Bibliothèque

This policy document contains draft recommendations of the Transitional Committee (TC) for the design of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). This report of the TC was considered by the TC at its fourth and final meeting, on 16-18 October 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa, and is submitted to the COP at its seventeenth session for its consideration and approval, in accordance with the relevant provisions of decision 1/CP.16 and its appendix III.

This activity report contains a description of the proceedings of an expert meeting on forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels for implementation of activities for REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, as well as conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks) which was held from 14-15 November 2011, in Bonn, Germany. It summarizes the presentations that were made, and presents the main points and outcomes of the discussions.

This technical document is the summary of the report “The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture”. This publication notes that, while food production has increased dramatically across the world over the past 50 years, it has often been associated with management practices resulting in land and water degradation. Coupled with a growing world population, this degradation poses significant risks to food security. The report calls for improved efficiency of water use, better knowledge development and training, the integration of climate-smart production models, increased investment in agricultural development and harmonization of national policies and actions.

This analytical report aims to discuss how the entire food sector, from the farmer’s field to the consumer’s plate, can become more ‘energy-smart’. Becoming energy-smart will require a transformation along the food chain that involves: relying more on low-carbon energy systems and using energy more efficiently; strengthening the role of renewable energy within food systems; providing greater access to modern energy services for development, and at the same time supporting the achievement of national food security and sustainable development goals. It provides examples of energy-smart practices for both small-and large-scale enterprises and covers the entire food sector.

This policy brief explores the concepts of REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, as well as conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks) as a source of investment for green development. It explains that REDD+ investments maintain natural capital, keeping it from being converted to financial or physical capital. It furthers the idea that REDD+ is a natural capital-led investment strategy, and argues that it provides an opportunity for change to green development. The brief outlines recommendations for creating a roadmap for REDD+ in the context of green development.

This brief describes monitoring and assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and mitigation potentials in agriculture. It briefly presents the FAO’s approach to developing a database of data and analysis that will facilitate financing through the Green Climate Fund via the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs). It also states that the database will be linked to an online portal that will include information on life cycle analysis of agricultural production systems to allow countries to determine where they can reduce emissions most effectively.

This brief describes the goals of climate-smart agriculture to increase productivity and incomes, increase the resilience of ecosystems contribute to mitigation and enhance food, nutrition and energy security. It notes that traditional barriers remain that impinge on agricultural development, but that there is an opportunity to integrate adaptation and mitigation approaches. It also stresses the importance of functioning institutional arrangements and multi-sectoral coordination and a link to national processes.

This technical document presents initial results from a satellite-based remote sensing survey, showing new information on forest area declines between 1990 and 2005. It shows that net forest loss increased from 4.1 million hectares per year between 1990 and 2000 to 6.4 million hectares between 2000 and 2005. However, in updating forest information for Africa, the results show a much smaller rate of forest loss than previously estimated based on national reports. The highest forest loss occurred in the tropics between 1990 and 2005, with net losses particularly high in South America and Africa, while extensive planting offsets deforestation losses in Asia.

This analytical report explores policies, incentives and options for the rural poor in the Miombo woodlands of southern Africa in the context of a changing climate, growing food insecurity and increasing demand for woodfuel and charcoal. It points to four areas for reform: embracing decentralization and devolution within policies and institutions; fostering markets for local products and services to encourage good management; switching the emphasis from regulation of use to delivery of services, to empower local people to become better woodland users and managers; and keeping in mind the cost of deforestation and degradation to rural populations.

This analytical report analyses and presents how climate change affects or will likely affect wild animals and their habitats. It states that there is growing evidence that climate change significantly exacerbates other major human-induced pressures such as encroachment, deforestation, forest degradation, land-use change, pollution and overexploitation of wildlife resources. Case studies are presented that describe some of the body of evidence, in some instances, and provide projections of likely scenarios, in others.

