IICA backs United Arab Emirates initiative to launch a multinational Technical Group to discuss avenues for transforming agriculture in the face of climate change challenges 

San Jose, 5 June 2024 (IICA) – The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) announced its support for the decision by the United Arab Emirates to create a multinational Technical Group aimed at discussing next steps in the process of  transforming agriculture and agrifood systems to overcome the challenges posed by climate change and achieve the goals set out in the Paris Agreement.

At the last United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28, held in December in Dubai), the United Arab Emirates, in its capacity as COP28 presidency and host, promoted the UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action.

To date, the declaration has been endorsed by 159 countries, demonstrating a strong international commitment to addressing the interaction between food systems, agriculture and climate as the only possible way to achieve global climate change mitigation and adaptation goals.

This month, at the Climate Conference that is underway in Bonn, Germany, the United Arab Emirates announced the launch of a Technical Cooperation Collaborative (TCC), comprised of a group of partners that will offer countries their collaboration to achieve agricultural transformation objectives.

IICA is one of the members and founders of the technical team, alongside organizations such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Bank, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), FAO and countries such as the United States, Italy and the United Kingdom.

In the same vein, and as part of IICA’s commitment to collective action to combat climate change, the Institute’s Director General, Manuel Otero, will welcome Amna bint Abdullah Al Dahak, Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the United Arab Emirates, at the Institute’s Headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica this week. During her visit, the Minister will be accompanied by a delegation of officials from her country to discuss the next steps in implementing the Declaration.

Advising countries

Among other things, the TCC will advise countries on updating their climate commitments —referred to as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)—to include climate action measures through agriculture. In the coming months, the TCC will begin to respond to country queries, in order to identify gaps and cooperation opportunities.

IICA has been playing a leading role at the most recent COPs, where it installed the Home of Sustainable Agriculture of the Americas pavilion with the support of its Member States and private sector partners. The pavilion hosted high-level discussions on the role of agriculture in mitigating climate change and showcased the actions currently underway in rural areas of the Americas to achieve greater sustainability.

Thus, at the world’s foremost environmental forum, IICA and its partners have amplified the voices of farmers, who play a leading role in the only production activity that can sequester carbon while ensuring food security and contributing to climate change mitigation.

At the Conference currently underway in Bonn, the city where the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has been operating since 1995, experts and delegates are discussing key issues in the lead-up to COP 29, which will be held in November in Azerbaijan.

IICA and its partners will be in attendance at the upcoming conference once again, based on the conviction that agriculture of the Western Hemisphere cannot be left out of global environmental discussions.

The 159 countries that have endorsed the Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action, adopted in Dubai, represent 70 percent of the world’s farmers and more than 80 percent of the global agricultural-based GDP.
The Declaration, the first of its kind since climate conferences have been held, stresses the need to accelerate collective action to address the relationship between food systems and climate change.
 
Delegation

The delegation that will be joining Amna bint Abdullah Al Dahak, Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the United Arab Emirates, during her visit to IICA Headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica, this week will be comprised of:  Mohammed Saeed Al Nuaimi, Undersecretary of Climate Change and Environment; Mohammed Salman Alhammadi, Assistant-Undersecretary of Marine Biodiversity; Hamda Abdulla Alawadhi, Director of the  Department of Associations and Special Projects; Hajar Bakhit Alketbi, Director of Government Communication; Hiba Obaid Al Shehhi, Head of the Terrestrial Biodiversity Section; Fatma Mahmood AlJanah, Project Management Specialist; Fatima Ahmed Al Hammadi, Coordination and Follow-Up Specialist; and Rawdha Al Otaiba, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Costa Rica.

More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int