FAO CONFERENCE 40TH SESSION - Side Event

The side event will bring together high-level speakers and attendees from FAO, partner organizations and countries, to launch the new FAO Strategy on Climate Change and discuss in particular the role of strategic partnerships in maximizing its impact on the ground through support to countries to implement the agriculture commitments of their NDCs. It will provide high visibility to the collaborative work to be undertaken by FAO and its partners in the coming years around the shared aim of firmly placing the food and agricultural sectors at the centre of the global response to climate change. The event will be an occasion to take stock of existing good practices in the field of partnerships on climate change, to bridge the high level objectives of the FAO Strategy on Climate Change and the technical work on the ground and to set a course for future collaboration. 

This side event is jointly organized by the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as host of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) and FAO. 

Programme

Opening remarks:

René Castro, Assistant Director-General Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department, FAO (CB).

Helena Molin Valdes, Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Head of Secretariat. 

Presentation of FAO Strategy on Climate Change - Martin Frick, Director, Climate and Environment Division, FAO (CBC).

Panel discussion “The role of partnerships for agricultural climate action”

Suggested panel intervention topics:

• Tabaré Aguerre, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of Uruguay on the CCAC-FAO-GRA collaboration on addressing enteric methane for food security and livelihoods (by video message).
• Hinrich Thölken, Permanent Representative of Germany to FAO, WFP and IFAD on the newly launched NDC Partnership Thematic Working Group on Agriculture, Forestry and Land Use [TBC].
• Brigitte Collet, Ambassador of France for Climate Change Negotiations, Renewable Energy and Climate Risk Prevention on partnerships initiatives.
• George Oduro, Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture of Ghana on synergies between GRA, CCAC and the NDC Partnership Thematic Working Group on Agriculture, Forestry and Land Use.
• Takehiro Okubo, Director, International Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan on GRA and paddy rice production.

Interactive session with the audience.

Concluding remarks.

Moderator: Hayden Montgomery, Special Representative of the Global Research Alliance (GRA).