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Negotiations moved slowly on several issues, particularly finance. For other issues, texts were forwarded to the COP Presidency or ministers for further consideration. Agreement on a decision on the Santiago Network was met with applause from negotiators. Talks on the Adaptation Fund Board also reached compromise.
Please download the following PDF Documents:
COP
Matters Related to Finance: Long-term finance: In informal consultations in the morning, Co-Facilitators Carlos Fuller (Belize) and Gertraud Wollansky (Austria) invited general comments on a new, streamlined draft decision text. Wollansky informed the group they had until 6:00 pm to conclude negotiations. Parties began to work through the text, exchanging a range of views on each paragraph while making only limited progress in bridging gaps. A developing country group sought to delete language he felt shifted obligations from governments to the private sector, while developed countries pointed out it repeated previously-agreed language. With ongoing differences over most paragraphs and multiple brackets remaining, Wollansky invited parties to meet informally.
Second Periodic Review of the Long-term Global Goal under the Convention (LTGG): In informal consultations, Co-Facilitators Leon Charles (Grenada) and Andrew Ferrone (Luxembourg) presented a new draft decision text. Developed countries underlined that it represents their “maximum flexibility.”
Views sharply diverged on references to action before 2030, including peaking emissions between now and 2025, deep emissions reductions by 2030, and enhanced efforts under the Convention and Paris Agreement. Two developing country groups rejected the references to short-term goals in the context of the LTGG and suggested this “violates equity.” Other developed and developing countries stressed the importance of action in this decade in line with science. A developed country objected to references to both the Convention and Paris Agreement, which were supported by some developing countries.
After a developing country suggested adding a reference to historic emissions, some developed countries opined that a procedural conclusion may be needed.
Co-Facilitator Charles said the text and parties’ views would be relayed to the COP Presidency, including bracketed options on how to refer to equity, on which views continued to differ.
CMA
Glasgow–Sharm El-Sheikh Work Programme on the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA): In informal consultations, Co-Facilitator Kishan Kumarsingh (Trinidad and Tobago) sought parties’ comments on draft text capturing parties’ submissions and views. Kumarsingh read out an amendment to include inadvertently omitted text at the beginning of a paragraph on a framework for the GGA: “Decides to establish a framework with its dimensions, themes, cross-cutting considerations, indicators/metrics/targets as appropriate, and sources of information for achieving the goal…”
Parties expressed their preferred options and provided additional textual proposals. Views remained divergent, particularly on engagement with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and on whether to establish a framework at CMA 4. Some developed countries expressed interest in a compromise proposal for a structured approach and consideration of a framework in 2023.
Kumarsingh urged parties to engage informally to reduce the issues for ministers to resolve and asked parties to update the Co-Facilitators on progress by email.
Santiago Network of the Warsaw International Mechanism: In informal consultations, co-facilitated by Lucas di Pietro (Argentina) and Cornelia Jäger (Austria), breakout groups presented compromise text, which di Pietro asked for consideration as a package. After several parties sought to reinsert and debate previous proposals, parties switched to an informal setting.
Informal consultations reconvened with a report that parties had reached agreement. They agreed, inter alia: to recall the Paris Agreement and relevant COP and CMA decisions in the preambular text; that, in providing technical assistance, the Network should take into consideration the cross-cutting issues in the Paris Agreement preamble, paragraph 11 (on human rights, the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and vulnerable communities, and gender equality and intergenerational equity); to encourage “others” to provide support for the Network’s operation and technical assistance; and, in the criteria for host selection, to ensure ethical standards in the governance and management structure.
Work Programme under the Framework for Non-market Approaches Referred to in Article 6.8: In informal consultations, co-facilitated by Maria Al-Jishi (Saudi Arabia) and Jacqueline Ruesga (New Zealand), parties shared views on all sections of new draft decision text, issued the same morning, and in particular a section on a UNFCCC web-based platform for non-market approaches (NMAs). Parties also reported on constructive discussions in informal held the previous night.
