CGIAR - ICARDA AT COP26

This week ICARDA travels to the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, UK. COP, organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is a unique opportunity for world leaders, climate change experts, scientists, and other global stakeholders, to hammer out action that addresses climate change in this time of crisis.

COP26, this year in partnership with Italy and hosted by the United Kingdom, is an important follow-up to the landmark COP 21 in 2015 that established the 'Paris Agreement' whereby countries agreed to lower national carbon emissions and maintain global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, beyond which climate scientists predict climate change will be devastating and perhaps irreversible.  But temperatures have since risen exponentially, prompting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to warn that commitments so far still condemn the world to a "calamitous 2.7-degree rise" in temperatures.

Serious commitment is a make-or-break goal, making COP26 one of the most critical global meetings in history. Yet even if progress is made, there is no existing mechanism to obligate countries to climate change agreements.

What could COP26 deliver? 

According to the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa, COP26 wants to fulfill five main objectives: 

• Promises made to developing countries are kept, especially the pledge by developed nations to mobilize $100 billion in climate finance annually by 2020. 
• Secure global net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century (compared to 1990 levels) 
• Governments wrap up outstanding items and negotiations to fully implement the Paris Agreement. 
• Countries lower emissions and raise climate ambitions concerning emission reductions and adapting and building resilience to the impacts of climate change. 
• No voice or solution is left behind through re-engaging with observers and Non-Party Stakeholders in a unity of purpose. 

The ICARDA delegation at COP26

Virtual Delegates

What is their goal?

The ICARDA delegation will speak at and attend various events to carry out negotiations, presentations, press outreach, and networking, all focusing on how CGIAR supports climate change adaptation for farming communities, especially in the Central and West Asia and North Africa Region (CWANA) where ICARDA works.

Mr. Aly Abousabaa, CGIAR's Regional Director of CWANA and ICARDA's Director-General, will showcase throughout COP26 how the CGIAR CWANA Initiative can deliver climate-smart food systems across a region of vast potential but also vulnerability. Through a strategic and inclusive approach, the CWANA Initiative offers five 'Work Packages' that address specific aspects of agri-food systems' transformation in the region:

• WP1 - Steering agri-food systems' transformation through monitoring, evaluation, learning, and impact assessment systems, policies, institutional innovations.  Fast-tracking technology adoption.​
• WP2 - Biodiversity conservation, genetic innovations, and inclusive seed systems for food and nutrition security​
• WP3 - Sustainable and resilient farming systems' intensification to increase agricultural value chain profitability
• WP4 - Sustainable water and landscape management​and energy systems​
• WP5 - Scaling digital innovations to build climate-resilient agricultural value chains​

Climate change is at the heart of CGIAR's mission to deliver science and innovation that advances the transformation of food, land, and water systems under a climate crisis. Through its new portfolio of around 30 game-changing initiatives covering crop-land-water-fish-forest food systems, CGIAR can make meaningful and lasting contributions to global climate adaptation and mitigation targets. In doing so, millions of small-scale producers will be better equipped and more resilient to climate shocks.

CGIAR is targeting at least US$2 billion in funding support. This commitment is stimulated by its peerless scientific evidence that informs partners and donors alike, including from the countries where ICARDA works, of a clear return on their investment in the form of climate adaptation and equitable and more productive agriculture and food systems.

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EVENTS TO LOOK OUT FOR

 If you are not an official Cop Delegate you may find the events live-streamed

HERE

For full COP26 information and a daily program, go HERE