A VIEW FROM ACP FARMERS: SUCCESSES TO DATE AND

NEEDS FOR THE FUTURE

Ishmael D. Sunga (Chief Executive Officer)

Presented at:

Brussels Policy Briefing no 29: “Climate change, agriculture and food security: proven approaches and new investments”

Brussels, 27 September 2012

Presentation structure

• About SACAU • SACAU’s position on agriculture and

climate change negotiations • Successes to date• Future needs

About SACAU- membership (1/4)

Seychelles

Madagascar

- Botswana Agricultural Union (BAU)

- Lesotho National Farmers Union (LENAFU)

- Coalition Paysanne de Madagascar (CPM)- Confederation des Agriculteurs Malagasy (FEKRITAMA)

- Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM)

- National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM)

- Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU)

- Seychelles Farmers Association (SeyFA)- Agri South Africa (Agri SA)

- União Nacional de Camponeses (UNAC)

- Agricultural Council of Tanzania (ACT)

- Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU)

- Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe (CFU)

= 16 SACAU Membersin 12 Countries in Southern Africa

- Swaziland National Agricultural Union (SNAU)

- Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU)

3 Membership applications currently being processed

About SACAU (2/4)

• Core members – 16 general interest FOs in 12 countries– Majority of members (12/16) are smallholder Farmers’

organisations (FOs)– Growing membership: 3 membership applications under

consideration• Associated members:

– Regional commodity associations – Regional agribusiness associations (e.g agro- processors

and dealers) – Other regional agric-related value chain actors (e.g

cooperatives)

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About SACAU (3/4)

• Vision: A vibrant, prosperous and sustainable farming sector that ensures food security and contributes to economic growth in Southern Africa

• Mission: To be the main voice of farmers on regional, continental and global matters, and to promote and ensure strong and effective farmers’ organisations in all countries in Southern Africa.

• Values: include consultative, non-discriminatory (inclusiveness), subsidiarity and complementarity with members, professionalism, impartiality and political neutrality

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About SACAU (4/4)

• Advocacy on regional, global and continental matters

• Strengthening of capacity of farmers’ organisations

• Provision of agriculture-related information to members and stakeholders

• Plus: gender, HIV/AIDS and environment as cross cutting issues

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SACAU’s position on agriculture and climate change negotiations (1/3)

· Call for a secured text on agriculture in the UNFCCC negotiations in the common vision for Long-Term Cooperative Action (LCA)

· Advocate, in particular, for agriculture to be decoupled from bunker fuels and for trade related issues to be handled separately under the international trade negotiations

· Call for a work programme for agriculture under the Subsidiary Board for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) that covers both adaptation and mitigation, to maximise synergies and counter the trade-offs between the two, informed by science and aimed especially at meeting the needs of farmers in developing countries

· Call for binding arrangements in the post Kyoto regime· Advocate for the rationalisation of any mitigation measures and targets

that would be required from agriculture in order not to compromise productivity and food security goals, and more broadly, sustainable growth and development

SACAU’s position on agriculture and climate change negotiations (2/3)

•Advocate for greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting systems in agriculture, which combine the current area-based accounting with efficiency-based accounting•Urge Annex 1 countries to honour the pledges they make for financing adaptation and mitigation in developing countries and reiterate that they commit new, additional and predictable financial support•Urge the global community to provide resources support Africa’s initiatives and frameworks in responding to climate change•Call for adequate allocation of Green Climate Fund resources to agriculture and advocate for the participation of farmers’ organisations in the Fund’s governing bodies•Advocate for the development of new innovative ways of financing climate change adaptation and mitigation •Advocate for simplification of the financing mechanism put in place within the framework of the UNFCCC, especially the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), to make them more accessible to farmers in developing countries

SACAU’s position on agriculture and climate change negotiations (3/3)

· Call for transparency and inclusive governance of climate finance resources in the future

· Urge the international community to support early action programmes that mainstream adaptation and mitigation in agriculture, through regional and national institutions and programmes

· Call for inclusion of agriculture in The Technology Mechanism established by the global climate negotiations to facilitate enhanced action on technology development and transfer in developing countries

· Affirm their commitment to outcomes of the global climate negotiations that do not aggravate the current levels of the GHG emissions or compromise the contribution of the agricultural sector to food security, rural livelihoods, sustainable growth and development now and in the future

Success to date

• Inclusion of agriculture in the COP 17 negotiation text • SBSTA given a mandate to consider how agriculture should be fitted in

the cc agrement with the view of adopting these recommendations at the next COP

• SACAU and other farmers’ organisations made submissions to SBSTA • Increased awareness, knowledge and understanding of CC issues by

farmers and farmers’ organisations (FOs)• Improved engagement by farmers’ organisations in CC-related matters • Increased involvement of farmers in CC negotiations at both national

and regional levels, particularly in the process of COP17• Improved understanding by negotiators of the need to include a

specific text on agriculture in the draft agreement

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Future needs (1/2)

• Increased and timely access by farmers to critical information on climate change for both strategic/planning and operational needs

• Greater awareness and understanding of the impacts of CC and possible mitigation and adaption measures by farmers and their representative organisations

• Increased access by farmers to affordable long term development finance for both adaptation and mitigation purposes, including related technology

• Promotion of both subsistence/household food security and commercial scale technologies

• Make climate smart agriculture more attractive profitable- e.g reward farmers better for the environmental services they provide

• Increased and sustained involvement of farmers’ organisations in climate change negotiations particularly at national level- need for technical/finance support

• Provision of monetary and fiscal incentives in order to stimulate the adoption of CSA, including subsidisation of crop insuarance

• Increased investment in technical R&D as well as in socio-economic research, including in improved valuation models and the development of innovative climate financing mechanism

• The issue is not for farmers’ alone- need for all players along the agricultural value chains to also share the responsibility and costs for mitigation and adaptation

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Future needs (2/2)

· Strengthening/development of negotiation capacities and other technical skills of farmers’ organisations – need to be more assertive and proactive

· More structured engagement between negotiators and farmers at both regional and national levels

· Establishment of private public sector partnerships on CC issues (e.g awareness raising/information dissemination)

· Increased public sector investment/spending in climate-related infrastructure

· Harmonised negotiation positions between government departments, as well as within regional economic communities

· Need for farmers’ organisations to develop their own work-programmes , regardless of the outcomes of CC negotiations, and mobilise technical and financial support – SACAU has already started this process

· Increased global resources and better governance of such resources to ensure that they reach the intended targets

Thank you for your attention