About the 2008 CTA Seminar

Background

The Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) is organizing an international Seminar on the “Implications of Global Climate Change for Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems in ACP countries”.

The Seminar will be held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from 26 to 31 October 2008. It will bring together about 200 participants from the six ACP regions - West, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific – and representatives of EU national institutions and regional and international organizations.

In developing countries, agriculture drives growth and accounts for close to 30% of GDP. It is the main source of food and employs between 70-80% of the population. But the detrimental effects of climate change are seriously threatening the extent to which this strategic sector can develop and contribute to poverty alleviation.

Climate change is one of the most serious challenges to sustainable development. The level of greenhouse gas emissions from developing countries in general - and especially from the ACP countries - is low. Yet, because of their poverty, these countries are extremely vulnerable to the harmful effects of changes in climate. This vulnerability is made worse because many ACP countries are unable to access the information they need to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The environmental and social consequences of climate change puts the livelihoods of those living in ACP countries at risk. Natural resource management strategies that ensure the sustainable use of soils and water, halt biodiversity decline and deal with emerging issues such as the growing demand for renewable energy are urgently needed. However, effective intervention depends on the availability of well-managed information and reliable communication.

Objectives

The overall objective of the Seminar is to contribute to improving the livelihood and food security of rural communities in the agro-ecological zones of ACP countries.

More specifically, the purpose is to:

Raise the awareness of policy makers and rural communities to the way climate change is affecting agricultural and rural development;
Identify the information and communication needs of decision makers and rural communities so they can protect their livelihood systems from the effects of climate change and identify strategies that can appropriately meet these needs.
Identify ways of improving access to climate change information for policy makers and rural communities in ACP countries

Expected outputs

Experiences and knowledge of climate change management mechanisms shared;
New strategies for lessening the harmful impact of climate change on the crop and stock farming communities of ACP countries identified
Recommendations on appropriate strategies for information and communication management made;
Decision makers awareness of the harmful effects of climate change on agricultural production systems increased;
Proposals made for the regional action groups established to monitor and implement recommendations;
Direct contact established between the stakeholders.

Themes

The seminar will focus on how climate change affects interactions between the main ACP agricultural production systems and the cross-cutting issues that threaten agricultural sustainability and rural development. The agricultural production systems most commonly found in ACP countries are cropping systems (rice, sugar cane, cotton, etc.); mixed agriculture-livestock production systems; pastoral systems and the livelihood systems of coastal communities. The processes that threaten their sustainability have been identified as land degradation; the demand for renewable energy (biofuels), reduced primary production; water management problems; migration; unstable markets, the erosion of biodiversity, declining ecosystem services and an overall increase in vulnerability and risk.

Structure of the seminar

The opening session will be chaired by official representatives from the host country, Burkina Faso, the Director of CTA and an international specialist on climatic change (for example, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, 2007).

Introductory speeches will position the Seminar in the overall context of agricultural and rural development and climate change in the ACP countries. Papers will deal with issues that include the interaction between sustainable agriculture and environmental services in development-oriented agriculture; the state of the global environment; climate change and the challenges it represents for ACP countries and an update on the status of information and communication management (ICM) initiatives in this sector.

Papers on cross-cutting issues will be delivered during the plenary sessions. Each paper will deal with the interactions between a cross-cutting issue and one of the four production systems.

Four interactive parallel sessions (panels/interviews) will be held - one for each agricultural production system. Discussions in these sessions will draw on information generated during the plenary sessions and will be introduced by two or three case studies. These studies will emphasize successes and failures and lessons learnt in the process of meeting the challenges of climate change.

The following questions will be raised:

What impact does climate change have on production systems?
What integrated solutions are being put forward?
Are these solutions effective? (Examples of successes and failures will be discussed)
If solutions have not been effective what can be learned from these experiences and what new solutions can be suggested?
What strategies provide an appropriate response to the biophysical and socio-economic challenges of climate change? What constraints must be overcome to ensure successful implementation?
What information and communication strategies are appropriate and how can they best be implemented?

These issues will be considered from a local, national, regional and international perspective. The information needs of decision makers, grassroots communities and farmers’ organizations – stakeholders identified during an earlier CTA e-consultation as being in urgent need of information – will be discussed and appropriate communication strategies defined.

Seminar language

The Seminar languages will be French and English. Translation facilities will be available.

Media strategy and field visit

Poster sessions, films and videos on the Seminar themes will be organized. Field visits to climate change mitigation and adaptation projects in Burkina Faso are scheduled. A media strategy focusing on information sharing among ACP persons working on the identified themes has been formulated and plans to create awareness among decision makers are being made.

Information and communication strategies and follow-up activities

One session will be entirely devoted to discussing information and communication strategies. It will be informed by the conclusions that emerge from the parallel sessions. Recommendations on information and communication strategies will be elaborated for each agricultural production system, each cross-cutting theme and each category of stakeholder. A task force will be established in each ACP region to follow up on the recommendations suggested. For this reason the participation of regional organizations is an important prerequisite for a successful follow-up to the Seminar.