Use of cookies: We use cookies to optimize our website for you and to be able to improve it continuously. By continuing to use the website you agree to the use of cookies.
For more information on cookies, please see our privacy policy
159 countries including Rwanda, Guinea and Burundi sign the United Arab Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action
Recognizing that unprecedented adverse climate impacts are increasingly threatening the resilience of agriculture and food systems as well as the ability of many, especially the most vulnerable, to produce and access food in the face of mounting hunger, malnutrition, and economic stresses;
Recognizing the profound potential of agriculture and food systems to drive powerful and innovative responses to climate change and to unlock shared prosperity for all;
Underscoring the need to progressively realize the right to adequate food in the context of national food security as well as the need to ensure access to safe, sufficient, affordable, and nutritious food for all;
Noting that agriculture and food systems are fundamental to the lives and livelihoods of billions of people, including smallholders, family farmers, fisherfolk and other producers and food workers;
Noting the essential role of international and multi-stakeholder cooperation, including South-South and Triangular cooperation, financial and funding institutions, trade, and non-state actors in responding to climate change;
Reaffirming our respective commitments, collective and individual, to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, and the Sharm El Sheikh Joint Work on implementation of climate action in agriculture and food security; as well as noting the UN Food Systems Summit;
Recalling also the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, acknowledging that they are the primary international, intergovernmental forums for negotiating the global response to climate change;
Recalling the findings of recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments as well as noting the Synthesis report by the co-facilitators on the technical dialogue of the first global stocktake;
We stress that any path to fully achieving the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement must include agriculture and food systems;
We affirm that agriculture and food systems must urgently adapt and transform in order to respond to the imperatives of climate change.
We declare our intent to work collaboratively and expeditiously to pursue the following objectives:
Scaling-up adaptation and resilience activities and responses in order to reduce the vulnerability of all farmers, fisherfolk, and other food producers to the impacts of climate change, including through financial and technical support for solutions, capacity building, infrastructure, and innovations, including early warning systems, that promote sustainable food security, production and nutrition, while conserving, protecting and restoring nature.
Promoting food security and nutrition by increasing efforts to support vulnerable people through approaches such as social protection systems and safety nets, school feeding and public procurement programs, targeted research and innovation, and focusing on the specific needs of women, children and youth, Indigenous Peoples, smallholders, family farmers, local communities and persons with disabilities, among others;
Supporting workers in agriculture and food systems, including women and youth, whose livelihoods are threatened by climate change, to maintain inclusive, decent work, through context-appropriate approaches which could include increasing, adapting and diversifying incomes;
Strengthening the integrated management of water in agriculture and food systems at all levels to ensure sustainability and reduce adverse impacts on communities that depend on these inter-related areas;
Maximize the climate and environmental benefits - while containing and reducing harmful impacts - associated with agriculture and food systems by conserving, protecting and restoring land and natural ecosystems, enhancing soil health, and biodiversity, and shifting from higher greenhouse gas-emitting practices to more sustainable production and consumption approaches, including by reducing food loss and waste and promoting sustainable aquatic blue foods;
To achieve these aims - according to our own national circumstances - we commit to expedite the integration of agriculture and food systems into our climate action and, simultaneously, to mainstream climate action across our policy agendas and actions related to agriculture and food systems.
In fulfilling this commitment, by 2025 we intend to strengthen our respective and shared efforts to:
Pursue broad, transparent, and inclusive engagement, as appropriate within our national contexts, to integrate agriculture and food systems into National Adaptation Plans, Nationally Determined Contributions, Long-term Strategies, National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, and other related strategies before the convening of COP30;
2. Revisit or orient policies and public support related to agriculture and food systems to promote activities which increase incomes, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and bolster resilience, productivity, livelihoods, nutrition, water efficiency and human, animal and ecosystem health while reducing food loss and waste, and ecosystem loss and degradation.
3. Continue to scale-up and enhance access to all forms of finance from the public, philanthropic and private sectors - including through blended instruments, public-private partnerships and other aligned efforts - to adapt and transform agriculture and food systems to respond to climate change.
4. Accelerate and scale science and evidence-based innovations - including local and indigenous knowledge - which increase sustainable productivity and production of agriculture and related emerging domains, promote ecosystem resilience and improve livelihoods, including for rural communities, smallholders, family farmers and other producers.
