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IFAD at COP26

UN Climate Change Conference | 31 October to 12 November 2021


The UN Climate Change Conference features the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the UNFCCC and meetings of the UNFCCC subsidiary bodies.

IFAD will be promoting the role of small-scale producers in climate change adaptation and mitigation and creating resilient food systems. Small-scale producers must be at the centre of climate change discussions as they are greatly underserved by climate finance. Bringing rural small-scale producers out of poverty and food insecurity will make positive, cascading contributions to meeting both the humanitarian and environmental goals of the 2030 Agenda.

El FIDA promoverá el papel de los pequeños productores en la adaptación y mitigación del cambio climático y en la creación de sistemas alimentarios resilientes. La financiación del cambio climático debe centrarse en los productores a pequeña escala dado que se encuentran muy desatendidos. Lograr que los pequeños productores rurales salgan de la pobreza y la inseguridad alimentaria contribuirá de forma positiva y en gran medida al cumplimiento de los objetivos humanitarios y medioambientales de la Agenda 2030.

Daily sessions

Day 1
Wednesday, 3 November

A virtual field trip to Bangladesh at COP26: climate adaptation activities in the IFAD portfolio

09:00-10:30 GMT Webcast Register

International Sign Language

Accompanied by Qasa Alom (climate documentary film maker and journalist) and Susan Beccio (IFAD), the audience will virtually travel to Bangladesh to meet and interact with project participants from two IFAD projects - on infrastructure and value chains - to see how they are empowered to adapt to climate change.

From knowledge to results to policies: creating an evidence base for supporting low-emission and resilient livestock development

11:30-13:00 GMT Webcast Bios Register

RussianInternational Sign Language 

A resilient and low-emission livestock sector is possible. This event will share successful examples of low or zero-net GHG emissions of livestock production and discuss challenges and difficulties of leading towards investments and policy formulation that support resilient and low-emission livestock development.

Scaling up private sector investment to promote Smallholder farmers climate adaptation and resilience

14:00-15:30 GMT Webcast Bios Register

Increasing negative effects of climate change call for investors to include climate risks in credit assessments. The panel will discuss how comprehensive data collection and synthetic data could bridge the gap between perceived and real risks, develop reliable credit ratings and make investment vehicles attractive for investors through credit enhancements.

Payments for Ecosystem Services, what works and what doesn’t

16:30-18:00 GMT Webcast Bios Register

Interpretation: Spanish

Learning from PES experiences: Lessons learned from the implementation of Payment for Environmental Services to build back with equality and resilience.

Day 2
Thursday, 4 November

Evidence-based transformative pathways for smallholder farmers’ resilience to climate change

09:00-10:30 GMT Webcast Bios Register

An event based on a TV Talk Show model to bring out the evidence-based challenges and opportunities to arrive at win-win solutions to build smallholder climate resilience, while keeping the audience engaged and contribute to the event.

Public Development Banks’ access to climate finance for adaptation

11:30-13:00 GMT Webcast Bios Register

Interpretation: French, Spanish

The event aligns with the COP26 goal of catalysing trillions of private and public finance to achieve global net-zero carbon through PDB role in the growing international climate finance value chain from international investors through to the smallholders on the front lines of climate change.

How to learn lessons from development finance for a transformative climate finance in developing countries

14:00-15:30 GMT Webcast Bios Register

Mobilizing climate finance is critical to supporting developing countries adapting to climate change, particularly for the benefit of small-scale producers who are the most in need. After decades of development finance, it is urgent to ensure that climate finance can adequately learn lessons from the delivery of development finance. Drawing from such lessons is key for IFAD, which has an ambitious target in terms of climate funds mobilized for the benefit of smallholder farmers, while continuing to play a key role in development finance.

Caribbean post-Covid-19 recovery in times of climate change

16:30-18:00 GMT Webcast Bios Register

Interpretation: Spanish

Caribbean post-Covid-19 recovery in times of Climate Change: driving COVID-19 recovery efforts through an adaptation and long term resilience building lens.

Day 3
Friday, 5 November

The future of food systems: Game-changing innovations for inclusive transformation

09:00-10:30 GMT Webcast Register

The session will discuss inclusive and resilient food system transformation by unpacking the role of data and technological innovation; enabling policies, instruments, partnerships, investment. It will offer solutions on how to unlock the potential of food systems, what is needed to enable paradigm shift and how to bring solutions to farmers and food producers.

Climate change response through green jobs for youth

11:30-13:00 GMT Webcast Bios Register

Interpretation: French

In a recent social dialogue IFAD had with youth partners, we asked them what they each thought was most important for promoting green growth and jobs in rural areas. The event will build on both IFAD’s technical expertise, donors’ perspective, and young people’s feedback to reflect and forge partnerships to identify, design and implement targeted solutions to promoting green growth and jobs for rural youth mobilise necessary investments.

