GLF Climate: Forests, Food, Finance - Frontiers of Change

5-7 November 2021.

GLF Climate: Forests, Food, Finance - Frontiers of Change

The first two days of GLF Climate set the scene as to why COP15 of Glasgow is the most important climate summit in history.

Plenary speakers responded to the urgency and clarity of the IPCC report, built on the momentum of 2021 efforts such as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the World Conservation Congress and the UN Food Systems Summit, and explored why forests, food and finance are crucial for the integrated action needed to deliver the Paris climate goals and secure a sustainable future.

Sessions discussed topics such as mainstreaming forests and nature within agricultural production to build nature-inclusive food systems, make zero-deforestation real, secure the rights and livelihoods of local communities, enhance food security and sovereignty and scale innovative finance mechanisms to connect forest ecosystem restoration and bioeconomy.

The third day of GLF Climate was devoted to the 5th Investment Case symposium, which is part of the Luxembourg-GLF Finance for Nature Platform. The symposium had two overarching objectives: i) the increased adoption and incorporation of nature-based solutions (NbS) and sustainable land-use approaches in sustainable finance practices, and ii) to promote and explore opportunities for NbS investments.

Critical topics for the financing of climate-smart land use included:

• innovative and scalable financing approaches to NbS;
• increasing opportunities for NbS in global sustainable finance;
• mainstreaming sustainable finance for NbS in the financial sector;
• scaling up NbS synergistically with other global sustainable development targets;
• the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy’s relevance to NbS;
• accelerating NbS growth and adoption in developing and emerging countries;
• natural climate solutions, including drivers from carbon markets; and
• sound practices for developing and structuring bankable NbS projects.

The event also celebrated the next generation of finance innovators promoting NbS, and foster financing alliances and partnerships to support the implementation of global commitments such as the Great Green Wall Initiative, AFR100, Initiative 20×20 and ECCA30.

This final day of the conference also featured a number of launches and announcements, including the International Climate Finance Accelerator cohort for 2021, and the winners of the Ecopreneurs competition.

Extracts of the programme:

05/11 Landscapes for Forests and Food

Restoration is a key intervention to bridge the conservation and food production agendas, and it can help to overcome historical administrative and sectorial silos. Regenerative practices such as agroforestry, crop diversification, reduced tillage, and many more, will reduce GHG emissions. To take these to scale, this session discussed policies and incentives that enable smallholders to reconstruct local and regional agri-food systems and value chains. The panel discussed solutions for managing forests and agriculture to realize mitigation and adaptation targets.

• Charles KARANGWA International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Rwanda Regional Lead-Forests, Landscapes and Livelihoods Programme
• Jennifer Morgan Greenpeace Executive Director
• Carlos Nobre Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Sao Paulo Senior Researcher
• Kwitonda Philippe Director General and in charge of Land, Water and Forestry in Ministry of Environment, Rwanda
• Dr. Vandana Shiva Environmental Activist Food Sovereignty Advocate
• PJ Stephenson IUCN Species Survival Commission
• Stig Traavik Norad Director of Climate and Environment

06/11 Agroecology: Ecosystem-Based Adaptation: Linking Upstream and Downstream Catchments in Sri Lanka

Climate change poses systemic challenges to food systems which require systemic responses. Blending agroecological approaches and ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) can increase the capacity that is needed to translate national commitments on climate, biodiversity and sustainable development into action on the ground.

This interactive session presented the climate rationale for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) EbA project in Sri Lanka. The project blends agroecological approaches and EbA as it interconnects the upstream Knuckles catchment and downstream areas in a landscapes approach, involving a broad array of adaptation measures ranging from governance and financing to support agroecological intensification.

Speakers

• Leimona Beria - Landscape Governance and Investment, World Agroforestry (ICRAF) Senior Expert
• Sebastien Delahaye - Portfolio Manager (GEF & GCF Coordination Unit) at International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
• Anura Dissanayake - Ministry of Irrigation, Sri Lanka
• Roeland Kindt - World Agroforestry (ICRAF)
• Fergus Sinclair CIFOR-ICRAF Principal Scientist
• Tor-Gunnar Vågen - CIFOR-ICRAF Spatial Data Science and Applied Learning Lab (SPACIAL), World Agroforestry (ICRAF)
• Jerry Velasquez Division of Mitigation and Adaptation, Green Climate Fund (GCF)

Relevant Resource(s):

