GEF Looking Forward tackles ‘Managing the Planet’

George Mason University and the Woodrow Wilson Center’s of Brazil Institute and Environmental Change and Security Programme have teamed up for a dialogue on “Managing the Planet” on “The GEF Looking Forward.”

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the event slated for Monday, May 20th, 2013 at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 6th Floor Auditorium would have an introductory remarks: Blair Ruble, Director, Global Sustainability and Resilience Programme, Wilson Center

Also the dialogue would feature Naoko Ishii, the CEO and chairperson, Global Environment Facility, while the moderator would be Prof. Thomas E. Lovejoy, Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, member of the Brazil Institute Advisory Board, and Chair of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the GEF.

The largest funder of biodiversity and climate change related projects, the Global Environmental Facility was created to assist developing countries to meet obligations under global environmental agreements initiated at the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, including the (U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPS).

The GEF is the largest funder of projects in developing countries to protect the global environment. Since 1991, the GEF has provided $11.5 billion in grants to 3,215 projects in 165 countries, leveraging an additional $57 billion in co-financing.

Dr. Naoko Ishii, who was appointed as the new GEF CEO and Chairperson over the summer, will share her thoughts on where the GEF is headed under her leadership. Before taking over the GEF, Dr. Ishii was Japan’s Deputy Vice Minister of Finance and the Executive Assistant to the Prime Minister for Global Environmental Finance. Dr. Ishii will bring new ideas and approaches to international development.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the “Managing the Planet” seminar series – developed jointly by George Mason University and the Wilson Center’s Brazil Institute and Environmental Change and Security Programme – addresses planetary-scale problems and solutions.

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Uganda’s vision aligns with CAADP investment plans, says Minister

Delegates at the workshop (Ugandan Minister of State for Animal Industry 

and Fisheries  Hon. Bright  Rwamirama, second from the left

The Ugandan Minister of State for Animal Industry, Mr. Bright Rwamirama, has said that his country’s vision for national development aligns with the investment plans of Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

Speaking Monday, in Kampala, Uganda, at the opening of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) workshop on integrating agriculture and food security risk management in CAADP investment plans, he reassured that Uganda vision is in tandem with CAADP strategies.

“The vision of CAADP is in line with, and supported by Uganda’s own vision for national development,” he declared, stressing that agriculture remains the key driver of both growth and poverty reduction.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that at their Maputo Summit in 2003, African Heads of State and Government adopted CAADP as Africa’s overall vision to achieve food security.

Also, CAADP was endorsed to boost economic growth through agricultural transformation in order to eradicate poverty, and hence build the foundations for sustainable broad-based economic development on the continent.

In her remarks, Principal Food Security Analyst at NEPAD, Ms Mariam Soumare, emphasised that recurrent agriculture and food crises are undermining the chances of achieving the recommended 6 per cent productivity growth through sustainable investment in agriculture.

NEPAD, she disclosed intends to support regional economic communities and countries in mainstreaming agriculture and food security risk management into CAADP investment plans.

NaijaAgroNet notes that the overall goal of the workshop and follow up process is to ensure that risk management interventions are planned, coordinated, budgeted and implemented as part of Regional and National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans.

Equally, a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet on behalf of the Ugandan Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Uganda reiterated readiness to collaborate on CAADP.

“The issue of risk management in the agricultural sector is very timely, at least for Uganda because of late we have had seriously unexpected climate change effects with very devastating results on crops and livestock. We hope that the expertise at this workshop will come up with practical solutions to address the challenge of agricultural risks and make agriculture attractive to all,” part of the statement read.

For Mr. Alhaji Jallow of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the three day workshop focused on integrating price and food security risk management policies and tools in CAADP. 

He pointed out that some of the risks identified in agriculture include price risks, as prices could be volatile and variable; production risks, brought on largely by weather and biological instabilities; and institutional risks such as unexpected changes in legal and policy guidelines, which are exacerbated by lack of adequate information.

In addition, he said, production variability in Africa is high, due to erratic rainfall and few risk management strategies.

NEPAD convened the workshop in collaboration with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the East African Community (EAC), FAO, the European Union, the Platform for Agriculture Risk Management (PARM), and other partners including the World Bank.

 
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e-agriculture prize goes to CTA @ WSIS’13

l-r Ken Lohento and Giacomo Rambaldi displaying the prize

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) has emerged top in the e-agriculture category of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Projects Prize 2013, which held in Geneva at the weekend.

Official of ICT4D Programme unit at Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), Ms Maureen Agena, disclosed this to NaijaAgroNet, describing it as a great news from Geneva, for the global agric community.

She said that the CTA's Web 2.0 and Social Media Learning Opportunities, has been announced as winner of WSIS Project Prizes 2013 contest in the category C7 on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Applications: e-Agriculture.

“Congratulations to our colleagues Giacomo Rambaldi and Ken Lohento for their outstanding work on this initiative!” she declared, appreciating all those who have been part of this initiative, and to those who voted for the project in the context of the WSIS prizes.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that WSIS Project Prize was established in 2011 to evaluate and reward stakeholders for the success of their efforts in implementing development-oriented strategies that leverage the power of information and communication technologies.

The WSIS Project Prizes initiative is now an integral part of the WSIS Stocktaking Process established in 2004.

The contest of WSIS Project Prizes is open to all stakeholders: governments, private sector, civil society, international organizations, academia and others, which comprises 18 categories that are directly linked to the WSIS Action Lines outlined in the Geneva Plan of Action.

 

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Ethiopia to host first African confab on chemistry education

The first-ever African conference on Research In Chemistry Education [ACRICE-1]  will be hosted by the Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, in December 2013, reports NaijaAgroNet.

President of the Federation of African Societies of Chemistry (FASC) Dr. Temechegn Engida, confirmed this to NaijaAgroNet, saying that FASC and Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, will be co-host at the event. He noted that at the occasion of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the African Union (AU) the conference has become imperative and has been scheduled for December 5-7, 2013.

ACRICE-1, Dr. Engida said, will bring together university staff members, chemistry educators and chemistry teachers from across African continent and the world at large and provide a unique pan-African forum for the sharing ideas and new findings to solve education problems in African countries.

Participants at the confab with the theme: Chemical Education for the Human Development in Africa, FASC president said, will examine a wide range of pedagogical best practices that address local and global issues in educating African students for total quality in the global age.

Therefore, ACRICE conference, Dr. Engida pointed out, is intended as a platform for understanding and enriching education for preparation of African citizens who are able to deal with local and global challenges.

To this end, FASC is calling on educators and researchers at all levels to share vital knowledge and strategies for teaching and learning in culturally responsive ways, capable of boosting chemistry for sustainable development in Africa.

 
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