COMESA-EAC –SADC Climate Initiative

By Chikakula Miti

Coordinator -COMESA

Climate, Agriculture, Land Use, and Livelihoods

The COMESA Logic

Agriculture: • Lead sector for overall growth in Africa• Most important form of land use in Sub-Saharan Africa• Significant pressures on land use and livelihoods• Driven by human and natural threats

Climate Change:• Intensifies and speeds up these pressures• Adds a new dimension of variability and change• Driven by human and natural threats

And it is this dual focus on human and natural threats that constitute the conceptual basis of COMESA’s

thinking, approach, strategy and programs regarding climate, agriculture, land use and livelihoods.

Two Perspectives on Climate Change?

• Adaptation• Land use change

(LULUCF)

• Mitigation• Deforestation

(REDD)

Africa OECD

Forest Forest-buffer zones Forest-agricultural lands

Bringing Perspectives Together

CAADP addresses the climate challenge by:• enhancing biodiversity through sustainable agriculture and agroforestry

• safeguarding the productivity of farms through SLWM

But, recognizing climate change, both local and global, as a threat to these objectives, by

• using these same approaches as adaptation strategies to climate change.

And, recognizing the role that carbon plays in land use, as well as in the global climate regime, by

•  linking mitigation strategies, especially carbon sequestration, to these goals. 

The COMESA Partnership

• COMESA –EAC-SADC Summit, Council of Ministers, Member Countries, Climate Working Group

• CAADP Country Roundtables, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Congo DR

• ICRAF, CIFOR, WWF, IFPRI, MSU, wide range of other African Institutions

• AfDB, Proposed Africa Carbon Finance mechanism

Political Platform:

Country Platforms:

Technical Platforms:

Financial Platforms:

The COMESA Climate InitiativeFrameworks and Tools Applications and Learning

Strengthening and collaborating:

with economic and social institutions to build the political and institutional infrastructure necessary to conserve and protect African landscapes by

Supplying :  scientific knowledge, frameworks and tools to assess and develop agricultural and climate-sensitive investments in African landscapes  institutional and policy options for establishing the conditions for sustainable, climate-sensitive management of African landscapes  guidance for more effective decision-making by commercial farmers, small holders, pastoralists, project developers and managers on African landscapes

Measurement & Monitoring : Development and deployment of an advanced prototype for measuring and monitoring carbon sequestration and co-benefits for sustainable land management projects

Best Practice: Development and deployment of a “toolbox” of best practices for sustainable agriculture, land management and related livelihood strategies  Institutions & Policy: Identification of the institutional and policy innovations and reforms necessary to create an enabling environment for sustainable agriculture and better land management practices

Political Platforms: COMESA-EAC-SADC Summit, Council of Ministers, Member Countries, Climate Working Group  Country Platforms : CAADP country roundtables, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia Financial Platforms: ICRAF, CIFOR, WWF, IFPRI, MSU, wide range of African Institutions  Learning & Outreach: AfDB, IFC, TerraGlobal Capital, and Gulf, South Africa, and global investors