Background

For answering climate objectives, carbon farming and standards are under development in Europe and at a global scale. Insurance and other financial solutions to disaster risk and to mitigate climate change have increasingly been recognized as an integral component of climate change adaptation and mitigation, especially for the agricultural sector. This side event will serve as a dynamic platform to discuss the diverse contributions that the cattle sector makes in Europe, the challenge it faces and the focused efforts underway to reduce GHG emissions. This session will also highlight the critical role that smallholder farmer networks can play in up-scaling climate risk insurance which has increasingly been recognized as an integral component of climate change adaptation, particularly in the agricultural sector. Challenges faced by smallholder farmers and factors to be considered to enable climate risk insurance uptake and benefits for the poor and vulnerable will also be discussed.

Speakers

Lannette Chiti
Fairtrade international

Jennifer Phillips
Munich Climate Insurance Initiative

Dr. Godefroy Grosjean
International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)

Time and Location

4 Dec, 14:30-16:00, EU Pavilion: Room Helsinki

Background

This session highlights the challenges faced by small farms, lessons learned from Climate Risk Insurance activities and the role that large farmers’ networks, such as Fairtrade could play in overcoming the obstacles faced in scaling insurance to date.

Speakers and Moderation

Lannette Chiti
Fairtrade International
Germany

Dr. Maxime Souvignet
Munich Climate Insurance Initiative
Germany

Sönke Kreft
Munich Climate Insurance Initiative

Luis Mendoza
Fairtrade Small Producer Organization

Jennifer Phillips
United Nations University
Germany

Time and Location

6 Dec, 13:30-14:30, German Pavilion

Background

Multi-level governance refers to the mechanisms of steering, involving increasing connectivity between spheres of governance. It recognises the influence of government institutions operating at different scales, as well as diversification of actors. When talking about multi-level governance, supranational, national, subnational and local levels of government are seen to be interconnected, with political developments at one level impacting the other levels. In this regard, climate governance can be characterised as a multi-level governance process, since it shares the responsibility for action between government levels, as well as across multiple actors from different sectors.

The Paris Agreement and its accompanying decisions acknowledge the importance of involving all levels of government, as well as other non-State actors for its implementation. It further confirms that adaptation is a global challenge faced by all with local, subnational, national, regional and international dimensions. In addition, the IPCC 1.5 Special Report recognised that addressing climate change requires ‘accountable multilevel governance’ including a variety of state and non-state actors and institutions from the government, industry, civil society and scientific institutions. In this regard, and in order to develop and implement effective adaptation strategies, all levels of government need to be involved in the process.

In addition, climate adaptation action by regional and local governments is key in promoting resilience to the impacts of climate change, helping to reduce weather- and climate-related vulnerability in urban and rural areas. However, coordination among different levels of government is a complex process which can be challenging to address.

This side event will therefore discuss the topics of climate change adaptation and disaster risk financing as a multi-level governance challenge. Organised by Regions4 Sustainable Development, in collaboration with the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) and the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII), it will highlight good practices and experiences from different levels of government. It will further reveal common challenges and provide recommendations for policymakers that could guide the development and implementation of national, regional and local adaptation plans and strategies.

Agenda

15:00 – 15:05 Welcome and introduction to the session

15:10 – 15:20 Keynote speech:

Mr Jean Lemire, Envoy for Climate Change, Québec, Canada

15:20 – 16:00 Panel: Adaptation and disaster risk financing in a multi-level governance context

·  Presentation of report on adaptation in a multi-level governance context Ms Elisa Sainz de Murieta, Postdoctoral Researcher, BC3

·  The Basque Country perspective

Ms Elena Moreno, Deputy Minister of Environment, Basque Country, Spain

·  LatAm regional government representative (tbd)

·  Vertical integration in the context of the NAP Process

Ms Angie Dazé, Associate, Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation, IISD

·  Disaster Risk Financing

Ms Jennifer Phillips, Munich Climate Insurance Initiative, MCII 

16:00 – 16:20 Q&A with audience

16:20 – 16:30 Closing remarks

Moderator:

Mr Iñaki Susaeta, Secretary-General Regions4

or

Ms Sara Kupka, Policy Officer Climate Change, Regions4 

Time and Location

9 Dec, 15:00-16:30, Room 5

Background

The report of the Global Commission on Adaptation highlights the need for new approaches in understanding risk, planning adaptation, as well as financing resilience strategies.

Bringing together public officials, academia, development actors, and the private sector, this session will discuss how to implement climate resilience strategies, financing disaster risk through adaptation, retention and transfer.

The session will (1) highlight the centrality of risk understanding in ensuring that climate risk finance is successful, pro-poor and inclusive, (2) it will discuss best practices from the field (e.g. CRAIC project), (3) identify challenges for risk transfer and adaptation finance, (4) showcase innovative uses of catastrophe risk models (ETH Zurich), (5) collate experience from the private sector in financing climate resilience, (6) offer testimonials from countries representatives and development agencies (7), and evidence how to unlock access to climate finance.

Time and Location

Dec 11, 2019 | 10:30-12:00 | EU Pavilion, Room Helsinki