This analytical report brings attention to the threats to mountain forests, including increasing temperatures and wildfires, population growth and food and fuel insecurity. The report notes that expansion of intensive agriculture has pushed smallholder farmers higher up slopes to marginal areas, and that climate change is likely to facilitate more rapid expansion of damaging pests. It also highlights the important role mountain forests play as sources of fresh water for cities. It calls on national policymakers to take the protection of mountain forests into account and integrate these concerns into climate change mitigation and adaptation policies.

This technical document presents the findings of a mapping process analyzing climate trends over a 24 to 36-year period in 17 countries, from the Atlantic coast to Chad. In particular, it identifies 19 “climate hotspots” where climatic changes have been the most severe. Several of the identified hotspots that have been most impacted by flooding, are located in the central part of the Sahel, in Niger, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. Key recommendations presented in the document include: adopting migration and conflict-sensitive adaptation policies; promoting regional environmental cooperation in addressing climate change, migration and conflict; rooting national adaptation policies in the Green Economy and promoting the creation of green jobs; strengthening preventive action; and using conflict and/or migration risk to prioritize investments and build donor commitment to long-term engagement in the Sahel.

This analytical report states that investing in low carbon, green technologies can strengthen climate change adaptation and improve women’s livelihoods. It calls for designing adaptation programmes with a focus on gender equity, due to the key roles women play in agriculture, forest economies, biodiversity and other sectors, particularly in developing countries. It also recommends increased investments in green, labor-saving technologies, including irrigation systems or water harvesting, which can improve the quality of life and increase the productivity of female farm workers while benefiting the environment, through replacing fuel wood often collected by women with cleaner fuel alternatives.

This policy brief reflects that African countries are committed and investing funds to reduce risk to floods and droughts, albeit too little and still insufficiently in development sectors. It builds on the information provided by countries in their reports on progress in the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action. It also builds on the facts provided by the Special Report on Extreme Events of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC/SREX) and in particular the finding that opportunities exist to create synergy in financing for disaster risk management and adaptation to climate change.

This analytical report addresses the social dimensions of climate change from a sustainable, equitable development perspective, understood as “an irreducible holistic concept where economic, social and environmental issues are interdependent dimensions that must be approached within a unifi ed framework”, and where the overarching outcome is to fully promote human welfare and equal access to life-sustaining resources. It aims to broaden and deepen policy-makers’ understanding of the benefi ts of addressing and incorporating the social dimensions of climate change into climate policies.

This activity report provides a summary of the workshop on promoting risk management approaches on the specific needs and concerns of developing country Parties arising from the impact of the implementation of response measures. The workshop was held on 21 September 2011 in Bonn, Germany. At the workshop, participants shared information to enhance the understanding of risk management approaches, and discussed ways to promote these.

This analytical report aims to contribute to the success of Rio+20 through demonstrating the key role that Ecosystem Management has in underpinning the Green Economy and illustrating the advantages of this approach. The authors review the evolution of Ecosystem Management in the past 40 years, and project its increasing role in improving the natural foundation for a Green Economy development in the next 60 years after Rio+20 towards 2070. Taken together, the endeavour is ‘a journey of a century’. The document focuses on what to do in the transition period of the next 20 years after Rio+20.

This information brief stresses that, to meet the challenges of climate change and the increasing global demand for food, agriculture must become ‘climate-smart’. Climate-smart agriculture actions must take gender issues into account. It also notices that little research has been undertaken to understand how men and women are adapting to a changing climate, mitigating emissions and maintaining food security and proposes new research approaches.

This technical document assesses the strengths and identified the gaps in the capacity building services being provided in a sample of Asia-Pacific countries against their REDD+ readiness needs. Recommendations are then given on how to improve the REDD+ capacity building process in the region.

This technical document attempts to synthesize previous work on freshwater resources and climate change impacts and adaptation strategies and to identify ways forward. It aims to raise the level of understanding among parties with regard to the links between climate change and freshwater resources, in a manner that would ultimately support informed decisions on practical adaptation action and measures on water resources. It especially explores links between climate change and hydrology, including impacts of climate change on: ecosystems and biodiversity, agriculture and food security, urbanization, land use and forestry, water supply and sanitation, health, infrastructure, and energy security which, in addition to climate, are strongly influenced by human interventions and actions.