IFAD and others. The conversations were fascinating, and perhaps more conceptual than the COP21 proceedings going on in nearby Le Bourget.

In the morning session, Dr. Pablo Suarez presented the challenges that climate change poses to our diets. Will meat consumption continue to be sustainable in coming years as countries go through crucial processes of decarbonization, he asked. Indeed, total greenhouse gas emissions from livestock per year amounts to 7.1 billion tons, and much of that is methane, whose comparative impact on climate change is 25 times greater than carbon dioxide.

Dr. Suarez was flanked on stage by Senegalese Chef Pierre Thiam. Chef Thiam is not just a chef but an activist. He is passionate about learning from smallholder farmers and their food culture in his native Senegal, and communicating ways of reducing our ecological footprints through food. He recently visited the IFAD-supported Agricultural Value Chains Support Project (PAFA) in central Senegal, and shared his experiences with the audience. In his white chef coat, Thiam was busily preparing insect fritters, meal worms and cricket macarons throughout the lecture.

But can introducing insects into our diets really help to offset meat consumption? You might be surprised to know that two billion people already eat insects regularly as a vital source of protein. And after sampling Thiam’s fritters, and gauging the audience’s reaction, the idea doesn’t seem so unbelievable.

The environmental impact of raising cattle is substantial. The production of one kilogram of beef leads to one hundred times more emissions than one kilogram of edible insects. However, beyond thinking about insect-based food, the event prompted an exercise in thinking about things you can’t do, or are unwilling to do to reduce your individual carbon emissions. And why not.

By Ilaria Firmian

5-6 December 2015

L’Usine, Saint-Denis, France

This year for the first time IFAD has co-sponsored the Development & Climate Days (D&C Days) at COP21.

Since COP10 in Buenos Aires, D&C Days has taken place annually in the middle weekend of the UNFCCC COPs. It is a unique space, where policy, knowledge and practice are linked in a way that enables substantial learning and dialogue. The atmosphere is designed to attract a diverse set of participants seeking to find joint solutions. The format of the sessions is innovative and dynamic, very different from the traditional side event format seen elsewhere in the COP.

The theme of this year “Zero Poverty. Zero emission. Tough talk on poverty and climate” provided an opportunity to focus discussion on integration of global efforts to tackle climate change and poverty, aiming to set the world on a path to zero extreme poverty and zero net emissions.

I attended one session on creating a business case for resilience – an x-factor style session where panellists from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Red Cross Climate Centre (RCCC) pitched innovative ideas to enhance resilience. The participants voted for the most compelling approach, which in my view was an approach focusing on the risks at the different stages of agricultural value chains.

I also attended a session on main-streaming climate information services, including up-scaling already established projects. IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) was discussed and it's experience on salinity monitoring in Vietnam was used to compare potential possibilities with other projects in Bolivia, India and Kenya.

Day One closed with a plenary session on ‘Radical Adaptation’. This involved questioning the suitability of current climate adaptation programmes and proposing, using field examples, different adaptation approaches that complement poverty eradication. The approaches addressed the structural causes of vulnerability and resilience. They also talked about what it meant to be 'climate-informed' and the best way to ensure this.

Day Two closed with a high level panel where people like Mary Robinson and Janos Pasztor shared their vision of what will, or at least should, happen at the end of COP21.

The expectations are high. “We need the best possible and most robust agreement that we can manage. The SDGs come into operation as of the first of January, and this is a great opportunity to build”, said Mary Robinson, the founder of the Mary Robinson Foundation -Climate Justice.

By Bertrand Reysset

UN Rome-based agencies side event at COP21. 7 December

The International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme have presented their actions and commitments in the move towards a food secure world.

Smallholders have received special attention as key players and key beneficiaries in the solution to the climate puzzle. Janos Pasztor, United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) Special adviser on climate change, recalled that investing in the agriculture sector is one of the development activities that yields higher return rates.

Global Environment Faciility (GEF) representative, Elwyn Grainger Jones, highlighted that investing in climate adaptation for smallholders is showing incredible impacts both in terms of food security, biodiversity improvement and carbon mitigation.

Michel Mordasini, Vice President of IFAD, finally stated that “investing in adaptation for smallholder agriculture is not only the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do”.