Youth leading climate resilient food systems at global, national and local level

14:00-15:30 GMT Webcast Register

Interpretation: International Sign language, French, Italian

Young people’s commitment to the well-being of the world is a fact. However, such ambitions must be met by opportunities to increase capacities and engagement. This event offers a platform for the representatives of young peoples from around the world to debate with Minister Roberto Cingolani, MiTE, Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food, and Gilbert Houngbo, President of IFAD, to discuss youth proposals for climate resilient food systems and agree on participants’ responsibilities and commitments.

Recipes for Change - Join weather presenter Clare Nasir and Chef Pierre Thiam as they meet farmers and cook the food, they are now growing to adapt to the changing climate

16:30-18:00 GMT Webcast Register

IFAD’s Recipes for Change series shines a spotlight on the threats that climate change brings to rural communities in the developing world. Join British TV weather presenter and author, Clare Nasir, and US chef, Pierre Thiam, as they talk about their virtual visits to Nepal and Chad and teaches us all how to make nettle curry and sesame fish with sorrel sauce.

Day 4
Saturday, 6 November

Securing land and natural resources to underpin agro-ecological adaptation strategies

11:30-13:00 GMT Webcast Bios Register

Interpretation: French | Spanish

Secure and equitable access to land and natural resources is a key factor underpinning the adoption of agroecology throughout the developing world. The event aims at creating a dialogue around the nexus between tenure, agroecology and climate adaptation, building synergies and avenues for alliances between different stakeholders.

Nature based solutions for climate adaptation and resilience in rural areas in the East and Southern Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean regions

14:00-15:30 GMT Webcast Bios Register

Interpretation: French | Spanish

The event will be an exciting and interactive space to share innovations, best practices and lessons in Nature-based solutions (NbS) for climate resilience, including sustainable financing models for NbS and the role of SSTCs in the promotion of NbS.

Mobile pastoralism for climate change mitigation, ecosystem restoration and resilient food systems

16:30-18:00 GMT Webcast Bios Register

Interpretation: French | Spanish

Sustainable Pastoralism generates wealth at the cost of none and to the benefit of all. Pastoralists are strong allies who may play a vital role regarding global challenges, especially climate change. Recognizing the value of livestock mobility is essential to maintain healthy rangelands, resilience of both livelihoods and ecosystems in the face of climate change and disasters.

Day 5
Monday, 8 November

Addressing the triple burden of climate change, conflict and malnutrition to improve prospects for peace

09:00-10:30 GMT Webcast Register

In this side event, organisations working at the nexus between climate resilience, food systems and conflict prevention will discuss how partnerships between humanitarian, development and research actors can contribute to multiple dividends for food security, climate resilience and peace –to help vulnerable countries, achieve the SDGs in a riskier world of more compound and cascading disasters.

Small islands, big challenges, bigger opportunities

11:30-13:00 GMT Webcast Bios Register

Interpretation: Portuguese

Opportunities for scaling up in the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are limited, calling for fit-for purpose policies and strategies to guide investment, partnerships and innovation. The event will present lessons on business models and delivery mechanisms that are relevant for project practitioners and development partners across the globe.

Indigenous Peoples: strategic partners for financiers of climate adaptation

14:00-15:30 GMT Webcast Register

Interpretation: English | French | Spanish

Despite being the least responsible for climate change, Indigenous Peoples are among the most affected because of their close inter-connection with nature. Based on their traditional knowledge they have been practicing various ecosystem-based adaptations. At this event Indigenous Peoples will share perspectives on how to pursue pathways for adaptation to climate change and effectively engage with development partners.

Koronivia experts dialogue on channels to unlock climate finance for adaptation and resilience in agriculture

16:30-18:00 GMT Webcast Register

This event will examine how to further unlock climate finance for adaptation and resilience in the agriculture sectors, with a particular focus on alignment with the Koronivia joint work programme on agriculture.

Day 6
Tuesday, 9 November

Call to action: recognizing women’s land rights as critical pillar for strengthening climate action

09:00 GMT Webcast Register

Interpretation: International Sign Language | French | Spanish

The stakes are high: while securing women’s land rights fosters critical gains, from enhanced social status, to greater food security for families, neglecting to do so could have significant negative effects on the wellbeing of women, children and their greater communities. Rural and indigenous women’s security of tenure, especially for smallholder farmers, must inform ongoing climate change knowledge-generation, discussions, and interventions.

