African francophone countries come together to find common ground under the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture
With so many countries on board and complex topics to be discussed, the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA) process can be difficult to navigate.
Supporting countries and stakeholders in their efforts to be more organized and effective in this process is thus fundamental to FAO.
Through the “Boosting Koronivia” project, funded by the Government of Germany, FAO is directly involved in strengthening and facilitating country-to-country exchanges within growing regional groups. Last week, FAO supported a meeting of African francophone countries, which was held in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, from 9 to 11 March.
The workshop provided a space for African French-speaking experts to discuss and exchange views on KJWA topics 2(e) on livestock management, and 2(f) on the food security and socio-economic dimensions of climate change in the agricultural sectors (see KJWA road map).
Around 40 participants representing research institutions and universities in French-speaking African countries, ministries, civil society organizations active under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other stakeholders attended the preparatory workshop. Eleven French-speaking countries were represented at this meeting including Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Rwanda, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Senegal and Madagascar. FAO provided a number of information materials including analyses of submissions on previous topics and facilitated the participation of seven experts in the meeting.
Finding common ground and a strategic approach on KJWA topics within regional groups is vital to the global negotiation process, particularly in the run-up to the 26th Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November where countries are due to reach a conclusion on the future of Koronivia post-2020.
With many regional face-to-face meetings now cancelled or postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, this workshop may have proven to be one of the last opportunities for members of the African Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES) to meet before the official in-session workshop in June. As a result, the joint paper developed thanks to this workshop will form the backbone of the African KJWA submission on livestock and the food security and socioeconomic dimensions of climate change at the next meeting of UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies (SB52) in Bonn, Germany.
Take a look at the meeting report (French only).
The Abidjan meeting is one of the activities within the framework of the project “Strengthening the participation of African Francophone countries in climate negotiations and in the implementation of the Paris Agreement”, which will be jointly implemented by the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) and AGNES thanks to financial support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
KJWA Information material
Webpage - www.fao.org/climate-change/our-work/what-we-do/koronivia/en/
Booklet - The state of the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (French | Spanish)
Brochure - FAO and the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (French | Spanish | Arabic)
Animation - What is the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture? (French | Spanish)
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