The Guatemalan Minister of Agriculture, José s. Marcucci, called for increased action on the ground. Through the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) prepared for COP21, more than 100 countries have planned their priorities to include adaption in agriculture. COP21 now needs to give the political and financial momentum to transform planning into action. Make the change!

With US$360 million already targeted to 8 million smallholders’ adaptation activity, IFAD is in a frontrunner position but there is so much more to do. The three Rome based agencies are committed to increasing their collaboration to ensure that we’ll be able to feed 9 million people without jeopardizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) success, or environmental sustainability. This will need substantive investments to ensure that the most affected by climate change and at the same time the least responsible for global warming, i.e. the smallholder farmers of the developing world, can seize opportunities to frame our most fundamental public good: food security. It is a question of climate justice.

The Knowledge and Learning Market-Policy Engagement in the Philippines was held on 25-26 November 2015

The ribbon cutting headed by DAR Usec Rose Bistoyong , Farmer Representative Jovela Samtican, IFAD Country Programme Officer Yolando Arban and other stakeholders officially started the Interactive Exhibits

Different exhibitors from all over the country showcased knowledge products and processes related to family farming. Indigenous products, good practices and advocacies are also present. The exhibits mirror this year’s theme: “International Year of Family Farming +1 Partnership For Food Security, Nutrition and Climate Resciliency: Increasing Farmers’ Market Power”.

Not only does this generate income for the farmers, it also serves as an avenue for drawing lessons from current models and innovations on climate resilient agriculture, institutional purchase and farmers’ market, and agri cooperatives.

According to CIP- Food Start Exhibitor Ms. Arma Bertuso, the exhibits have evolved and became more diverse as it now includes more farmer groups. “The exhibit is a way to promote our project and also to increase awareness on root and sugar crops among the people” she added.

Another exhibitor, Mr. Stepher Banhan of CHARMP2 also shared “Magandang pagkakataon ito para ipromote yung mga magagandang products natin sa Cordillera. Isa ito sa mga paraan para maging mas malawak ang market at mga networks namin” (This is a good chance to promote our products in the Cordilleras. This is a good way to widen our market and networks).

Participants include different partner organizations and agencies in service for the development of Philippine agriculture including Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR); Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM), Philippine Rice Research Institute (Philrice), Procasur Corporation, Rural Micro Enterprise Program (RUMEPP), Rapid Food Production Enhancement Program (RAFPEP), Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management Project 2 (CHARMP2), Food Start, Consortium for Unfavourable Rice Environments (CURE), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA), Asian Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (ASIADHRRA) Medium Term Cooperative Program with Organizations in Asia The Pacific Phase II (MTCP/ PHILFO) and Federation for People Sustainable Development Cooperative (FPSDC).// Arianne Robea Nebrida

By Christopher Neglia

This afternoon at COP21 a panel discussion featuring a young entrepreneur from France, a small coffee farmer from Uganda, a youth delegate from the Cook islands and an activist from the Philippines explored how young people, who are an under represented demographic in high level political fora, can get involved in the fight against climate change.

In his opening remarks, Guy Ryder, the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) suggested that climate change and youth unemployment are two related and very pressing crises. In fact, global unemployment levels exceed 200 million, and over 75 million are young people. As the impacts of climate change disrupt key economic sectors and value chains, it will be young people who will bear most of the burden.

At the same time, there is a great opportunity to engage youth in growing economic sectors such as renewable energy technologies, waste management and sustainable agriculture. According to Serge Bounda of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), young people are an enormous asset that countries should do more to invest in, especially countries entering what he called the demographic dividend - when rapidly declining fertility rates and a high proportion of working age people without dependants lead to high economic productivity.

The panellists were all highly motivated and working in their respective fields for climate action. But they also acknowledged there are many barriers holding young people back from taking an active role in their own communities. Denis Kabito, a smallholder farmer from Uganda said that when he was a child his mother used to tell him to study hard so he could get an education and get out of agriculture. Farming is tedious, she told him, and it doesn't produce much income. But even though Denis did go to university and became an agronomist, he returned to rural Uganda believing that in order to advise others on their farming practices, he must experience farming himself. He now sees that climate resilient approaches to agriculture can provide a good way of life for people his age. And it's not just about convincing those who are born on a farm to stay there, but also about convincing those who have migrated to cities to return, Kabito said. IFAD has provided extension support to build the skills of farmers like Denis in Uganda, which is a sensible investment given changing climate patterns and the need to adapt traditional practices.