On the platform, a developing country group clarified its vision of how actors involved with NMAs and support would first register relevant information via the platform, followed by both “roundtable working groups” to facilitate their matching and in-session workshops summarizing related outcomes. Parties exchanged views on, inter alia: the platform’s functions, namely recording of information and/or matchmaking; role of possible focal points; whether matching is a party-driven process or requires the Secretariat’s support; whether to refer to “matching” or “identification of opportunities”; and whether to mandate the Secretariat to assess the matching process.
On a proposed capacity-building programme, some groups called for first defining what is meant by NMAs and what capacity building under Article 6.8 would focus on. Despite this, they expressed openness to exploring related activities under the broader umbrella of Article 6.
Noting productive exchanges, the Co-Facilitators informed they would integrate inputs received in a further text iteration, to be made available on Thursday afternoon, 17 November, and consult with the Presidency on the way forward.
COP/CMA
Matters Relating to Finance: New collective quantified goal on climate finance: In informal consultations, Co-Facilitators Zaheer Fakir (South Africa) and Georg Børsting (Norway) informed parties that ministers had been given two contentious paragraphs to consider and invited this group to work on the rest of the text. Some developed countries expressed concern with the latest, third iteration of text and proposed reverting to the previous version. Many developing countries strongly opposed this, preferring the latest version, which they argued was more substantive. One party voiced unease that ministers were already being tasked with specific work when it was not clear which areas needed the most work or the exact text on which this work would be based.
Fakir explained the process so far, noting that no one had objected to the second iteration of the text, which had prompted further input and resulted in the third iteration. He explained that the intention had been to generate views on this text and then hold informal. He further explained that ministers would consider only key substantive, contentious, political topics, rather than detailed text. Given parties’ divergent views and concerns, he indicated he would consult with the COP Presidency and report back on the way forward.
Guidance to the Green Climate Fund (GCF): In informal consultations, Co-Facilitators Richard Muyungi (Tanzania) and Toru Sugio (Japan) invited comments on a new iteration of the text. Delegates made progress on several paragraphs, although many differences remained. One developing country group sought text to “at least double” funding from the GCF-1 replenishment period, but this was not supported by developed countries. With delegates unable to agree, the Co-Facilitators will take up the issue with the Presidency.
Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture: In informal consultations, Co-Facilitators Monika Figaj (Poland) and Ayman Amin (COP Presidency) informed parties that the Presidency and Co-Facilitators had produced a draft decision text as a “last resort,” following the previous day’s stalled negotiations. Amin outlined key proposals, including: alternatives for the term “climate action”; joint work to last four years; the SBs to report at COP 31 (2026); “food systems” as the first workshop topic; and a call for submissions on other workshops’ topics.
Some parties expressed support and urged against multiple textual insertions, recognizing this was clearly a “compromise text.” Some developing country groups and parties proposed changes they referred to as priorities, including submissions on operationalizing the joint work’s objectives and capturing parties’ views in a synthesis report. Views strongly diverged on certain items, including how to refer to those institutions or bodies that should take account of the SBs’ conclusions in implementing adaptation and mitigation actions. Informal continued into the night.
Response Measures: In informal consultations held throughout the afternoon and into the evening, co-facilitated by Andrei Marcu (Papua New Guinea) and Daniel Waterschoot (EU), parties continued working on a draft decision text. Developing countries expressed concern at the lack of progress, noted this was a very important issue for them, and urged developed countries to engage constructively. Parties engaged in lengthy discussions as they worked their way gradually through the text, making numerous suggested edits and alterations. As of early evening, discussions were continuing, with a number of brackets remaining.
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The Climate Chance Summit Africa 2023 will bring together on the 23rd, 24th and 2th of October 2023 at the Palais des Congrès in Yaounde 1,500 African actors from the "climate community": high-level personalities, experts, actors in the field, representatives of local governments, businesses and organised civil society.
