COP28 side-event: Scaling up inclusive climate action through private sector engagement in agriculture and land-use

About

The importance of the agriculture and land use sector is recognized in over 95 percent of countries’ NDCs, which include targets related to emissions reductions and resilience. Despite this recognition global and national efforts to scale up transformative climate action in agriculture and land use are falling short of what is required.

This is due to several barriers such as insufficient engagement with the private sector, gaps in the amount of climate finance allocated to agriculture and land use and lack of inclusive and balanced participation in climate and agricultural decision-making processes.

Government action has a critical role to play in addressing some of these barriers – it can contribute to the enabling environment for public-private collaboration, incentivize private investment in climate action and promote the rights of vulnerable groups through representative and inclusive decision-making.

Objectives

The FAO-UNDP SCALA programme organized a side-event in the NDC Partnership pavilion at COP28 which brought together government, civil society, private sector, and donor community representatives to emphasize the rationale for engaging the private sector in scaling up climate action and the role that different actor can play in making this happen. The event aimed to:

• Highlight country-level approaches, experiences, and insights on enhancing private sector engagement in climate action.
• Discuss barriers, risks and how best to mitigate them to strengthen the business case for private investment in climate initiatives. 
• Discuss the role of regulatory measures in incentivizing private sector engagement in adaptation and mitigation for the agriculture and land use sector. 
• Understand the need for inclusive decision-making in public-private collaboration for climate action to ensure the rights of vulnerable groups such as indigenous communities are prioritized. 

The event was held in English with simultaneous interpretation services into Spanish.

Agenda

Event moderator, Julie Teng, SCALA Global Coordinator (UNDP)

Opening remarks

• Setting the stage: scaling up inclusive climate action through private-public collaboration in agriculture and land use, Nina Alsen, Policy Officer, European and International Adaptation to Climate Change Division, German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV)

Keynote speech

• Accelerating action in agriculture, food security and climate change for local communities and indigenous people, Pasang Norbu Lama, Programme Manager, H.E.L.P 

Panel discussion

• H.E. Chan Phaloeun, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia 
• Carlos Isaac Perez, Vice Minister, Ministry of Environment and Energy, Costa Rica 
• Abdou Aziz Diedhiou, Head of Department, Research and Strategy, La Banque Agricole  
• Keith Agoada, CEO and Co-founder, Producers Trust 

Q&A

Way forward and closing remarks, Julia Wolf, SCALA Global Coordinator (FAO)