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| U.S. Center at COP 22 |
Issue No. 7 - Wednesday, 16 November 2016
Events convened on Tuesday, 15 November 2016 |
| Visit our IISD Coverage for Tuesday, 15 November 2016, at: http://www.iisd.ca/climate/cop22/us-center/15nov.html |
Innovative Adaptation: How African Leaders are
Tapping State-of-the-Art US Climate Science and Data to Build Resilience |
Organized by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA)
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The event was moderated by Dan Irwin, NASA.
Carrie Thompson, USAID, highlighted data-sharing collaboration initiatives between NASA and USAID to provide geospatial technologies to developing countries the Climate Services Partnership, SERVIR Global, an initiative to help developing countries use satellite information for managing climate risks. She explained how these initiatives help to transform data into actionable information for policymakers, farmers and other stakeholders.
Birama Diarra, National Directorate of Meteorology, Mali, highlighted efforts to harness data science for enhanced climate resilience. Noting reduced rainfall in the past decades, he emphasized the importance of strengthening capacity for decision-making and adaptation. He underscored the value of involving diverse stakeholders and communicators in the implementation of data science.
Issifou Alfari, Regional Center of the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), highlighted the organization’s efforts to enhance food security, improve water management, and combat desertification across Sahelian and West African countries. He underscored the importance of a global approach, including among others: dissemination of information; study of potential impacts; inventory of best practices; and evaluation of technical benchmarks.
Jessica Eriyo, East African Community (EAC), presented on climate change preparedness in East Africa. She explained that adaptation is more important than mitigation as a priority in her region. She drew attention to areas of cooperation between the EAC and the USAID such as trade, industrial development, food security, environment and energy. She highlighted challenges for the region’s adaptation to climate change such as weak institutional capacity and lack of data.
Fatoumata Nafo-Traoré, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (ICRC), pointed to a North-South academic collaboration that has enabled a record of extreme events around the world to be transmitted to ICRC within two weeks.
During discussions, participants addressed, inter alia: use of numerical models to predict and forecast precipitation in Eastern Africa; supporting renewable energy entrepreneurs and startups in Africa; updating the timeliness and accuracy of information gathered by national meteorological services in Eastern Africa; and the mechanisms and challenges of information dissemination.
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| Addressing Climate through Agriculture, Forestry, and Rural Energy |
Presented by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
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Robert Bonnie, USDA, noted the vital role that agriculture and forestry play in climate change, as both a source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and a potential carbon sink. He highlighted USDA’s Building Blocks for Climate Smart Agriculture and Forestry program, which partners with farmers, land-owners, and businesses to reduce US GHG emissions. He underscored the opportunities of the agricultural and forestry sectors to increase resilience and productivity.
William Hohenstein, Director, USDA Climate Change Program, highlighted the Building Blocks for Climate Smart Agriculture and Forestry program as an important contributor to the US Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) commitment of 26-28% GHG emissions reduction. He emphasized USDA’s role in reducing emissions and storing carbon. He said that the program’s objective of 220Mt CO2eq emissions reductions would contribute 2% towards the US NDC.
Further elaborating on the Building Blocks of the program, Bianca Moebius-Clune, Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), USDA underscored the goals of the Soil Health building block. She noted that implementation of regenerative soil health management systems will sequester carbon and rebuild soils to increase agricultural productivity.
Dana Ashford-Kornburger, NRCS, USDA, underlined the principles and goals of the Nitrogen Stewardship building block. She outlined how USDA will reduce emissions by 7 million metric tons of nitrous oxide (N20) by 2025, and will enroll and maintain 64 million acres of cropland and pasture land under nutrient management plans. She also called attention to potential co-benefits in improved water quality and fertilizer efficiency.
Fred Petok, Rural Development Energy Programs, USDA, emphasized the goals of the Livestock Partnership building block, noting the program’s objective to install 500 anaerobic digesters on dairy, pork, and poultry farms in the US.
Emily Wimberger, California Air Resources Board, underscored the importance of the California agricultural sector in addressing US emissions. She noted that the State has prioritized Climate Smart Agriculture programs, investing $US180 million in public funds since 2014.
During discussions, participants addressed, inter alia: the impact of methane flaring; the potential of soil for carbon sequestration; regulatory and financial processes necessary for methane capture; and the potential impact of the US federal government transition on the Building Blocks Program.
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Promoting the Central Role of Women
in Clean Energy Entrepreneurship and in Addressing Climate Change |
Organized by wPower Hub
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The event was moderated by Linda Davis, wPower Hub.
Dwight Bush, US Ambassador to Morocco, underscored that inefficient lighting and cooking methods contribute to nearly 4 million annual deaths globally from respiratory illnesses, affecting particularly women and children.
Linda Davis, wPower Hub, highlighted that 1.3 billion people still do not have access to affordable reliable electricity in the world.
Wanjira Mathai, Director, wPower Hub, stressed that clean cooking stoves have co-benefits addressing 10 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. She stressed the importance of having the right partners to engage in a common agenda on advocacy for women.
Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, UN Environment, underscored the need to adopt a human rights and social justice approach when addressing women’s role in the clean energy revolution. She highlighted major barriers to women entrepreneurship in Africa such as ownership and control of land. She explained how these barriers can hinder women’s access to wind and biomass potential on the land.
Bridget Burns, Women’s Environmental and Development Organization (WEDO), stressed the importance and central role of women in renewable energy policymaking. She cautioned against transitioning from dirty energy jobs mostly held by men to clean energy jobs maintained by men, without providing opportunities for gender inclusion. She observed that the evidence of the links between gender equality and climate change are overwhelming.
Rudy Gharib, POWER AFRICA, stressed the importance of bringing men in gender inclusion discussions and panels. She observed that Memorandum of Understandings and Letters of Intent between global partnerships are increasingly focusing on renewable energy and gender inclusion. She also highlighted that decisions about innovation, entrepreneurship and education need to include women. |
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This issue has been written by Bo-Alex Fredvik. The Digital Editor are Liz Rubin and Diego Noguera. The Editor is Leila Mead <[email protected]>. The Director of IISD Reporting Services is Langston James “Kimo” Goree VI <[email protected]>. Funding for coverage of the U.S. Center at COP 22 has been provided by the US Department of State. The opinions expressed in this issue are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of IISD and funder. Excerpts from this issue may be used in non-commercial publications only with appropriate academic citation. For permission to use this material in commercial publications, contact the Director of IISD Reporting Services at <[email protected]>. Electronic versions of issues of this issue can be found on the IISD Reporting Services website at http://www.iisd.ca/climate/cop22/us-center/
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