Celebrations for World Environment Day 2023 kicked off in host-country Cote d’Ivoire, as millions of people prepare for similar activities across the world. Venues across the capital city, Abidjan – from its historic lagoon to its first modern art museum - shone the spotlight on this year’s theme #Beat Plastic Pollution.
Congo Basin Carbon brings together information on various research and education projects in the Yangambi and Luki MAB Reserves in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Through this website we hope to strengthen research networks and improve project visibility, specifically for carbon research. Tropical rainforests such as the forests of the Congo Basin comprise nearly half of the world’s vegetation carbon. Intact tropical forests represent a carbon sink at a level that is higher than other vegetation types. The issues of carbon stocks, sinks and sources in tropical forests are therefore a central topic in international policy debates on climate changes.
At last year’s United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26), 141 leaders committed to halt and reverse forest loss and degradation by 2030. Forests, particularly tropical ones, are known to play a crucial role in removing carbon from the atmosphere, partially offsetting the effect of greenhouse gas emissions. This is a highly valuable service to the global climate, meaning the world should be willing to pay to ensure it happens. In this policy note, we look at just how valuable that service is, and put that in the context of aid efforts to protect forests.
During the process of photosynthesis, trees naturally absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Rainforests act as important 'carbon sinks' stemming global heating. The Congo rainforest is the planet’s most important “lung,” new data has revealed. The world’s rainforests absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide, slowing down global warming.
The world is getting a better understanding of just how important forests are in the global fight against climate change. New research, published in Nature Climate Change and available on Global Forest Watch, found that the world’s forests sequestered about twice as much carbon dioxide as they emitted between 2001 and 2019. In other words, forests provide a “carbon sink” that absorbs a net 7.6 billion metric tonnes of CO2 per year, 1.5 times more carbon than the United States emits annually.
This brief describes the first efforts to integrate agroforestry with charcoal production in the Yangambi tropical forest landscape. Activities resulted in both increased food crop production and reforestation, as well as the establishment of producer-led local associations and greater collaboration between communities and local authorities.
The GEF Secretariat prepared this document to summarize the GEF’s potential role in a financial mechanism for the internationally legally binding instrument under negotiation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ). The document is prepared to help inform deliberations. It also includes questions and answers to key issues raised thus far by countries. GEF’s role as Convention Financial Mechanism: The GEF serves as a/the financial mechanism for five Conventions, namely the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Minamata Convention on Mercury, Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Chemicals, UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
On May 8, 2023, in the BOUN'S Hotel conference, in Yaoundé, a workshop was held to launch the process of drawing up the Cameroon Country Investment Plan (CIP) on the nexus of transboundary transhumance, protected areas, peace and security, and development. Please download the final communiqué of the workshop...
Geneva and Yaoundé, 26 May 2023. The Ministry of Economy, Planning and Land Planning of Cameroon (MINEPAT) and CAFI are launching two Calls for Expressions of Interest today to all relevant implementing organisations concerned, representing a maximum of 60 million US$.
WWF is supporting the Government of Cameroon in her effort to restore more than 12 million hectares of degraded landscapes in the country. In 2017, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife committed, on behalf of the Government of Cameroon, to restore 12,062,768 ha of degraded landscapes under AFR100 and the Bonn Challenge by 2030. Of these, 80% are in the three northern regions of Adamaoua, North and Far North; with the remainder in the high plateau, Centre region, vast forest and coastal areas (Mangroves).
As part of our ongoing commitment to promoting transparent and accountable governance of climate and environmental funds, we are pleased to invite you to two upcoming online sessions. These sessions will offer valuable insights, strategies, and best practices for combating corruption, and reinforce our collective efforts to create a more sustainable future. We hope you will join us for these important discussions.