5. Strengthen the rules-based, non-discriminatory, open, fair, inclusive, equitable and transparent multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core.
With seven years remaining to achieve our shared goals, we intend to strengthen collaboration among our respective ministries - including agriculture, climate, energy, environment, finance, and health - and with diverse stakeholders to achieve the objectives and efforts articulated in this Declaration, and as appropriate within our national contexts.
To maintain momentum, we intend to benefit from relevant regional and global convenings in order to share experiences and to accelerate national and collaborative action. We will review our collective progress next year at COP29 with a view to considering next steps in 2025 and beyond.
Signatures:
Republic of Albania 2. Principality of Andorra 3. Republic of Angola 4. Antigua and Barbuda 5. Republic of Armenia
Republic of Argentina 7. Commonwealth of Australia 8. Republic of Austria 9. Republic of Azerbaijan 10. Commonwealth of the Bahamas 11. Kingdom of Bahrain 12. People’s Republic of Bangladesh 13. Barbados 14. Republic of Belarus 15. Kingdom of Belgium 16. Belize 17. Republic of Benin 18. Kingdom of Bhutan 19. Bosnia and Herzegovina 20. Federative Republic of Brazil 21. Negara Brunei Darussalam 22. Republic of Bulgaria 23. Burkina Faso 24. Republic of Burundi 25. Republic of Cabo Verde 26. Kingdom of Cambodia 27. Canada 28. Republic of Chad 29. Republic of Chile 30. People’s Republic of China 31. Republic of Colombia 32. Union of the Comoros 33. Republic of Costa Rica 34. Republic of Côte d’Ivoire 35. Republic of Croatia 36. Republic of Cyprus 37. Czech Republic (Czechia) 38. Kingdom of Denmark 39. Commonwealth of Dominica 40. Dominican Republic 41. Republic of Ecuador 42. Arab Republic of Egypt 43. Republic of El Salvador 44. Republic of Equatorial Guinea 45. Republic of Estonia 46. Kingdom of Eswatini 47. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia 48. European Union 49. Republic of Fiji 50. Republic of Finland 51. Republic of France 52. Republic of The Gambia 53. Federal Republic of Germany 54. Republic of Ghana 55. Hellenic Republic (Greece) 56. Grenada 57. Republic of Guatemala 58. Republic of Guinea 59. Republic of Guinea-Bissau 60. Republic of Honduras 61. Hungary 62. Iceland 63. Republic of Indonesia 64. Ireland 65. State of Israel 66. Republic of Italy 67. Jamaica 68. Japan 69. Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 70. Republic of Kazakhstan 71. Republic of Kenya 72. Republic of Kiribati 73. Republic of Korea 74. State of Kuwait 75. Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan) 76. Republic of Latvia 77. Republic of Lebanon 78. Kingdom of Lesotho 79. Republic of Lithuania 80. Grand Duchy of Luxembourg 81. Republic of Madagascar 82. Republic of Malawi 83. Malaysia 84. Republic of Maldives 85. Republic of Mali 86. Republic of Malta 87. Islamic Republic of Mauritania 88. Republic of Mauritius 89. United Mexican States (Mexico) 90. Federated States of Micronesia (Federated States of) 91. Republic of Moldova 92. Principality of Monaco 93. Mongolia 94. Montenegro 95. Kingdom of Morocco 96. Republic of Mozambique 97. Republic of Nauru 98. Nepal 99. Kingdom of the Netherlands 100. New Zealand 101. Republic of Nicaragua 102. Federal Republic of Nigeria 103. Niue 104. Republic of North Macedonia 105. Kingdom of Norway 106. Sultanate of Oman 107. Islamic Republic of Pakistan 108. Republic of Palau 109. State of Palestine 110. Republic of Panama 111. Independent State of Papua New Guinea 112. Republic of Peru 113. Republic of the Philippines 114. Republic of Poland 115. Portuguese Republic (Portugal) 116. State of Qatar 117. Romania 118. Russian Federation 119. Republic of Rwanda 120. Independent State of Samoa 121. Republic of Senegal 122. Republic of Serbia 123. Republic of Seychelles 124. Republic of Sierra Leone 125. Republic of Singapore 126. Slovak Republic (Slovakia) 127. Republic of Slovenia 128. Federal Republic of Somalia 129. Kingdom of Spain 130. Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 131. Saint Kitts and Nevis 132. Saint Lucia 133. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 134. Republic of San Marino 135. Republic of the Sudan 136. Republic of Suriname 137. Kingdom of Sweden 138. Swiss Confederation (Switzerland) 139. Syrian Arab Republic 140. Republic of Tajikistan 141. United Republic of Tanzania 142. Kingdom of Thailand 143. Republic of Togo 144. Kingdom of Tonga 145. Republic of Tunisia 146. Republic of Türkiye 147. Turkmenistan 148. Republic of Uganda 149. Ukraine 150. United Arab Emirates 151. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 152. United States of America 153. Oriental Republic of Uruguay 154. Republic of Vanuatu 155. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela 156. Socialist Republic of Viet Nam 157. Republic of Yemen 158. Republic of Zambia 159. Republic of Zimbabwe