Rural Voices: On Air Dialogues with the people behind your plate

12:00-13:15 GMT Webcast Bios Register

Radio gives small-holder producers a platform to share concerns and solutions with global decision makers on issues relevant to their rural communities. IFAD partnered with Farm Radio International to amplify rural voices through a series of on-air dialogues. This event highlights their thoughts on climate change and its impact.

Rural women at the forefront of climate resilience

14:00-15:30 GMT Webcast Bios Register

Interpretation: International Sign Language | French | Spanish

Gender inequality is a determinant of exposure to climate change risks for rural women and girls; however, given the significant role women play in agriculture and food security, they also have the potential to take forward adaptation measures as key agents of change. This side event highlights the role of resilient food systems in meeting global climate change goals, driven primarily by women at the household, community, and country levels.

ShareFair on geospatial tools and applications for climate investments

16:30-18:00 GMT Webcast Bios Register

Agenda

Where are adaptation investments needed? What impact do adaptation interventions have? This ShareFair (a virtual marketplace) allows participants to get to know geospatial tools (for targeting, assessing vulnerability, and easily accessing useful geodata) and their applications (e.g., pasture conditions in Kyrgyzstan, vulnerability assessments in Yemen, and soil erosion in Lesotho).

Day 7
Wednesday, 10 November

Securing land and territorial rights of indigenous peoples and local communities for climate change adaptation and resilience

09:00-10:30 GMT Webcast Register

Interpretation: English | French | Spanish

Securing land and territorial rights that are people centred, gender just and age sensitive, provide an essential basis for indigenous peoples and local communities to contribute with nature-based solutions to Climate Change. The ILC- IFAD moderated roundtable discussion is aimed at influencing COP26 negotiations and raising the voice of indigenous peoples and local communities to demonstrate their contribution for countering the effect of climate change. 

FOODtalk on healthy planet and well-nourished people

11:30-13:00 GMT Webcast Register

Interpretation: English | French | Spanish

The food we eat determines our health and that of future generations. How we grow, hunt, fish or gather it, how we process it and bring it to markets and the various choices we make along the food value chains affects the world around us. These relationships are the foundation of the climate-nutrition nexus. But, can we combine a healthy planet with well-nourished people? Interactive discussions and reflections from the country, technical and policy perspective.

Investing in and monitoring resilience for small-scale producers and rural communities

14:00-15:30 GMT Webcast Register

Interpretation: English | French | Spanish

Small-scale producers and rural poor families are already and will continue to be the most severely impacted by climate events. But how can we support them in building their much needed resilience capacities at scale if we hardly know how to define them in practice and even less how to measure them? This event, hosted by IFAD, will discuss concrete tools and approaches to crack precisely this challenge.

Climate change and adoption of adaptation options: measuring, generating evidence and understanding drivers towards resilience

16:30-18:00 GMT Webcast Register

Climate change poses the greatest threat to rural small scale producers, particularly poor people and most vulnerable communities. Adapting to climatic changes and building resilience to shocks and anomalies is of utmost importance particularly among those who lack the resources. The event will present and debate concrete options and examples on what practical implementation means in terms of adoptions of adaptation options, of impacts of adoptions on production and resilience and on the role of behavioural and subjective perception versus what institutions can do to support or facilitate adoption and adaptation choices.

Day 8
Thursday, 11 November

Scaling-up community driven innovations for inclusive climate change adaptation

09:00-10:30 GMT Webcast Bios Register

The impacts of climate change on agriculture depend on contexts and farmers conditions. Investing in communities’ own capacities to experiment innovations and share knowledge can help address such complexity and respond to shocks. Parallel investments in grassroot capacities, partnership, knowledge network and digital innovations can de-multiply impacts and scale.

Driving adaptation and building climate resilience for rural communities: IFAD’s experience with partners in East and Southern Africa

11.30-13:00 GMT Webcast Register

Interpretation: English | French | Portuguese

IFAD and partners in East and Southern Africa share experiences in building rural resilience through agricultural risk management; to enable small-scale producers to adapt to changing climate, manage, mitigate and reduce the impacts of extreme weather events and access affordable insurance. The event will highlight the need for increased investment to secure rural livelihoods.

Indigenous-led climate adaptation for sustainable food systems, where are the resources?

14:00-15:30 GMT Webcast Bios Register

Interpretation: English | French | Spanish

Indigenous Peoples are stewards of nature and holders of vast local knowledge and traditions that guide them in living interdependently with the environment. Indigenous food systems represent a treasure of knowledge that contributes to well-being and health, preserving a rich biodiversity, and providing nutritious food. This event will be a space to listen to indigenous peoples’ voices on how to better support their efforts and promote climate justice.