International Day for Biological Diversity, celebrated each year on 22 May, is an opportunity to not only acknowledge the crucial role healthy biodiversity plays in the survival of the planet but also to assess the nature crisis. With the theme ‘From Agreement to Action: Build Back Biodiversity,’ this year’s Day follows the historic adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by 196 nations at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Montreal, Canada, in December 2022.
Bukavu, May 10, 2023 – The Kahuzi-Biega National Park (PNKB) is deeply saddened to announce the death of its ecoguard Alain Lukinga, born in Kakongya on June 12, 1989, who sacrificed his life for the protection of the PNKB in an armed clash in Cibumbiro between the villages of Kajeje and Lukananda in the Mudaka groupement, in Kabare territory in South Kivu.
From April 19 to 20, 2023 a workshop for the development of a national investment plan for Nigeria on transhumance and related topics was held in Abuja, NIGERIA. This workshop, funded by the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) Facilitation of the Federal Republic of Germany, aimed to...
The SWM Programme is the first international initiative to tackle the wild meat challenge by addressing both wildlife conservation and food security. It is an initiative from the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), funded by the European Union with co-funding from the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) and the French Development Agency (AFD).
In a bid to boost indigenous people and local communities’ (IPLC) engagement in wildlife protection around Lobéké National Park in Southeast Cameroon, Lobéké Management has signed social pacts with 34 Bantu and Baka communities in the Park. Thirty-four social pacts were signed between the communities and the Lobeke Management in December 2022, with each pact corresponding to a community project worth FCFA 300,000.
This report highlights the impacts of direct as well as indirect deforestation through mining. It presents for the first time ever the deforestation embodied in the consumption of products and showcases the extensive deforestation potential that artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) can have on forest ecosystems.
A new toll road in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province is under construction to improve access to the interior of Borneo, including to the nation’s new capital city, Nusantara. Construction of the road, however, poses immediate environmental risks, as the route cuts through a forested area with high conservation value that connects the Sungai Wain protected forest, coastal mangroves, and Balikpapan Bay. Prior to road construction, the integrated forest and coastal ecosystem supported populations of orangutans, sun bears, proboscis monkeys and Irrawaddy dolphins. Conservationists say the construction of this toll road belies the Indonesian government’s claims that the development of the new capital will be green and sustainable.
The tobacco industry causes a fifth of Zimbabwe’s forest loss. What is being done to minimise this? At the beginning of this century, the Zimbabwean government embarked on an audacious land reform programme, ostensibly to correct the injustices suffered by local people when the land was colonised. The controversial programme saw an estimated 170,000 black Zimbabwean families – mostly small-scale farmers – taking over agricultural production from about 3,000 white-owned farms.
SAN MARTÍN, Peru (AP) — The Cordillera Azul National Park on the eastern flank of the Peruvian Andes takes in a sweep of Amazon rainforest, mountains and waterfalls in a territory about the size of Connecticut, so precious that tens of millions of dollars in carbon credits have been sold in a program that supporters said would protect its trees.
To fight climate change and biodiversity loss, the new law obliges companies to ensure products sold in the EU have not led to deforestation and forest degradation. While no country or commodity will be banned, companies will only be allowed to sell products in the EU if the supplier of the product has issued a so-called “due diligence” statement confirming that the product does not come from deforested land or has led to forest degradation, including of irreplaceable primary forests, after 31 December 2020.
A number of reports have found that an Indonesian government program to establish large-scale agricultural plantations across the country has led to deforestation. More than 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) of forests, including carbon-rich peatlands, have been cleared in Central Kalimantan province for the so-called food estate program, according to a spatial analysis by the NGO Pantau Gambut. Last year, the NGO Kaoem Telapak detected 100 hectares (250 acres) of deforestation in food estate areas in North Sumatra. Villagers whose lands have been included in the program have also reported an increase in the severity of floods since their forests were cleared to make way for the food estates.
