Nature @ COP27 Daily Brief – Nov. 16

Briefing Room 16.11.22

Posted by NATURE4CLIMATE
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COP 27 is finally here and in addition to an exciting events schedule and news coming out of the Nature Zone and Nature’s Newsroom, we are keeping our eyes and ears out for anything nature related inside the Blue Zone. Our Daily Nature Brief at COP27 will be coming out every morning from 7-18 November with an inside scoop into the most important climate conference of the year. Don’t forget to subscribe to receive the brief directly in your email.

BIODIVERSITY DAY

Today is Biodiversity Day and is slated to be one of the most prominent for nature-related events and discussions. Before we share the details on today’s events, we wanted to share Nature4Climate’s Week One Recap of the most prominent nature-related news and a video from The Nature Conservancy on week one insights. Highlights include: a spotlight on Africa, Brazil’s return to the world stage as a climate leader, and new reports and tools to scale up implementation.

Tomorrow, we’ll provide an update on negotiations, which are making some progress, but still need an injection of political will from the ministers on the ground. But today, let’s focus on Biodiversity Day. IUCN and the COP27 Presidency are launching the ENACT NBS Partnership today. This effort aims to enhance the protection and resilience of at least:

  • 1 billion vulnerable people (including at least 500 million women and girls);
  • Up to 2.4 billion hectares of healthy natural ecosystems are secured through the protection of 45 million ha, sustainable management of 2 billion ha, and restoration of 350 million ha.
  • And significantly increase global mitigation efforts through protecting, conserving and restoring carbon-rich terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.

We also expect more updates on progress, and strong connections being made between COP27 and UNFCCC outcomes to COP15 implementation. You can find the details for the Presidency’s official program here, which takes place in meeting Room 20, area E4. Below is the agenda for the Nature Zone.

Civil Society Open Letter – Put Food Systems Back In Koronivia Mandate

Yesterday, more than 30 organisations from the global food community, released an open letter to negotiators at COP27, demanding that food systems approaches be reinstated into the text of the Koronivia mandate, which is currently being negotiated. The term had been included in previous versions but removed in the latest draft. Morgan Gillespy, Executive Director of FOLU had the following thoughts to share on the effort to get the text reinstated.

“If food security and the livelihoods of farmers are truly to be at the heart of climate negotiations in the future, then food systems need to be recognised in the Koronivia Process and this process decisively taken forward at COP27.

Part of the challenge is to ensure that the Koronivia Process addresses food systems as a whole — from production, to nutrition, to diets. This would mean a stronger set of outcomes for the benefit of people, nature, and climate alike.

If the Koronivia Dialogue concludes weakly this week and does not adopt a strong food systems approach, there is a real risk that food systems will remain a low priority within the UNFCCC and that we will have lost a major opportunity to put food systems at the heart of the global climate effort.  COP27 is therefore a make-or-break moment for the food systems and climate agenda.”

News From Outside the COP

Lula’s attendance at COP27 has created a stir of excitement amongst participants eager to see Brazil take a leading role in climate and conservation on the world stage. The announcement of a formal alliance between Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a Lula proposed summit of Amazon countries and developed nations interested in conservation in 2023 are early signs that Brazil is committed to addressing the climate and nature crises. Lula is set to speak today and sure to draw crowds.

In broader international and climate news outside of Sharm El-Sheikh, the U.S. and China have resumed bilateral climate discussions after President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke at the G20 earlier this week. The resumption of talks between the two biggest annual greenhouse gas polluters re-energised negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh where major issues, including loss and damage, remain unsettled. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said Tuesday he will meet with China’s top climate official Xie Zhenhua later in the week.

Round Up 

  • Call for a Paris-Like Agreement at COP15. A high-level set of climate champions released a new letter urging leaders to step up action to address the accelerating loss of nature by delivering an ambitious and transformative global biodiversity agreement at COP15. The signatories include: Laurent Fabius, President of COP21, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, President of COP20 and CBD COP15 Action Agenda for Nature and People Champion Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC (2010-2016) Laurence Tubiana, France’s Climate Change Ambassador and Special Representative for COP21, and Nigel Topping, COP26 High level Climate Champion.
  • Enhancing Nature-based Solutions for Climate Transformation. IUCN and the COP27 Presidency are launching the ENACT NBS Partnership. This effort aims to enhance the protection and resilience of at least:
    • 1 billion vulnerable people (including at least 500 million women and girls);
    • Up to 2.4 billion hectares of healthy natural ecosystems are secured through the protection of 45 million ha, sustainable management of 2 billion ha, and restoration of 350 million ha.
    • And significantly increase global mitigation efforts through protecting, conserving and restoring carbon-rich terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.
  • Climate’s Secret Ally. WWF share a new report highlighting the power of natural ecosystems to both reduce emissions and help communities adapt and build resilience in a warming world. The report draws upon the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s work to highlight the interlinked emergencies of human-induced climate change and biodiversity loss and makes the case for better integrating nature into the global response to the climate crisis.

NBS IN THE NEWS

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