FAO at Rio +20

Description: This event will highlight the unprecedented cooperation of NGOs, industry leaders, technical and scientific international organizations and national government agencies in the recently approved GEF- funded and FAO implemented US$268 million program to address the dire global tuna situation and associated biological diversity. The focus of the event will be: 1) the global tuna fishery situation; 2) declining tuna stocks effect on developing countries and food security; 3) the complexities of tuna conservation in ABNJ and the roles of management organizations; 4) the role of business and industry in tuna conservation, and; 5) what this global program is doing to address these issues.

Description: GBEP is a seminar to present GBEP works and recent results, including the GBEP Report on indicators, the ongoing piloting of indicators and capacity building activities.

Description: Do you believe in the importance of investing in an integrated landscape approach that improves agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods, while also addressing threats to forests, water, and biodiversity? Then make plans now to attend or follow online the 4th Agriculture and Rural Development Day at Rio+20. The purpose of the 4th Agriculture and Rural Development Day is to ensure that the vision for a sustainable green economy includes clear steps for building a sustainable food system. The event will give voice to a wide cross section of people working on land, food and sustainability. Learning events will explore concrete cases of success that could translate into a thorough transformation of the global food system, and afternoon sessions will focus on science for a food-secure future

Description: To ensure that forests remain high on the agenda in 2012, CIFOR will coordinate one of the most important conferences on forests alongside the Rio+20 summit, Forests: The 8th Roundtable at Rio+20. Distinguished panellists will discuss new research findings – and remaining knowledge gaps -- and their policy implications for integrating forests into the solutions to four key challenges to progress toward a green economy: Energy, food and income, water, and climate.

Description: In this session, on the relevance of the agriculture-energy nexus for the MDGs, moderator Alexander Müller, Assistant Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), called on panelists to reflect on what must be done to put theory into practice at local, national and international levels. Susan Reichle, USAID, emphasizing the links between agriculture and energy, stressed: the need for partnerships between government, civil society, financial institutions, and the private sector; agriculture-energy nexus opportunities for business and investment; and transformative change through scaling-up technological and institutional innovations. On scaling-up innovation, Greg Murray, Chairman of CleanStar Mozambique, remarked that synergies between food and energy production can drive environmental restoration rather than destruction, and rural development rather than rural decline. Murray said experience proves these synergies shatter the fallacy of tradeoffs between energy and food, citing CleanStar Mozambique’s investments in sustainable cookfuels that benefit rural producers and urban consumers alike. Christian Friis Bach, Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, said the nexus between water, food and energy introduces tough policy challenges regarding standards and regulations for ensuring sustainable biofuels, guidelines for protecting against land grabs, and incentives for getting prices that are low enough to promote energy access yet high enough to foster energy efficiency. Simon Trace, CEO, Practical Action, indicated that energy access can support food security through increasing yield and production, easing labor-intensive processing, reducing food waste, and adding value for economically-viable livelihoods. In addition to cookfuels and electricity, Trace remarked that mechanical energy is the under-appreciated “Cinderella of energy access.” The subsequent discussion explored sustainable agricultural expansion, cross-sectoral governance, tradeoffs between organic and conventional agriculture, and challenges to securing domestic finance.

Description: This event aims to provide a forum to: 1. Highlight the nexus between food and nutrition security, health, gender equality as key pillars of climate-resilient and sustainable development. 2. Explore the potential of a climate justice approach to inform more inclusive and equitable policy options in the context of RIO+20 and the post 2015 MDG framework. 3. Launch a policy brief and validation of key recommendations on how to integrate food and nutrition security, health and gender equality in climate-resilient and sustainable development and poverty eradication. 4. Establish an informal high-level group to Identify to advance the issues of health, food and nutrition security and gender equality, including through concrete partnerships and initiatives with a view to RIO+20 and the post-2015 MDG framework.

Description: The main focus of this event will be: 1. To highlight the interaction between the economy, biodiversity and food security; 2. To showcase the Treaty as one of the foremost legal instruments leading the agricultural field internationally with innovative mechanisms such as the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing and its Benefit-sharing Fund; 3. ?Facilitate the High Level discussion on the Potential Monetary and Non-monetary Benefits Arising from the Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources under the Multilateral System of the International Plant Treaty?.

Description: Hunger eradication is fundamental to achieving the Rio vision of sustainable development. Current pathways have left 1.4 billion in extreme poverty, 925 million hungry and many more malnourished and food insecure. There can be no sustainable development when billions of people are left in hunger, poverty and food insecurity on the side-lines of mainstream development, with no protection from risks and shocks, and no hope to contribute to and benefit from growth, nor to fully enjoy their human development potential. Moving sustainable development requires a shift to food production and consumption systems that are productive, sustainable and fair. This Side Event will focus on the following issues: •Sustainable management of natural resources – land, water, fisheries, forests and biodiversity – is a precondition for long-term agricultural growth. •Sustainability requires a reform of the overall agriculture and food system, from production to consumption, from farm to table. •Social protection and safety nets are essential to support resilient livelihoods, protect the most vulnerable and include them in sustainable development pathways. •Sustainable consumption and production •Better and more coherent global, national and local policies are needed for sustainable development and to support the reform of agriculture and food systems at scale. The Side Event will consist on a panel with the heads of FAO, IFAD, WFP and Biodiversity International and Ministers of Agriculture from different regions of the World; The panel will highlight what they see as the role of agriculture, food Security and nutrition in the emerging global agenda for sustainable development . A report from the Side Event will be available for the Rio+20 organizers.

Description: The side event intends to gather the main players from the forestry and related sectors to discuss the main points of the Roadmap and timeline. These will be then presented for discussion as contribution to the Action Plan, which will be finally endorsed by the ECE TC and the FAO EFC in 2013.

Description: The First Global Soil Week will provide a platform to initiate follow-up actions on land and soil-related decisions made at the Rio+20 Sustainable Development Conference and will take place within the framework of the FAO’s Global Soil Partnership. The First Global Soil Week offers a forum of interactive exchange and dialogue.