Press release 3 May 2023 | The German government will make two billion euros available for the Green Climate Fund (GCF). German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the commitment at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin today. This makes Germany the first major donor to announce its contribution for the upcoming pledging conference for the Green Climate Fund. The conference will take place in Bonn on 5 October and will be chaired by Development Minister Svenja Schulze. The Green Climate Fund is one of the largest climate action funds of the world. The creation of the fund was an important objective of the developing countries, which have an equal say in how funds are spent on climate mitigation and adaptation projects in developing countries.
With GEF and LDCF support, Nespresso, IUCN, and TechnoServe are working together to promote more sustainable and resilient coffee farming practices in South Kivu. Antoinette Shabanyere’s 1,800-tree coffee farm in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is at the forefront of efforts by local communities to adapt to climate change.
The Second Consultation Meeting (CM-2) for GCF’s second replenishment (GCF-2) was held on 27-28 April. Hosted by GCF and moderated by Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, the replenishment facilitator, the two-day virtual meeting convened over 100 current and prospective contributors where they received updates on GCF and discussed matters related to the replenishment process.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Country Representative, Suze Percy-Filippini is impressed with the progress made by the department of Forestry in the implementation of the Forest Farm Facility –FFF Program in the Choma District of Southern Province.
This case study forms part of a series of six case studies on mobilizing internal finance within Forest and Farm Producer Organization (FFPOs) prepared by forest and farm FFPOs for the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF). It describes the Jwa Ngwaane Community Cooperative Credit Union, established by the Kassena Nankana Baobab Cooperative Union (KANBAOCU) through the mobilization of 96 Village Savings and Loans Associations.
The African Regional Exchange, a three-day workshop co-organized with CIFOR-ICRAF, the Kenya Forestry Research Institute and the Kenya Forest Service, brought together farmers, bankers, governments, and development partners from across Africa to discuss ways to ensure smallholder farmers have access to the finance they need to improve and scale up sustainable forest and farm management practices.
This agrobiodiversity case study (No.6) from Zambia is the sixth of six case studies prepared by forest and farm producer organisations (FFPOs) for the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF). It describes the actions of the Choma District Tree Nursery and Growers Association (CDTNA). CDTNA represents 111 members, either individual nursery growers or collective enterprises that furnish diverse tree seedlings for forest and agroforestry restoration projects across Southern Zambia.
Oyéoussi Charles Balogoun is the Africa Representative of the NGO Panel under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The Civil Society Panel (CSO Panel) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) represents nearly 500 organisations accredited to the Convention. Charles Balogoun is also the Global President and Chairman of the Board of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Afrique Espérance. He answers ENVIRONNEMENTALES’s questions on the state of desertification in Africa.
A common vision of sustainable finance is being developed in Central Africa. The project is at the heart of an international forum scheduled for 8 and 9 May 2023 in Douala, Cameroon, under the theme « Trajectories towards sustainable finance ». An initiative of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Sustainable Banking and Finance Network (SBFN).
Delegates to the Sixth Meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development emphasized the need for forward-looking, high-impact initiatives involving all relevant actors, to enable the structural transformations Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) needs to “resume and sustain the path to 2030.”
Kenya loses 2–2.4 percent of its gross domestic product annually due to the effects of climate change, such as drought and floods according to according to a 2018 Kenya National Bureau of Statistics study. Droughts alone cost the country 8 percent of GDP every five years. Arid and semi-arid rangelands (ASALs) occupy over 80 percent of Kenya’s landscape, and are home to about 36 percent of the total human population, and seventy per cent of the nation’s livestock and 90% of wildlife. Livestock's contributions account for 80 percent of household incomes in arid lands, and 65 percent in semi-arid lands.
Sitting at the forefront of the climate crisis, forest and farm producer organizations (FFPOs) have a vital role in supporting smallholder resilience and attaining climate change and biodiversity goals. Together, their members have a transformative potential to achieve sustainable development and respond to climate change at scale.