Monday, December 18, 2023

WWF Pavilion at COP28

2 - 10 December 2023 The WWF Pavilion at COP28 hosted a wide array of events on topics ranging from the much-needed phase-out of fossil fuels to food systems, finance, forests and nature-based solutions.

WWF’s Food expectations paper for COP28 is available here, and all WWF’s climate-focused food work information is here: www.panda.org/food_and_climate .
All events of the #PandaHub were streamed and archived on the WWF YouTube channel.

Extract of the programme

02/12 Tackling Climate Change in Africa's Protected Areas

WWF’s Regional Office for Africa (ROA) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) wish to leverage the COP28 WWF Pavilion’s Africa Day to showcase the Climate Adaptation and Protected Areas (CAPA) Initiative, funded by Canada’s Partnering for Climate funding envelope. The event highlighted the critical role of nature and Nature-based Climate Solutions (NBCS) in tackling climate change in Africa’s Protected Areas and the international partnerships on adaptation and nature that have been facilitated by Canada’s ambitious climate commitment.

02/12 Powering Climate Adaptation: The critical Role of Decentralized Renewable Energy in Africa

Energy is an enabler of several Adaptation Agenda goals, including the expansion of sustainable irrigation, increasing crop yields through climate-resilient, sustainable agriculture, halving losses in food production, providing basic and essential community services and enabling access to the tools and information required to integrate climate risks into decision making. The latest IPCC adaptation and vulnerability report recognised that there was a strong evidence of the role of Decentralised renewable Energy in reducing vulnerability to climate change especially among rural populations. Despite its contribution to adaptation, it is estimated that 70-80 percent of people without access to clean and renewable energy reside in Africa as this remains a significant obstacle to socioeconomic / /resilience building in the region.

The African Development Bank’s High 5 on Light Up and Power Africa aim to help Africa achieve universal electricity access by 2025 with a focus on encouraging clean and renewable energy solutions. The African Union Commission in its 2063 Agenda of the Africa we want equally emphasizes that energy is a bedrock for Africa’s development and therefore the need for increased effort is required in ensuring affordable and reliable access. According to the AUC, Africa will need 25 billion in investment annually to meet its energy targets.

This side-event was an opportunity to harness collaboration amongst partners to promote renewable energy solutions for adaptation in Africa. The event highlighted the findings of a recent paper by WWF and partners titled ‘GOGLA (2023) Powering Climate Adaptation and Justice’ # 50 p.

The paper illustrates how Decentralized Renewable Energy is contributing to resilience building, the injustices of climate vulnerability and energy poverty and profiles the urgent need to address these interlinked challenge.

02/12 Scaling up tangible NbS for adaptation initiatives in Africa

This event highlighted evidence on NbS for adaptation investment in Africa on finance, policy, partnerships and large scale implementation that will serve as a model for scaling up in Africa and beyond.

05/12 National actions for climate and food: Launch of new NDC guidance tool for Agriculture and Food Systems

By German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

This high-level side event officially launched the NDC guidance tool on agriculture and food systems. The tool offers guidance to policy makers and practitioners to support the implementation of policies, governance, and on the ground measures that enable systematic shifts in agriculture and food systems to meet NDC targets and enhance mitigation of GHG in the food sector.

8/12 The Global Stock take: An opportunity to accelerate food systems transformation through enhanced NDCs

The Global Stocktake provided an opportunity to scale up action and provide investments for food systems transformation. This event highlighted why food systems transformation should be a key outcome for COP28, including for the Global Stocktake, and for accelerating climate action at the national level. It also presented the new and exciting NDC Guidance Tool For Food Systems, demonstrating the added value of better integrating food systems in countries’ NDCs and other national policy instruments.

Julia Wolf, Natural Resources Officer, FAO, Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Environment, commented: "The COP28 Toolkit draws upon the expertise and experience of leading organizations in the field and will certainly be an important asset for governments to rely on when implementing the Emirates Declaration.”
Juan Lucas Restrepo, Global Director of Partnerships and Advocacy at CGIAR, and the DG of the Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT
Hasseb Bakhtary, Senior Consultant, Climate Focus
Tony Juniper, Chair of Natural England.

10/12 Empowering agents of transformation: Paths towards inclusive governance for sustainable food systems

This event focused on strategies to empower agents for sustainable food system transformation. Participants will delve into the latest initiatives and policy frameworks, emphasising the need for inclusive governance aligned with international agreements on climate, biodiversity, and land degradation.

10/12 African Voices call for Nature Positive Adaptation

African voices campaign for better-placed food system adaptation. Maladaptation degrades the environment and increases future costs. There is an urgent need to implement effective, long-term strategies that build on biodiversity and take a landscape approach to agriculture and food systems.

10/12 Coordinating National Responses on Climate and Nature - NDCs and NBSAPs Alignment By WWF

This high level event explored approaches for both NDC and NBSAP enhancement; and Parties can consolidate and coordinate these efforts. The experiences in biodiverse rich countries can provide a blueprint for how to implement these actions and NDC partnership countries from the diverse regions will join to illustrate this in practice.