Side Event on
Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture: The Way Forward
FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy
12 June 2015
Room Sheikh Zayed Centre
A side event will be organized at FAO HQ, Rome, during the 39th Session of the FAO Conference, on 12 June 2015 13:00-14:00 in the Sheikh Zayed Centre on the theme Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture: The Way Forward.
Rationale
Following the launch of the Global Alliance for CSA (GACSA) on 23 September 2014 during the UN Secretary-General Climate Summit in New York, the emphasis was put on identifying early actions of the Alliance and defining the Governance structure, formulating Terms of Reference for the three Action Groups (AGs), and developing the work programme for the inception year.
The overall objectives of this side event are:
· Facilitating and contributing to on-going dialogue on CSA;
· Sharing practical experiences, lessons learned in scaling up CSA;
· Mobilising increased stakeholder participation in the GACSA and strengthening global drive and support for CSA.
GACSA members countries from Caribbean, Asian and African will present cases to show that CSA approach is both context specific and knowledge intensive.
This side-event will put forward a positive, actionable agenda on climate-smart agriculture practices for GACSA. The role of the AGs on knowledge, enabling environment and investment will be addressed by the GACSA co-chairs, highlighting the importance of the synergies among the three AGs' Work Plans.
Outline of the Side Event
The side event will be organized as a panel discussion.
Panel members will include:
• High level representatives of two countries –
David Lane, Permanent Representative of the USA to the UN Agencies in Rome;
Marco Vinicio Vargas Pereira, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the UN Agencies in Rome
• Small holder farmer – Paul Zakariya, Zimbabwe
• Marco Marzano de Marinis, Secretary General, World Farmers Organization
• Research - Carlos Seré, Senior Advisor on Strategic Partnerships and Global Initiatives, Office of the Director General, Bioversity International, CGIAR Consortium
• Inge Rydland, GACSA Co-Chair

Moderator: Martin Frick, Director, NRC, FAO

Translation: English, Spanish, French

Programme (13:00 – 14:00)
• 13:00-13:05 Opening remarks by GACSA co-Chair “What value addition does GACSA bring to the promotion and scaling up of CSA”

13:05-13:30 Panel discussion on “What is the added value for CSA for small holders, and how can policies and research make a difference”

• Small holder farmer presentation – Paul Zakariya, Zimbabwe;
• Country case – David Lane, Permanent Representative of the USA to the UN Agencies in Rome;
Country case - Marco Vinicio Vargas Pereira, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the UN Agencies in Rome

• Marco Marzano de Marinis, Secretary General, World Farmers Organization;

• Carlos Seré, Senior Advisor on Strategic Partnerships and Global Initiatives, Office of the Director General, Bioversity International, CGIAR Consortium.

13:30-13:55 Interactive Session.
13:55-14:00 Closing remarks by Ms Semedo, DDG, FAO.

Biographies of Speakers 

HE Ambassador David Lane

Ambassador David Lane was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as the U.S. Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 24, 2012.

Ambassador Lane has more than twenty years of experience working in leadership positions across sectors. Before coming to Rome, he served at the White House as Assistant to the President and Counselor to the Chief of Staff. 
Prior to joining the Obama Administration, he served as President and CEO of the ONE Campaign, a global advocacy organization focused on extreme poverty, development, and reform. Before that, as Director of Foundation Advocacy and the East Coast Office of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he helped lead that organization’s advocacy and public policy efforts. 
During the Clinton Administration, he served as Executive Director of the National Economic Council at the White House and Chief of Staff to the U. S. Secretary of Commerce. He served as Vice-Chair of Transparency International USA, and he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations
Ambassador Lane earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia and his M.P.A. from the Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Dr Inge Herman Rydland (1950) is a Norwegian citizen. He has held leadership positions in civil society organisations and in the Norwegian Agency for International Development. He is currently working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo as Project Manager for the Norwegian portfolio on global food security. He also serves as a co-chair in the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture (GACSA) – an Alliance launched during the UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit in New York in September 2014. Dr Rydland holds a bachelor in mechanical engineering, a master’s degree in Communication research and a doctoral degree in leadership and development.

Mr  Carlos Seré

Senior Advisor on Strategic Partnerships and Global Initiatives The Special Advisor supports the Director General and the Deputy Director General in developing strategic partnerships, managing the strategic sharpening process, managing Bioversity's engagement in global initiatives, deepening the engagement with CGIAR Research Programs and enhancing Bioversity’s international stature. 

Before joining Bioversity, Mr Seré was the Associate Vice-President, head of the Strategy and Knowledge Management Department of the International Fund for Agricultural Development from 2011 to 2013. Mr Seré worked as Director General for the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya from 2002 to 2011. Before that, he worked for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) as Director of the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Montevideo, Uruguay. From 1982 to 1990, Mr Seré worked as Senior Economist and Head of the Economics Section of the Tropical Pastures Program at the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), in Colombia.Mr Seré has a PhD in Agricultural Economics from University of Hohenheim, Germany (1981) and a Diploma, in Agricultural Engineering from University of Hohenheim, Germany (1976)

Dr. Andrew Achuo ENOW

Dr. Enow is an agronomist by profession, and has worked for many years as researcher in agriculture and as a manager of research and science programmes. He is currently the Coordinator for the Facilitation Unit of the Global Alliance for Cliamte Smart Agricutlure. 
He recently served as Executive Director / Chief of Staff in the Office of the Vice Chancellor at the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (July – November 2014) where he provided strategic leadership of the staff of the Vice Chancellor’s office. He was previously employed at the National Research Foundation (NRF) in South Africa as Director, Knowledge Fields Development, (December 2011 - July 2014). In this portfolio he was primarily responsible for coordinating and managing the implementation of the Global Change Research Plan for South Africa. He also directed and managed other global Change related research programmes funded by the NRF; including engagements in international research collaboration such as the Belmont Forum initiative. In this capacity he doubled as co-Secretary of Belmont Forum (2012 – 2014). His international career started with his employment at the International Council for Science - Regional Office for Africa (ICSU ROA) as Programme Specialist for Biological Sciences (2006 - 2011). In this role he coordinated the production and implementation of the ICSU ROA Science plans and other publications, and managed many stakeholder engagement activities both within Africa and internationally.

Paul Zakariya is passionate about rural development and the empowerment of marginalized communities. He has worked with various Zimbabwean and international development organizations in Zimbabwe to build sustainable livelihoods. Paul has over the last 21 years gathered a wealth of experience working with rural communities and smallholder farmers. He helped to develop sustainable models for market linkages in the northern region of Zimbabwe where rural incomes have significantly improved.

Paul is currently the Executive Director of the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union (ZFU), arguably the largest farmer organization in Zimbabwe. The Union largely represents smallholder farmers on policy and other lobby and advocacy programs. ZFU has a strong membership base of upwards of 250,000 active members.