• Systemic Challenges, Systemic Responses: Innovating Adaptation to Climate Change through Agroecology
• Agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition
• The Contribution of Agroecological Approaches to Realizing Climate-Resilient Agriculture
• Can agroecology improve food security and nutrition? A review
• Agroecologically-conducive policies: 5 A review of recent advances and 6 remaining challenges
• True Value: Revealing the Positive Impacts of Food Systems Transformation

06/11 Growing the Momentum for Agroecological Transformation to Resilient Food Systems 

This plenary linked the 13 agroecological principles from the CFS HLPE (2019) report, the CFS policy recommendations on agroecological and other innovative approaches and the coalition on transforming food systems through agroecology emerging from the UN Food Systems Summit with the imperative to reduce the contribution that agriculture makes to global warming while adapting to effects of climate change. The focus was on prioritizing actions to effect agroecological transitions and ensuring inclusivity and equity of agency amongst all actors in food systems.

Speakers:

• Gabriel Ferrero CFS (UN Committee on World Food Security)
• Patty Fong Global Alliance for the Future of Food Program Director, Climate and Health & Well-being
• Emile Frison IPES-Food Expert on conservation and agricultural biodiversity
• Alfredo Mamani Salinas Ministry of the Environment, Peru Vice-Minister of Strategic Natural Resources Development
• HE Gotabaya Rajapakse Sri Lanka
• Milagros Sandoval Diaz Ministry of the Environment of Peru
• Fergus Sinclair CIFOR-ICRAF Principal Scientist
• Genna Tesdall YPARD, YOUNGO Director, Youth representative
• Monica Yator Indigenous Women and Girls Initiative, Kenya

Media content

• CIFOR-ICRAF Chief Scientist Fergus Sinclair in conversation about agroecology with Ajay Vir Jakhar on Connecting the Dots on 24 June 2021
• The launch of the Agroecology Transformative Partnership Platform (TPP) on 3 June 2021 #CFS48
• At the launch of the Agroecology Transformative Partnership Platform (TPP), the President of Sri Lanka, HE Gotabaya Rajapaksa, announced resolute policy action banning the import of all artificial fertilizers and agrochemicals in the country

Useful publications

• The game-changing report on Agroecological principles and elements and their implications for transitioning to sustainable food systems by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS HLPE) (2019)
• CFS Policy Recommendations on Agroecology and other innovative approaches (2021)
• Sinclair, F., Wezel, A., Mbow, C., Chomba, C., Robiglio, V., and Harrison, R. (2019). The contribution of agroecological approaches to realizing climate-resilient agriculture. Background Paper. Global Commission on Adaptation. Rotterdam.
• The Agroecology TPP concept note (2019)

Useful Websites

• The Transformative Partnership Platform on Agroecology (TPP)
• The Coalition for the Transformation of Food Systems Through Agroecology

07/11 Developing an Investment Case for Inclusive Food System Transformation

Landscape analysis of financial flows has confirmed that landscape-level investments do improve average income, but they rarely contribute to maintaining or enhancing essential ecosystem services on which communities directly depend, and do little to enhance food security or the capacity to adapt to climate change. In a study in 2019, barriers were identified that restrict smallholder access to finance and hinder food system transformation, but few successful examples were documented. 

Seven case studies of locally-led initiatives in 2021, show how locally driven initiatives have been able to overcome challenges of risk, scale, locally appropriate financial and non-financial services, etc. 

Results from selected case studies were used in this session to answer two key questions. (a) How to make local innovations complementary to internationally driven initiatives? (b) What investment mechanisms address the finance needs of all actors at the landscape level?

• Michael Allen Brady CIFOR-ICRAF Principal Scientist and Team Leader, Value Chains, Finance and Investment
• Marie Andree Liere Landscape Resilience Fund (LRF), South Pole Adaptation Specialist
• Lawrence Damnyag CSIR-Forestry Research institute, Ghana Principal Scientist
• Bas Louman Tropenbos international Programme Coordinator
• Dia Mawesti Tropenbos Indonesia Project Coordinator
• Mercy Owusu Ansah Tropenbos Ghana Director
• Dyah Puspitaloka CIFOR-ICRAF Research Officer
• Evans Sampene Mensah Tropenbos Ghana Project Coordinator

Resource(s):

• Finance for integrated landscape management: A landscape approach to climate-smart cocoa in the Juabeso-Bia Landscape, Ghana
• Finance for integrated landscape management. The potential of credit unions in Indonesia to catalyze local rural development. The case of Semandang Jaya Credit Union
• Finance for integrated landscape management. De-risking smallholder farmer investments in integrated landscape management
• Whitepaper: Investment cases for inclusive food systems: How international finance can better meet local needs and aspirations