SIANI:Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative

There is currently no provision for soil carbon sequestration within the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and overall there are very few financing mechanisms that support agricultural mitigation.

Panel:
Mr Peter Holmgren, Director Environment, Climate Change and Bioenergy at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rome

Dr Ademola Braimoh, Senior Natural Resources Management Specialist, Agriculture and Rural Development Department (ARD) at the World Bank, Washington

Dr Joan Kagwanja, Policy Officer at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Nairobi

Mr Juan Hoffmaister, Negotiator for Bolivia on Agriculture and Researcher at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Stockholm

Mr Amos Wekesa, Environment and Climate Change Advisor to the Vi-Agroforestry program of the Swedish Cooperative Centre (SCC), Kenya

Ms Shefali Sharma, Senior Program Officer of Trade and Global Governance at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), Minneapolis

This event was organised and moderated by the Swede Melinda Fones- herself a farmer-
(P.S. She did NOT look too happy- maybe due to the vast expense-maybe due to lack of interest..But I am very grateful that she allowed me to attend- Imagine Bio-char??!!)

Climate Change - Andrew Steer "The Silent Revolution"

Developing countries urgently need a global deal on climate change but they’re not waiting for it says Andrew Steer, the World Bank’s Special Envoy for Climate Change.

Speaking to reporters in advance of the UN climate conference in Cancun next week, Steer outlined how developing countries are taking action on climate change and how the World Bank Group is helping.

The World Bank is supporting climate change activities in some 130 countries, Steer said, and a “silent revolution” is going on in terms of developing countries taking action.

"We are struck month by month by how much innovation is going on. Over the last two years, 80 percent of Bank client countries have asked that climate change be one of the pillars we work with them on,” he said. “This is up from about 10 percent ten years ago.”

This is money they could be using for other things but countries are choosing to use it for adaptation, to acquire clean technology, Steer continued.

Asked about what he thinks constitutes success in Cancun, he said progress can be made on two levels—a set of formal decisions on key topics like finance, forests, transfer of technology, mitigation and monitoring and a series of new initiatives on a range of issues that represent real progress.

Describing what he calls such “complementary” initiatives, Steer said there is enormous potential with agriculture.

Action on soil carbon is an opportunity to transform agriculture from climate change problem