UNEP United Nations Environment Programme [to 1 August 2015]
http://www.unep.org/newscentre/?doctypeID=1

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Selected Press Releases
Experts & Policymakers Re-Imagine African Agriculture in Face of Climate Change
65% of Africa’s Land Affected by Degradation; New Approach Essential
Nairobi, 31 July 2015 – Over 1,200 experts, policy makers and participants today adopted the Nairobi Action Agenda on Ecosystem based Adaptation for food security and formed the Ecosystem Based Adaptation for Food Security Assembly (EBAFOSA), which re-imagines a system of agriculture for the continent that would be beneficial both economically and environmentally.

The formation of EBAFOSA and the adoption of its constitution come as land degradation affects nearly 65 percent of Africa’s land, with some 6 million hectares of productive land lost each year. Part of the Nairobi Action Agenda, the assembly is a result of the ‘Africa Ecosystem Based Adaptation for Food Security (EBAFOSC): Re-imagining Africa Food Security Now and into the Future under a Changing Climate’ conference, the second of its kind.

As the world gears up for the Climate Change conference and the adoption of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) later this year, a new approach is urgently needed to build an inclusive food system that is robust enough to create jobs and wealth for all in Africa, including the youth. Ecosystem‐based adaptation (EbA) provides flexible, cost-effective, and broadly applicable alternatives for building robust food systems on fewer inputs while reducing the impacts of climate change.

The participants at the conference converted existing lessons and experiences into common solutions for food security and climate change adaptation on the continent, their objectives being to determine how to protect and restore Africa’s ecosystems, achieve food security, identify scalable inclusive business and finance models, put in place policies that incentivize public and private investment in EbA and increase the likelihood of increased investment from oil earnings back into the Earth’s ecosystems, which underpin the entire food security system.

The adoption of the Nairobi Action Agenda reflects the importance of the issues on a continent where food imports exceed food exports by 30 percent and the agricultural sector uses over 60 percent of Africa’s labour force.

The EBAFOSA replaces the Ecosystem Based Adaptation for Food Security Conference (EBAFOSC) to become the continental body dialoguing and working with the African Union and other partners to help drive the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) agenda in line with the Malabo Declaration as well as the proposed SDGs and Agenda 2063…

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New Lending and Investment Tool Sets Agricultural Supply Chain on Sustainable Path, Reducing Deforestation Threat
New research by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Natural Capital Declaration highlights the critical need to fundamentally strengthen how financial institutions view, address and manage deforestation and degradations risks.

Nairobi, Oxford, 29 July 2015 – A new lending and investment policy tool for financial institutions, unveiled today, aims to reduce the deforestation risk caused by the unsustainable production, trade, processing and retail of soft commodities, especially soy, palm oil and beef.

New research by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Natural Capital Declaration highlights the critical need to fundamentally strengthen how financial institutions view, address and manage deforestation and degradations risks.

Of the 30 financial institutions assessed, the majority did not have policies that explicitly require clients to comply with applicable local, national and ratified international laws and regulations related to forest conservation.

The study, entitled “Bank and Investor Risk Policies for Soft Commodities” highlights policies that banks and investors can adopt to help reduce deforestation and forest degradation risks resulting from unsustainable practices across agricultural supply chains that are major drivers of tropical deforestation.

An accompanying Soft Commodities Forest-risk Assessment Tool provides a framework to evaluate policies adopted by banks and investors to address deforestation and forest degradation risk in the agricultural value chain.

UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, said, “Addressing deforestation is high on the twenty-first century policy agenda. The continuing loss of the world’s tropical rainforests represents a significant threat to the security of water, food, energy, health and climate for millions worldwide.”…
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