Introduction
The 3rd Global Conference on Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security and Climate Change will be held from 3 to 5 December 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa and will include high-level discussions on a climate smart agriculture alliance. The Conference is organised by the governments of the Republic of South Africa, the Netherlands, and in collaboration with other partners, including the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Bank. The 3rd Global Conference in South Africa will provide the platform for global leaders, practitioners, scientists, farmers, organised agriculture, civil society, the private sector, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to discuss and share experiences on successes, and to deliberate the challenges and threats to food and nutrition security under the impact of climate change.
The purpose of the Conference is to:
- Promote a Climate – Smart Agriculture Alliance;
- Share knowledge, information and good practices among public, private and civil society stakeholders;
- Promote the mainstreaming and up-scaling of climate-smart agriculture within the broader development goals;
- Facilitate the implementation of concrete actions linking agriculture-related investments, policies, and measures with the transition to climate – smart agriculture ;
- Build global partnerships for resilience of agriculture, forestry and fisheries to climate change;
- Promote the application of scientific solutions, information and policies conducive to increased and sustainable agricultural production yields, productivity and sustainable development;
- Explore and share knowledge and responses of agriculture to climate change with emphasis on climate-smart agriculture; low carbon farming practices; conservation and new technological approaches conducive to productivity, adaptation and mitigation.
Background
The first Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security, and Climate Change was held in The Hague, 31 October - 5 November 2010. The conference, organised by the government of the Netherlands in close cooperation with the governments of Ethiopia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, and Vietnam, the World Bank, and the FAO, was the first global conference of its kind to bring together the agendas of agriculture, food security and climate change.
Participants hailed from 80 countries including 60 government ministers, as well as representatives of international and regional organizations, civil society, the private sector, farmers’ organizations and the scientific community. The meeting at The Hague, the Netherlands, was informed by a preparatory meeting focusing on Africa that was organised by the African Union Commission and the government of Ethiopia in September 2010.
The Conference sought to mobilise action for achieving climate-smart agriculture as a means to enhance sustainable productivity and incomes, resilience to climate change and carbon sequestration. The Conference emphasized the need for scaled-up action and called upon partners to implement and further develop the roadmap, individually and collectively within a broad informal set of partnerships between all stakeholders.
In September 2012, the second Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change was held in Viet Nam, where agriculture ministers called for utilisation of climate-smart agricultural practices to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and build resilience to environmental pressures while simultaneously assisting farmers adapt to climate change while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The objectives of the conference were to share leadership perspectives, explore challenges, and grasp new opportunities for climate‐smart agriculture. Discussions focused on learning from country strategies, financing climate-smart agriculture, and agriculture within the United Nations (UN) climate negotiations.
The second Global Conference took stock of developments over the previous years, including proposals for implementation. It also set new and more concrete priorities for action while demonstrating early action on climate – smart agriculture as a driver for green growth. The Conference identified what needs to happen for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, related land use, and water management to deliver on increased productivity, reduced emissions, increased sequestration, environmental sustainability, better livelihoods and food security. It also showcased issues and shared knowledge on replicable good practices in climate resilient, low-emissions agriculture, livestock, fisheries, forestry and watershed management and demonstrated the potential for scaling up in a sustainable manner.
Themes for the 3rd Global Conference are the following:
a. Food and nutrition security in the face of climate change
b. Improving food security and poverty alleviation through production systems
c. Understanding the link between agriculture-related investments, policies, and measures with climate smart agriculture
Watch www.arc.agric.za as programmes will be published during October 2013
Enquiries can be made at: 3rdGlobalconference@arc.agric.za
