African Agriculture @ UNGA 73 and Global Goals Week (3)

23-29 September 2018. New York. Food systems, hunger and nutrition received a great deal of attention during Global Goals Week.

25 September 2018. New York. Financing Sustainable Agriculture: Global Challenges & Opportunity. UN Environment in partnership with UN Women, BNP Paribas SA, World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), Green Climate Fund, The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) and other international organizations and financial institutions.

• This event, on the sidelines of the Annual UN General Assembly, brought key stakeholders, including several international organizations, financial institutions and member nations of the UN together to highlight how ‘blended finance’ models can support countries in simultaneously achieving inclusive growth and emissions reductions goals. 
• It offered opportunities to discuss new partnerships and knowledge exchange opportunities, through catalytic institutions like TLFF (Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility) and SIFF (Sustainable India Finance Facility (SIFF) that can scale availability of finance for sustainable economic development. 
• It provided space to scope out innovative finance approaches that can provide triple-bottom-line social, environmental and economic benefits for developing countries in sectors related to sustainable land management and nature.
• Finally, it explored the need and potential of transformational finance facilities like the TLFF and SIFF to sustainably reduce climate vulnerabilities and generate successful blueprints for deforestation free commodity production in ecologically sensitive regions of the world.

Concept Note

Keynotes:

• Mr. Erik Solheim, Executive Director, UN Environment 
• Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director, UN Women 
• Mr. Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, Chief Executive Officer, BNP Paribas SA 
• Dr. Jim Young Kim, President of the World Bank 
• H.E. Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh state, India 
• H.E. Mr. Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia 
• H.E. Mr. Paul Kagame, President of the African Union and President of Rwanda 
• Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations 
• Mr. Ed Norton, UN Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity 

Statements of Support:

• Dr. Tony Simons, Director General, World Agroforestry Center 
• Mr. Joost Oorthuizen, CEO, The Sustainable Trade Initiative 
• Ms. Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility 
• Mr. Pavan Sukhdev, President of the Board, WWF International 
• Mr. Elliott Harris, Chief Economist of the United Nations 
• Mr. Javier Manzanares, CEO a.i., Green Climate Fund 
• Ms. Christiana Pasca Palmer, Executive Secretary, UN Convention on Biodiversity 
• Dr. M. Sanjayan, CEO, Conservation International 
• Representatives of UN Member Nations