NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and Dr Juan Clos, UN-Habitat Executive Director have called for concerted efforts to address the challenges facing cities, towns and urban areas.Speaking when he launched the 26th session of the UN-Habitat Governing Council in Nairobi, Uhuru said planned urban centres are key to better human life."This session is a milestone for UN-Habitat. It is the first meeting of the Governing Council after the adoption of the momentous 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and the New Urban Agenda. As you know, the 2030 Agenda is a comprehensive, integrated and inclusive outcome document," Uhuru said.The New Urban Agenda aims to achieve peace, prosperity, dignity and opportunity for all, on a healthy planet. It sets our global strategy around urbanization for the next two decades."I congratulate each and every one of you for your invaluable contribution to the success of Habitat III. That enterprise shows the power and promise of multilateralism," Uhuru said.The President said the document presents a renewed political commitment for sustainable development, and provides the basis for reviewing the mandate of the UN-Habitat and its positioning within the UN System."Our immediate responsibility is its implementation. We must quickly seize the opportunities, address the challenges and implement the Agenda. The first step – one we can take here and now – is to send a strong political message in support of the new Agenda," Uhuru said.Dr Clos said urbanisation worldwide, but most specifically in Africa, will be one of the most significant economic and social transformations in the next decades."The African continent is experiencing a shift towards more productive sectors of the economy, from the agrarian and extractive industries, towards industrial and service oriented economies," Clos said.He further noted that one of the most critical vehicles for this transmission is well-designed urbanisation that provides a productive scenario necessary to sustain this very strategic transformation for Africa.He noted that as a host of the UN-Habitat, Kenya remains fully committed to the agency and is ready to contribute constructively, and to work in partnership with the agency to secure the objectives of the important Session of the Governing Council."Let us consider the task that lies before us. Projections suggest that an additional 2.5 billion people will enter urban areas by 2050. Almost 90 percent of this increase is expected to occur in Asia and Africa. I need not add that this should be a matter of concern to all of us," Uhuru said.He noted that the challenge is equally clear here in Kenya."According to our National Bureau of Statistics, by 2050 about half our people will live in cities. Indeed, in 2030, the city of Nairobi will have about 6 million people," he said.He added, "For our part we have found that the creation of 47 counties under our new constitution has significantly influenced Kenya's urbanization: our new county governments will handle much of the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. That's because counties are the homes of the secondary cities, which are growing…

BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - Environment experts have called for a strong public/private partnership to finance agro-forestry and fight against climate change. During the SBSTA 46 climate conference in Bonn, Germany, experts from World Agroforstry Centre, (ICRAF), Oro verde –Tropical Forestry Foundation and Global Nature Fund (GNF), tapped into different Agro-forestry success cases to showcase potential pathways to drive the fight against climate change.The discussions were held under the theme “High impact public-private climate finance” with case studies from Africa and Latin America.According to Dr Peter Minang of ICRAF, Agroforests and agroforestry can be direct targets of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programs, or indirect parts of the necessary conditions for success.“Whether or not agro-forestry becomes a core element of REDD+ depends on the country’s forest definition. Where carbon stocks in agroforestry cannot be directly targeted in REDD+, agroforestry still can be included in REDD+ strategies, as ways to shift demand for land and provide alternative sources of products otherwise derived from forest over-exploitation or conversion, thereby avoiding leakage from forest protection efforts,” Minang pointed out .Financing Agro-forestry in the fight against climate change experts say has become imperative and can take the form of supporting capacity building to increase the number of investible projects, leveraging smallholder farmers who are key private investors ,analyse risk reduction potential for environment and social improvement and establishing a monitoring system.“Agro-forestry is a climate-smart process that requires adequate attention and financial support,” said Dr Lalisa Duguma, scientist at the World Agro-forestry Centre and ASB Partnership.Agro-forestry he said helps in agriculture adaptation and resilience building, restoring the soil and enhancing crop production.However, Torsten Klimper of the German Tropical Forest Foundation OroVerde cautioned that funding biodiversity projects requires respect for the laws regulating biodiversity.“There is need for investors to ensure total respect of the laws regulating biodiversity,” he cautioned.According to experts, ecological farming encompasses a wide range of modern crop and livestock management systems that seek to increase yields and incomes, and maximise the sustainable use of local natural resources while minimising the need for external inputs. Ecological farming ensures healthy farming and healthy food for today and tomorrow, by protecting soil, water and climate. It promotes biodiversity, and does not contaminate the environment with chemical inputs or genetically engineered plant varietiesThis involves Agro-forestry that focuses on the wide range of work with trees grown on farms and in rural landscapes. Among these are fertiliser trees for land regeneration, soil health and food security, fruit trees for nutrition, fodder trees that improve smallholder livestock production, timber and fuelwood trees for shelter and energy, medicinal trees to combat disease, and trees that produce gums, resins or latex products. Many of these trees are multipurpose, providing a range of social, economic and environmental benefits, the experts explained.In anticipation of the reviewing of NDC’s in 2018 experts recommended the inclusion and mainstreaming of Agro-forestry in the various national climate change agenda.Dr Minang called for creating mechanisms to reward Agro-forestry practitioners for the environmental services they provide,…

