ENB+ Side Events Coverage at the Katowice Climate Change Conference – Issue#3

This event, hosted by Qatar’s Ministry of Municipality and Environment, addressed research related to water security, air quality, and food security in the country.

Yousef Ahmad Al-Hussaini, Qatar, moderated the session. Huda Al-Sulaiti, Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI), spoke about climate change and water security in her country. She reported that recent findings have shown that, if water resources are properly managed, Qatar will not face projected water deficit in 2050. She listed types of water resources available for agriculture, including desalinated seawater, groundwater that is now highly depleted, brackish water, and treated waste-water for irrigation; and spoke about the additional risks to these limited resources posed by climate change. To address water scarcity, she highlighted that QEERI is engaging in research on adaptive technologies. Al-Sulaiti highlighted results from recent research on groundwater mapping for vulnerability assessments, noting that water deficits in the Middle East are related to both anthropogenic climate change and poor water management. She drew attention to the development of advanced materials for desalination and water treatment that are energy-efficient and cost-effective, including filtration membrane technology and new desalinization technology.

Mohammed Ayoub, QEERI, and Hamad Bin Khalifa University, spoke on climate change impacts on meteorology and air quality in Qatar. He noted that QEERI also focuses on building knowledge and developing capabilities in understanding and addressing air quality, and that the Institute also works on costing the impacts of air pollution in the country. Highlighting that Qatar accounts for less than 0.3% of global greenhouse gas emissions but also that the country’s warming rate is 2.6 times the global average, he drew attention to the decreasing atmospheric moisture content as a result of climate change, particularly between March and July. Commenting on the unusually high rainfall in June 2018, he reported the heat island effect experienced in Doha, with even heavier rainfall experienced in the city. He also spoke about the current increase in sand and dust storm events in the country over the past decade, and further highlighted the trend of increasing aerosol optical thickness.

Masoud Jaralla Al Marri, Executive Secretary, Food Security Committee, Qatar, spoke on the country’s food security initiatives, highlighting that water scarcity and air pollution related to climate change negatively affect the country’s agricultural production. Acknowledging that Qatar’s climate is not conducive to food production due to depleted water aquifers, he stressed that this makes the country one of the most vulnerable to climate change. He underlined that there is a significant drop in agricultural production due to heat stress and decreased water availability and pointed to the fact that the country imports over 90% of its food and beverages. Outlining the country’s food security initiatives, he noted that the Qatar is currently working to reduce water use in irrigation and has also adopted modern climate- and computer-controlled food production systems. He further highlighted that the country is focusing on local production only for the most essential commodities (such as dairy and poultry), and is building strategic storage reserves of other commodities in order to reduce climate vulnerability. To achieve this, he explained, the country is working with a diverse range of international trade partners to meet national demand.

Ho Chin Siong, University of Technology, Malaysia, spoke on transforming to a low carbon society and how to move from science to action. Noting that cities are both a challenge and a solution when it comes to climate change, he reported that his university has published extensively on low carbon societies, based on test cases in Malaysia. On how to translate science to action, he stressed the need to decouple economic growth from increasing carbon emissions, and described the cycle of science, policy-making and action. He underscored the need for pro-poor, pro-job, pro-environment and pro-growth development. Siong then discussed low carbon strategies for the region of Iskander Malaysia, which integrates both spatial and non-spatial planning tools to achieve a green economy community, and environment.

In the ensuing discussion, participants addressed the effect of new technologies on climate change; the need for energy-efficient technologies to address water scarcity; the need for landscaping to cover Qatar with vegetation to address sand and dust storms; the need to ensure recycled water does not negatively impact human health; and the need to engage communities in the shift to low carbon development.

This panel presented case studies from the Thematic Working Group (TWG) on Agriculture, Food Security and Land Use of the FAO, which works to facilitate the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in the agriculture sector. The TWG is a forum for countries and organizations to exchange experiences around food security and agriculture in order to overcome sector-specific barriers to agricultural adaptation. The event was moderated by Martial Bernoux, FAO.

Desire Nemashakwe, Green Impact Trust, described his organization’s work in Zimbabwe to promote Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) techniques. In particular, he highlighted the Trust’s CSA Manual, which has been mainstreamed across public schools in Zimbabwe. He also discussed the Students Agricultural Innovation and Development (SAID) programme, which aims to connect colleges and communities to create student-led CSA interventions *to* address community need. Nemashakwe underlined the challenges of technology transfer to promote climate change adaptation in agriculture, including: limited extension services; high capital costs; and the necessity for developing gender-sensitive technologies. He concluded by outlining Green Impact Trust’s priorities for Zimbabwean agriculture, which center around the development of CSA “centers of excellence” matched to each of Zimbabwe’s five agricultural zones, building capacity among farmers, and research and development into agricultural techniques.

Leslie Debornes, CUTS International, Geneva, described her organization’s PACT East African Community project, which stands at the nexus of climate change, food security, agriculture, and trade. She highlighted that through the project, CUTS has organized workshops which aim to help climate negotiators appreciate the importance of including agriculture in high-level dialogue, as well as develop shared positions to bring to the negotiations table. She said the project aims to help share knowledge and build stakeholder capacity to promote coherent strategies at the international, national, and regional levels. Debornes stressed that stakeholder engagement is critical to CUTS’ work, and that most the organizations’ activities are developed on demand, stemming from frequent networking events and regular exchanges with agricultural stakeholders. Debornes concluded that, while there exists a need to support stakeholders’ participation in United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations, it is equally necessary for them to be empowered to influence appropriate decisions at national and regional levels.

Frank Fass-Metz,Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ),Germany, described Germany’s role as a provider of climate financing, urging that climate change and food security are key international aid issues for the future. He underlined the importance of identifying the impacts of climate change on agriculture and food security, stressing that agriculture developments must be considered in light of future climate change impacts. In concluding, he raised the example of BMZ’s support of knowledge-sharing regarding livestock research, which is essential to furthering both mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Martin Frick, UNFCCC,stressed that, while the agriculture sector needs the support of the international climate regime, the climate regime equally needs the support of agriculture to develop effective policies. Stressing that the successful implementation of NDCs is “where the rubber hits the road,” he explained that climate negotiators were initially reluctant to include agriculture in negotiations, lest it unfairly increase the mitigation burden in the Global South. He stressed the importance of success stories of on-the-ground adaptation in order to build developing countries’ trust in a global climate regime. He also raised the broader co-benefits of agricultural adaptation to climate change including: rural development, disaster risk reduction, gender equality, greenhouse gas mitigation, and water security, which can all emerge from adequate adaptation schemes. Frick also praised the private sector’s increased responsible investment in farmers, which provide the financial security by which adaptation can occur.

In the ensuing discussion, participants considered: FAO support in African states; the role of smallholder farmers; other possible areas of intervention regarding livestock; and the interventions of the private sector. In response to a question about smallholder farmers in the Global South, participants raised the need for smallholder farmers to be organized in order to interact with different market mechanisms.

Bernoux highlighted a series of regional analyses on NDC implementation published by the TWG on Agriculture, Food Security and Land Use of the FAO, that are now publicly available.  In closing, Frick urged that in creating successful agricultural adaptations, NDCs need to be implemented in the style of the Sustainable Development Goals, “leaving no one behind.”