The proposition that youth have a great deal to offer as climate innovators was proved by the dynamism in the room, including from the audience who raised issues such as involving women to a greater extent in decision-making processes, and using information and communication technologies to organize direct action for a low carbon future. Their message resonates with other youth delegates participating in the COP21 proceedings: young people are not waiting to receive solutions to climate change. Instead they are authoring their own.

By Alessia Valentini

What’s your name, country of origin and what type of farm do you work in?

My name is Julie Nakalanda Matovu, I’m the East African Convenor for INOFO, the Intercontinental Network for Organic Farmers' Organizations. I come from the central part of Uganda, and I am an organic vegetable farmer. I cultivate fresh vegetables and do direct marketing. Where I come from, there are different groups working in different parts of the city autonomously that deliver vegetables to communities on a weekly basis, with door to door deliveries. Right now these deliveries are done with my small car, based on the little time I have available, so we are working on organizing monthly deliveries that should start in April this year. All the members of my community are actively involved in this job as we want to guarantee to the public real, organic food. Participation is a key aspect in this kind of arrangement as we are working in a growing market. Our first target is of 100 households, but we aim to later reach out to the near clusters. However, working out the logistics is not easy.

What are the impacts of climate change in your country?

The impacts of climate change are very visible in Uganda. First of all, let me say that I’ve studied agriculture and years ago we used to have a weather pattern that was very clear. Today, instead, this is no longer the case. For example, we should be preparing for the end of the rainy season now, but we are experiencing long rains and we are not sure when they are going to end. Of course, this is an advantage for us as we grow vegetables but we still do not have the technology to face this much rain. Another impact of climate change is the drastic change in the temperatures, which leads to crop failure. We try to mitigate and cope with the effects of climate change but this is not easy. Agriculture is one of the main forms of living for people in Uganda as we grow pretty much everything in our homes. We all have little gardens where we grow our own food and encourage practices that will help us minimize the loses that come with climate change.

What are the outcomes you would like to see from COP21?

First of all, I want my government to realize that they have a role to play. I’ve learnt a lot from these meetings at COP, as they are bringing a lot of information to people that is going to be helpful. Unfortunately, this information is not always put at good use. For example, back home we have many projects ongoing, such as one in Lake Victoria, where trees, that play a key role in the survival of nature, are being cut down to start palm oil projects even though we know that this is not the best type of oil for us. This is bringing indigenous people to leave the area with negative repercussions on the lake, which is a very important natural asset to our country. What makes me sad is that when you look at our paper work on the projects, everything looks fine, but that’s not real in practice. Secondly, I would like my government to consider inclusion towards the people that are affected by climate change. We should set up programmes that reach out to women and children that are part of the process, to make it more sustainable and make them feel included. Lastly, we need more commitment in farming to invest in the appropriate technology that will make farming easier and more fun for the people and, therefore, more productive so that farmers can enjoy doing the work and feed the world.

How can IFAD support you in achieving what you need?

What we need is capacity building and more support for appropriate technologies. I think IFAD has already given us some support and we really appreciate that. However, we need further capacity building so that we are able to build a resilient system of governance and bring down the activities to our communities. In my opinion, funds should be invested in projects that provide farmers with the right knowledge and tools that will help them become more resilient to climate change. We shouldn’t depend so much on first aid, but rather understand how to manage and respond to the impacts of climate change. If this were true and people knew what cutting down trees meant, they wouldn’t do it. But if they don’t know, they are hungry, and their only source of income is to cut down a tree, they will. This is the reason why we should really think about an inclusive system of development.

By Alessia Valentini

On 8 December, at COP21, a side event on climate finance was led by UNDP with the support of IFAD, UNCDF, FAO, WHO, UN-OHRLLS, UNECA, UNECLAC, UNEP and IPCC. This event explored the lessons learned from the UN and member states on climate finance, particularly in delivering co-benefits for development. The discussion focused on actions needed beyond Paris to maximize the development effectiveness of climate finance for the broader post-2015 development agenda.