Africa is swimming in a vast ocean of agricultural potentials yet depends on imported food to survive. A glimmer of hope could lay in an initiative by African Development Bank (AfDB). PAMACC Senior reporter, Arison TAMFU explores this:NDOP, Cameroon, (PAMACC News) - Little Sonia stands with arms akimbo in front of a mud house impatiently waiting for food to be served. It is a breezy evening in Ndop, a locality in the North West region of Cameroon. Inside the kitchen her mother, Theresa Ngum is immersed in preparing Sonia’s most preferred delicacy - rice. “This can barely feed them” says Theresa referring to her five children.In 2001, her husband died after a protracted illness, leaving her with five mouths to feed- three boys and two girls. These are difficult days for the family.“We are just struggling to survive. The children are always hungry. There is no money to buy food.I borrowed 500 francs cfa to buy the rice I am preparing” saysTheresa, speaking in Pidgin English.Theresa lives in Ndop, a community of predominantly rice farmers, paradoxicallyshe and hundred other farmers in Ndop consume mostly rice imported from China and Thailand. She owns a rice farm just in her backyard but will rather borrow money to buy the Chinese rice she is preparing for her children.“The children prefer the Chinese rice because it’s more tasteful. Besides, our own rice is scarce” she says grinding spices to liven up the rice.The Cameroonian government’s reluctance to boast local production has resulted in the massive and indiscriminate importation of rice into the country. The import policy has killed the local rice sector.Theresa recollects miserably the good-old-days when Ndop rice ruled Cameroon. “We did not know about any rice but Ndop rice. It was the only rice consumed all over Cameroon and it was very cheap. We, smallholder farmers could feed our familiesand still made enough money from selling rice. There was no poverty” she recalls.“We have nothing now. I am a farmer and why should I buy the food that I can cultivate from someone else?” she asks rhetorically.Naïve as her question may sound,it signals a key problem that currently affects not only Cameroon but the rest of the African continent. What Theresa does not know is that, when it comes to food security, there is good and bad news for Africa.Paradox of a ‘breadbasket’ continentHere is the good news: Africa is blessed with great potentialsto feed itself andexpand its food and agricultural exports. The continent holds almost 65 percent of the world’s arable land which is suited for growing food crops, comprising as many as 450 million hectares that are not forested, protected, or densely populated according to World Bank’s Growing Africa: Unlocking the Potential of Agribusiness report.Africa uses less than 2 percent of its renewable water sources, compared to a world average of five percent the report adds. The World Bank estimates that food production and processing in Africa could generate $1 trillion a year by 2030.“We are lucky to be endowed…

BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - The United Nations seeks to involve young professionals from developing countries in implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) through a new fellowship programme run by two key UN agencies based in Bonn, Germany.According to a press statement released in Bonn on 15th May, the fellowship initiative will offer work experience in a vibrant international policy environment at the UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC). “Young, qualified professionals from developing countries represent one of our best resources for building capacity for climate action,” said Patricia Espinosa, the UNFCCC Executive Secretary.“As we move with determination into the new era of implementation of the Paris Agreement, we need to equip young people with the skills to green economies and build resilience, and this initiative is an example of how organisations can prepare young people for the challenges of the future,” she saidThe United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) will help identify and recruit the young professionals, and provide them with an exciting research environment.Upon completion of the scheme, the “Early Career Climate Fellows” will be able to work in their home countries or internationally, deploying the valuable experience and insights they have gained in Bonn.“We will also be building their skills so they can better secure employment in the work-place. Many of the young people we will be supporting need real-life experience to get on the job ladder. What we are doing is also a living example of Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) under Article 6 of the original Convention. It ranges from education to training in respect to climate change: So we are securing a great, dynamic human resource and giving back with a positive, empowering experience in partnership with UNU,” said Espinosa.Professor Dr. Jakob Rhyner, Director of UNU-EHS, said: “There are 1.8 billion young people in the world today, more than ever before in human history, and about nine out of ten live in developing countries. Efforts for sustainable development and climate protection must build on their enthusiasm and ideas. The UNFCCC-UNU-EHS Early Career Climate Fellowship Initiative offers young people from developing countries a unique possibility to start their career at the interface between international climate policy development and research.”Academically outstanding young graduates from developing countries who are less than three years into their careers, especially women from least developed countries, are encouraged to apply.Fellowships may last from six months to two years and the work experience with the UNFCCC will be tailored to fit the specific skills and backgrounds of each fellow.The collaboration will get underway following the UN Climate Change Conference, which runs to 18 May.