FAO workshop to develop guidelines for the implementation of M&E frameworks for CSA
March 13-15 – Rome | Last week, the Global Climate Governance and Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Team of the Climate and Environment Division (CBC) kicked off a three-day workshop on designing, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) frameworks for CSA. The workshop brought together 45 key external stakeholders from over 30 organizations to present and discuss the developments of metrics for CSA with 20 FAO staff.
The objective for the workshop’s 65 participants was to engage in dialogue that would feed into the development of operational guidelines for CSA-implementing/financing organizations to implement M&E frameworks for CSA reporting. Furthermore, these guidelines will play a crucial role in supporting countries in their reporting commitments under the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
On Wednesday morning, Mr. Alexander Jones, Director of FAO’s Climate and Environment Division, delivered opening remarks that reiterated the importance of a more robust and efficient M&E system. His remarks echoed the importance of showing the impacts of CSA through clear M&E implementation. The workshop is timely as the international climate community looks forward to the UN Climate Action Summit 2019 and the COP25 which will be held in Chile this year. He thanked the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea for funding this workshop and making these discussions possible.
The workshop’s moderator, Ms. Rima AlAzar, Team Leader of the Global Climate Governance and CSA team at FAO explained that the workshop responds to Member States’ needs, stating, “Governments have increasingly requested guidance on M&E for CSA since the entry into force of the Paris Agreement”. Currently, the reporting that is required under the three frameworks – Paris Agreement, 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sendai Framework - places a burden on countries, so creating a framework that succeeds at streamlining indicators could help alleviate this burden and contribute to a more coherent reporting process.
The workshop discussions were divided over three days. The first day of the workshop focused on laying the foundation and reviewing the three pillars of climate-smart agriculture, as well as understanding existing M&E systems through a series of presentations and perspectives delivered by key actors from MDBs, NGOs, private sector and other UN organizations. The second day shifted focus and zoomed in to government experiences. The third day then looked at geospatial technologies available to improve data for CSA monitoring, presented by Hexagon, the European Space Agency and FAO. Participants discussed different challenges associated with M&E frameworks for CSA in working group sessions on Days 2 and 3. The workshop concluded with participants suggesting concrete recommendations for addressing the specific challenges which were highlighted during the workshop. Operational guidelines for the implementation of M&E frameworks for Climate-Smart Agriculture will be produced by FAO following the workshop.