Agriculture and environment open dialogue with a view to promoting climate change adaptation together

Lima, December 2014 (IICA).Ministers, deputy ministers and other senior agriculture and environment officials from seven Latin American countries have expressed readiness to undertake joint activities involving the two sectors to facilitate adaptation to climate change, with the support of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

The latter two institutions promoted a dialogue involving senior officials from Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru during the 20th Conference of the Parties (COP 20) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is taking place in Lima.

During the dialogue, in which Mexico’s former President Felipe Calderón was invited to take part, the ministers and deputy ministers affirmed the desirability of working in a more coordinated manner to promote climate change adaptation and mitigation by means of more sustainable forms of production.

The officials thanked IICA and CIFOR for providing the opportunity to kick-start the dialogue, which Calderón described as groundbreaking.

The ministerial representatives asked the institutions to assist them in promoting mechanisms and opportunities for joint work in their countries, with a view to developing a common agenda with shared objectives, such as improvements in extension services and training with an ecosystems approach.

The participants in the meeting organized by IICA and CIFOR included the ministers of agriculture of Costa Rica and Ecuador, Felipe Arauz and Javier Ponce Cevallos, respectively; the Deputy Minister for Public Policy of the Ministry of Agriculture of Peru, César Sotomayor; the Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of Argentina, Roberto Gabriel Delgado; and the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica, Gina Paniagua.

Other agricultural sector officials who took part were the head of Agricultural Advisory Services at Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food, Luis Fernando Zuloaga; and Nelson Lozano Castro, of the Bureau of Innovation, Technology Development and Sanitary Protection of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Colombia.

The ministers of environment in attendance were Manuel Pulgar Vidal, of Peru; María Christina Morales, of Paraguay; Gabriel Vallejo López, of Colombia; and Lorena Tapia Núñez, of Ecuador. The Deputy Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia, Pablo Vieira Samper, also took part.

“State policies should be used to promote joint work, to move towards more environmentally efficient production systems,” suggested the Director General of IICA, Víctor M. Villalobos, who moderated the dialogue.

Peter Holmgren, the Director of CIFOR, highlighted agriculture and forestry’s areas of common interest. “They are sectors that must move forward together,” he observed.

The intersectoral dialogue was part of the activities of the Global Landscapes Forum (organized by CIFOR with IICA as the implementing partner) being held in the Peruvian capital parallel to the COP 20.

Following the dialogue, IICA wrote up the main conclusions with a view to providing follow-up to the matters discussed by the ministers and deputy ministers.

For more information, contact: 
david.williams@iica.int