Korup United, the Voluntary Association of ex-personnel of the Korup Project (1998-2003), is organizing a two-day Symposium October 31 - November 01, 2024, on Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Lower Guinea Congolian Forest Ecosystem. This event also commemorates the 38th Anniversary of the creation of the Korup National Park in October 1986 by Presidential Decree as the first rainforest IUCN Category II National Park in Cameroon.
Mrs Salina GRENET-CATALANO was appointed on July 5, 2024, by decrees of the Prime Minister and the Minister in charge of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Director of Global Affairs of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. It is in this light that she takes over Mr Christophe GUILHOU and becomes French’s new Co-facilitator for the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP).
PANGEA investigates variation between and within Earth’s two largest tropical forests in the Americas and Central Africa while integrating datasets and research from existing and complementary activities across the tropics. PANGEA’s research questions focus on five thematic areas, Biogeochemical Cycles; Biodiversity; Climate Interactions and Feedbacks; Social-Ecological Systems; and Disturbance Dynamics.
The Science Panel for the Congo Basin (SPCB) was launched on 3rd December 2023, at COP28 in Dubai. The SPCB is an independent platform for scientists from the region to synthesize the existing knowledge including Indigenous peoples and autochthonous knowledge, on the functioning of, and threats to, the Congo Basin and its ecosystems.
The DYNAFAC collective was created to develop common skills and technical and scientific complementarities. Its goal: to develop activities that will ultimately improve development plans and ensure better management of production forests in Central Africa.
The Congo Basin Science Initiative (CBSI) is an independent scientist-led platform that promotes long-term investment in science in the Congo Basin with a mission to transform our understanding of the world’s second largest extent of tropical forest, build scientific capacity in the region, and use this knowledge to support sustainable development.
In his book, "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need,” Bill Gates singled out CGIAR centers, which have been at the forefront of supporting the world to feed itself through research including developing improved higher-yielding varieties of important staples such as maize and rice, as doing work that is “indispensable in creating new climate-smart crops and livestock for the world’s poor farmers.”
The PANGEA Scoping Campaign had a strong presence at the 20th Meeting of the Parties of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership from May 31 – June 5, 2024 in Kinshasa, DRC. The conference exchanges between civil servants, scientists, and philanthropic organizations in the Congo Basin provided a special opportunity to address the need for strengthening collaborative partnerships in the region and pan-tropically.
The CBFP and the coordination of the Western Bloc are pleased to invite you to a face-to-face exchange session, to be held on Friday 4 October from 8:00 to 10:00 at the Hôtel de l'Amitié, in N'Djamena, on the occasion of the conference on pastoralism and protected areas. The event will provide an opportunity to reflect on how the CBFP can continue to lead discussions on the most topical issues in the sub-region.
The Conference aims at: Presenting the state of knowledge on the causes and consequences of tensions between agropastoral activities and protected areas within the Sahelian and Sudano-Guinean ecosystems; Reviewing the modes of governance and technical innovations making it possible to better manage the interface zones between agropastoral areas and protected areas, in order to promote the sustainable development of agropastoral territories...
