Members of the media are invited to attend three high level events hosted by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson, alongside the 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) taking place in Durban from 28 November to 9 December 2011.
Agriculture and Rural Development Day (ARDD)
The Agriculture and Rural Development Day (ARDD) 2011 is a one-day conference aimed at creating public awareness of Africa’s potential and vulnerability and to mobilise global support for climate-smart agricultural practices and policies. Participants will include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) Ministers of Agriculture, representatives of the African Climate Policy Centre of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the World Food Programme and ROPPA, the Network of Farmers' and Agricultural Producers' Organisations of West Africa.
Some of the topics of discussion include, mobilising sustainable agriculture to meet food security challenges and steps to be taken to enhance collaboration and knowledge on climate-smart agriculture. The conference is envisaged to inspire high-level commitment and grassroots action.
The ARDD conference will be held on Saturday, 3 December 2011 at the Ritson Campus, Durban University of Technology, 7 Ritson Road, Overport, Durban.
Time: Registration 8h00 and function starts at 9h00 to 18h15
Forest Day 5
Forest Day, held annually alongside the Conference of Parties (COP) has become one of the leading annual global platforms on forests and climate change. The focus this year will be on the role of African forests in mitigating and adapting to climate change.
Participants at Forest Day, now in its fifth year, will debate the latest in the U.N. negotiations on REDD+, (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries), a year after governments at the 2010 climate talks in Cancun agreed to officially include the REDD+ mechanism in the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Forest Day 5 hosted in partnership with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) will seek to highlight the role of forests in climate change discussions. This will be held on Sunday, 4 December 2011 at the Olive Conference Centre, Durban, next to Elangeni Southern Sun Hotel KwaZulu-Natal.
Time: Registration 8h00 and function starts at 9h00 to 15h00
Key objectives of Forest Day 5 are: to reinforce and clarify the position of forests as key to the emerging global climate change strategy; inform UNFCCC negotiators of new knowledge, consensus and controversy relevant to issues under discussion; provide a forum where a wide range of stakeholders and world leaders can discuss new challenges and issues arising from the implementation of REDD+ and adaptation schemes to alleviate climate change and also engage international and local media in critical issues of forests and climate change.
Climate Smart Agriculture
Climate Smart Agriculture under the theme “Climate-Smart Agriculture – Africa: A Call to Action” will launch an Action Plan for Africa. The conference will also focus on increased south-north and south-south collaboration which will enable the international community to build on existing successes and address global challenges. An Early Action Plan will focus on additional resources and skills needed to strengthen the climate-smart agriculture components of existing national and regional agriculture strategies
This event, organised in partnership with the African Union and the World Bank will feature among others, Mr Kofi Annan, Chairman of the Board of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and Former Secretary-General of the United Nations; Mr Jean Ping, Chairman of the Commission of the African Union; Mr Erik Solheim, Minister of Environment and International Development, Norway; Ms Mary Robinson, President of Mary Robinson Foundation, Former President of Ireland and Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Mr Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, together with key African leaders. This will be held on 7 December 2011 at ICC.
Time: 14h00 to 15h00
NB: Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson will also be participating at the World Economic Forum round-table from 10h00 to 11h30 on 5 December 2011
Enquiries:
Mr Steve Galane
Acting Chief Director: Stakeholder Relations and Communications
Tel: 012 319 7960
Fax: 012 319 6943
Cell: 083 635 7346
E-mail: SteveGAL@daff.gov.za