Interconnected policies for rural development: how regenerative economy can drive the change

16:30-18:00 GMT Webcast Register

Implementing regenerative agriculture practices in Africa can revert the negative loop of poverty and land degradation, and stimulate the thrive of smallholder farmers’ communities. Introducing technology can help to make them part of the formal agriculture system, bypassing local traders in favor of a major and international market for their products. Through non-conventional agriculture practices, Africa can become a champion of Regeneration using a granular bottom-up approach that can have a terrific impact on livelihoods, environmental health, and social well-being.  

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Side events

Promoting transformational change to accelerate the implementation of the Great Green Wall initiative

Monday, 8 November | 15:00 - 16:15 GMT |  16:00 - 17.15 CET | Lomond Amphitheater

This high-level interactive panel discussion will present the results achieved over the last years and the vision on how best to leverage the international community, multi-stakeholder action, and partnerships to advance the implementation of Great Green Wall initiative.

Video

Highlights

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Why COP26 matters for the world’s rural dwellers: A conversation with Jo Puri

In early November, top experts from around the world will meet in Glasgow for COP26, the biggest climate change conference since the Paris Accords. We caught up with climate scientist and IFAD Associate Vice-President Dr Jo Puri to ask her what COP26 is all about and what she hopes will emerge from it.

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Why invest in climate change adaptation? Your questions answered

It’s official: human-induced climate change is happening. Some of its effects are already being felt, and further impacts are inevitable. Alongside mitigating our greenhouse gas emissions, we need to help those already feeling the worst effects – particularly small-scale agricultural producers – adapt.

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What are nature-based solutions? Your questions answered

We believe nature-based solutions (NbS) are the key to helping the most vulnerable people adapt to the effects of climate change. But just what are NbS, and why do we think they’re so great?

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What do the IPCC report’s findings mean for rural dwellers? Your questions answered

The IPCC report released in summer 2021 leaves no more room for ambiguity: the climate is changing, and it’s because of human activity. Here, we answer some of your questions about the report, why it’s important, and what its findings mean for some of the world’s most vulnerable populations.

News

IFAD and Montenegro sign financing agreement to support climate adaptation in Northern mountainous areas

March 2024 - NEWS

Amid growing climate challenges in Montenegro, IFAD signed an agreement with the Government of Montenegro to finance the Adaptation to Climate Change and Resilience in the Montenegrin Mountain Areas project (GORA). The project aims to support small-scale farmers and rural communities to cope with the effects of a changing climate.

IFAD and partners to build resilience of smallholder farmers to climate change impacts in seven Sahelian Countries

March 2024 - NEWS

Today, IFAD launched the Africa Integrated Climate Risk Management Programme (AICRM): Strengthening Smallholder Farmers' Resilience to Climate Change Impacts, with a workshop in Banjul, The Gambia. Dr Jyotsna Puri, Associate Vice-President of the Strategy and Knowledge Department at IFAD joined over 60 participants, including government representatives from the programme's host countries, as well as financial and implementing partners.

Stories

See how water and peace go hand in hand

March 2024 - STORY

Peace and water are inextricably intertwined. That’s why sustainable rural development can help reduce conflict in communities – and why water is often the crucial element that can make the difference.

Champions of change: Meet the winners of the 2024 IFAD Gender Awards

March 2024 - STORY

Visit the five inspiring winners of this year’s Gender Awards and find out how they’re addressing the harmful practices, social norms and economic disparities that keep women from achieving their potential.

Blogs

Prosperity or the planet? Luckily, they're not mutually exclusive

February 2024 - BLOG

All too often, value chain development harms the planet by emitting carbon and degrading environments. That’s why to build truly prosperous rural areas, we must make value chains not just strong, but sustainable.

When it comes to measuring water security, lived experiences matter

January 2024 - BLOG

Water stress is growing around the world. To effectively tackle it, a new approach assesses not only whether water infrastructure is available and working, but also whether it is meeting the needs of the people who rely on it. 

Publications

Djibouti: Programme to Reduce Vulnerability in Coastal Fishing Areas

March 2024

This programme bolsters Djibouti’s climate adaptation and resilience by bridging multiple sectors, including fisheries, rural development and gender. This required considered coordination and communication among diverse stakeholders.

Mali: Fostering Agricultural Productivity Project

March 2024

This project introduced a range of renewable energy technologies to enhance the lives of rural people. Biogas digesters were coupled with latrines and slurry storage was developed. Sustainable bio slurry will replace chemical fertilizers, allowing households to save money and consume healthier foods. Biogas digesters also alleviate burdens on women and reduce deforestation.

Media contact

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Caroline Chaumont


+39 3316370953