After a series of broken silence procedures in the lead-up to the Summit, the Summit of the Future (SOF) opened under a cloud of uncertainty when the Russian Federation made a last-minute proposal for an amendment to the outcome document. However, following a quick voting round, delegates adopted the Summit’s negotiated outcome, the Pact for the Future, and its two annexes: the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration of Future Generations. The rest of the day then proceeded largely as planned, with general statements by high-level representatives taking place in parallel with two interactive dialogues on the Summit’s themes.
The Summit of the Future opened with some drama when the Russian Federation tabled its objection to several paragraphs in the outcome documents: the Pact for the Future, the Global Digital Compact, and Declaration on Future Generations. In the end, after months of negotiations, the Pact was adopted. UN General Assembly (UNGA) President Philémon Yang thanked the Co-Facilitators for steering a complex negotiating process and described the just-adopted Pact as a reflection of “our pledge” to lay the foundation for a sustainable, inclusive, and peaceful global order.
The Central African Biodiversity Working Group adopts common views for COP-16 at the CBD and related meetings at the end of their 38 meeting held from September 9 to 13, 2024 in Brazzaville. The Central African Biodiversity Working Group held its thirty-eighth meeting (GTBAC-38) from September 9 to 13, 2024 in Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo. These meetings organised by the Executive Secretariat of the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) with technical and financial support from the GIZ Regional Support Project to COMIFAC, brought together members of the GTBAC.
President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Philemon Yang has made available an updated programme of the Summit of the Future (SoF), along with a logistics note, an announcement of the co-chairs for the interactive dialogues to take place during the Summit, and lists of speakers for the interactive dialogues. The SoF is taking place in New York, US, from 22-23 September 2024.
New York, 10 September 2024 – Philémon Yang, former Prime Minister of the Republic of Cameroon, took office today as President of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly at a time when the urgent need to strengthen multilateralism respond to new and emerging challenges is increasingly acute. The theme of President Yang’s mandate is “Unity in diversity, for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for everyone, everywhere”. His priorities range from boosting gender equality, advancing multilingualism to combatting terrorism. Under his leadership, efforts will focus on fostering more effective collaboration and finding effective solutions to global challenges.
On 10 September 2024, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) closed its 78th session. Addressing the Assembly for the last time as its President, Dennis Francis (Trinidad and Tobago) underscored the important role of the multilateral system in overcoming complex challenges. Philemon Yang (Cameroon), President-elect of the 79th session of the UNGA, subsequently took an oath of office, pledging to perform his duties “in all loyalty, discretion and conscience.” This was followed by the opening of the Assembly’s 79th session.
07 September, Abidjan - African Environment Ministers meeting in Abidjan have called for the establishment of a legally binding protocol on drought management under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), with a special focus on Africa. The call for action comes amid growing concerns over the detrimental impact of land degradation, drought and desertification on the continent’s socio-economic stability, food security, and environmental sustainability.
A search was carried out using Google Scholar and Scopus (for the period 2000-2023) and official reports (from the inscription of the site until 2024) submitted by countries on the state of conservation of natural UNESCO World Heritage sites in Africa. The scientific literature does not sufficiently address the determinants of armed conflicts affecting African Natural World Heritage sites or the connections between the quality of governance of Protected Areas and the emergence and/ or resolution of armed conflicts. Understanding the origins and foundations of these armed conflicts requires an in-depth analysis of several determinants linked to the existence of these protected areas and an assessment of the effectiveness of the governance systems, which is rarely available.
Abidjan, 3–6 September 2024 : Leveraging financing and partnerships for combating drought, land degradation and desertification in Africa The note available to dowload explores the critical role of financing and partnerships in addressing the interrelated challenges of drought, land degradation, and desertification in Africa.
Bonn / Laramie, 4 September 2024 - Today, a groundbreaking online map was launched showing the migration paths of land animals around the world. An international team of over 80 scientists has collaborated to create the first-ever interactive migration map of hooved mammals such as antelopes, guanacos and zebras, that routinely travel large distances at different times in the year. Such animals are collectively called “ungulates".
The African Forest Forum (AFF) in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s Regional office for Africa, is organizing a three-week Community of Practice (CoP) on “Climate Change in African Forestry and Wildlife Sectors”. The CoP will be held from9 - 27 September 2024, from 12:00 noon - 3.00 pm Nairobi time/ 9:00 am -12.00 noon GMT., via Howspace – a virtual ‘African Forestry Community’ platform – for knowledge sharing and learning.