H.E. Mrs. Janine Felson, Deputy Permanent Representative of Belize to the United Nations and Lead Climate Negotiator of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), opened the event by explaining how this discussion is critical for the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) where the impacts of climate change on sustainable development are extremely high. “We need to make sure that what is being delivered as climate finance is reaching those in need and, in particular, those least developed areas, such as the SIDS, that are particularly vulnerable”, said Ms Felson.

Michael Jacobs, Senior Advisor of The New Climate Economy, illustrated how countries at all income levels have the opportunity to build lasting economic growth and at the same time reduce the immense risk of climate change. “We live in a moment of great opportunity and great risk”, he said. The opportunity is in the expanding capacities of human intelligence and technological progress to improve the lives of the majority of the world’s people. 2.4 billion people still live on less than US$2 a day, and urbanization, rising consumption and population growth have put immense pressure on natural resources. “A lower-carbon pathway can bring about multiple benefits leading to higher productivity”, said Mr Jocabs.

Gernot Laganda, Lead Adaptation Specialist from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) presented IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme(ASAP). “Our main clients are those 2 billion rural people in the world whose lives depend directly or indirectly on agriculture,” said Mr Laganda. It is for them that IFAD is investing in better analysis of new and emerging climate risks in agriculture; technology, information and financing for better climate risk management; and scale mechanisms and pathways for sustainable management of landscapes and natural resources.

By Christopher Neglia

A high level side event brought together three international trade institutions- UNCTAD, WTO and ITC- and their United Nations partners today on the sidelines of COP21. Trade has an important role to play in accelerating the development of markets and diffusing low carbon technologies. At the same time, climate policies do influence trade among countries by promoting more sustainable emission patterns. Although trade is not a headline topic at COP21, it is certainly on the agenda in the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Implementation, which works on cross cutting issues. The international trade institutions have contributed to and benefited from this work.

Arancha Gonzalez, Executive Director of ICT asserted that at the interface of trade and climate change, we should not only look at big business, but also at small and medium size enterprises, which represent the majority of economic agents in all countries. The main thrust of her organization's work on climate change is in response to three main questions: 1) how can trade organizations support the mitigation efforts of small enterprise? How can trade be used to create new opportunities that are climate sensitive? 3) how can multilateral cooperation support public policies and development objectives?

Joakim Reiter, Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD recognized the role of habitats in determining the products that people produce and trade. But due to climate change he noted many habitats are undergoing dramatic changes. For instance, in Mesoamerica where higher temperatures are creating conditions whereby fungi and disease are destroying Arabica coffee plants. Moreover, fishing stocks are collapsing everywhere due to overfishing and ocean acidification. According to Reiter, trade policy makers must stop doing the wrong things by ending trade distortions in the form of subsidies that prop up wasteful and destructive economic activities. And we must put a premium on doing the right things, by extending carbon markets and supporting product certification standards.

Tim Groser, Minister of Trade and Climate Change in New Zealand spoke in favour of a radical reform to fossil fuel subsidies, which have no place in a sustainable economy, he said. This is a critical point at COP21 more broadly, since the IEA estimates eliminating all such subsidies would achieve a further ten per cent reduction in global carbon emissions by 2030. Let that sink in for a moment. Fortunately, some countries are moving further down this track, with Indonesia, Nigeria and United Arab Emirates all pledging to dramatically reduce their own fuel subsidies.

Margarita Astralaga, Director of the Environment and Climate Division in IFAD noted that agriculture, deforestation and land use together represent about twenty five per cent of global carbon emissions. Agriculture is therefore part of the problem and solution to climate change. With better soil and water management, supported by international climate and sustainable development agendas, smallholder farmers in particular (since there are simply so many of them) can make a significant contribution to mitigation efforts. Furthermore, smallholders have the potential to take advantage to a greater extent in nascent value chains. Studies done by the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) suggest that the market for certified organic agriculture is expected to rise from US$ forty billion in 2008 to two hundred and ten billion by 2020. We expect that the private sector will come and partner with small producers around the world to access markets at fair prices, Astralaga added.

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