To prepare the next post-Malabo plan, the ECCAS Regional Economic Community (REC), in partnership with AU, and the Feed the Future Policy LINK Program organized regional stakeholder consultations for the Central Africa region. The participants at the consultation were: the CAADP focal points and government representatives of different countries, as well as private sector and non-state actor representatives from the seven ECCAS Member States. Please download the report...
The tenth special session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) regional consultations will be held in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, from 30 August to 6 September 2024, under the theme “Raising Africa’s Ambition to Reduce Land Degradation, Desertification, and Drought.” The theme underscores the critical need to address the current state of land degradation in the region and restore this vital resource.
Rome – A new roadmap guiding the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on forests was endorsed on Wednesday by members at the 27th Session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO 27) in Rome. The FAO Forestry Roadmap - From Vision to Action 2024-2031 sets out how FAO will work to enhance the role forests play in meeting forestry-related goals and targets and in addressing global challenges in coming years.
In recent years, the international community and countries in central Africa have developed various initiatives and programmes to halt biodiversity and natural resource degradation, and to address challenges to sustainable development in forest ecosystems.
At the 26th IUFRO World Congress in Stockholm from 23-29 June 2024, the booth hosted by the Scientific and Academic College of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) provided an opportunity for Crispin Ilunga-Mulala Mushagalusa, a PhD student at the University of Liège (Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech), to present his research as part of the UFA - Reforest project (Reforestation in the Forest Management Units of Cameroon).
This study addresses the need to explore the attitude and perception of local residents toward wildlife and conservation. Questionnaires, surveys and field observations were used in data collection. A total of 400 people was conveniently selected in 16 villages from October to December 2015. Data analysis relied mainly on factor analysis and structural equation modelling in SPSS 21 and Smart-PLS software.
The objective of this side event on 4 June 2024 was move away from rapid conflict mitigation and prevention towards to holistic and integrated coexistence programs between human and forest elephants in rainforest of the Congo Basin.
The theme for International Youth Day 2024 (12 August) is “From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development.” This theme highlights the key connection between digitalization and accelerating the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emphasizing the crucial contributions of young people in this transformative process.
On 23 December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly decided, in its resolution 49/214, that the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People shall be observed on 9 August every year. The date marks the first meeting, in 1982, of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations. The International Day observance will take place online on Friday, 9 August 2024. This year’s theme is: Protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact.
CBFP, which is one of the oldest Type 2 partnerships in the United Nations system, registered in the ECOSOC and UN DESA partnerships, and strengthened in SDG 17, is calling on its partners to make the conclusions of the High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development their own... the call is crystallised in advocacy for Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership with diverse stakeholders for sustainable developmen. In Fact, Partnerships are the glue for SDG implementation and is been essential to making the Agenda a reality.
This hybrid event aims to set the stage for the 2025 IYC, which will be officially launched during the ICA Global Cooperative Conference, scheduled for November 25-29, 2024, in New Delhi, India. The New York event will serve as a platform to deepen the theme of IYC2025, unveil the media package, discuss the UN resolutions outlining the modalities for the IYC launch.
Side event organized by the Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme on the 04/06 from 8h30 to 9h30 am. United Nations member states are committed to reducing hunger, improving health, and conserving natural resources through the Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework aims to conserve 30% of terrestrial and marine areas by 2030, promoting sustainable wildlife management and equitable benefits. However, in Central Africa, the unsustainable wild meat trade threatens food security and biodiversity, making these goals challenging to achieve.
The Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme presented its innovative Legal Hub at the recent 20th Meeting of Parties (MoP20) of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership. This event was held in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), from 3 to 5 June, 2024. A specific side-event titled "A Tool to Connect Different Sources of Law" showcased the Legal Hub’s critical role in enhancing the legal frameworks governing wildlife management across multiple countries, including the sub-region.
In this 20th meeting, the consortium comprising the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), RIKOLTO, and the Catholic University of Bukavu (UCB) actively participated in the sessions held from June 3 to 5, 2024, at the Pullman Hotel in Kinshasa. During a panel focused on agroforestry and agribusiness, the consortium presented solutions for sustainable and effective land management around the Itombwe Reserve and the Kahuzi-Biega National Park through two main themes...
