Bibliothèque

This activity report was prepared in preparation for a joint workshop. The workshop, which brought together a wide range of experts, including representatives from governments, academia, as well as inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, provided an important first opportunity for considered discussions on a complex set of critical issues that has so far received little attention.

A concrete follow-up includes the establishment of an intergovernmental UNECE Expert Group considering the subject in depth (2011-2013, now extended to 2017) and publishing a substantive final report, including policy recommendations, in 2014 (“Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation for International Transport Networks »). UNCTAD participated actively in the work of the Expert Group and continues to do so, following the extension of the EG mandate.

This activity report provides records of the deliberations and makes the insights of participating experts available to a broader audience. The meeting aimed to help (a) advance the understanding of vulnerabilities and risks, as well as associated adaptation requirements; and (b) identify existing best practices, information and data sources, issues requiring further study, and partners and mechanisms for effective collaboration. 

This guidance document explains that given the strategic role of ports as part of the globalized trading system, adapting ports in different parts of the world to the impacts of climate change and building their resilience, is an urgent imperative. A good understanding of the relevant risks and vulnerabilities based on accurate information, including climate and socio-economic data at the local level, is a pre-requisite for informed decision making and well-designed and effective adaptation response measures that enhance the robustness of systems, structures and processes and minimize the adverse effects of climatic factors. In this context, cooperation among a wide range of public and private sector stakeholders at the local, national, regional and international level is required. To help advance the important debate on how best to move forward UNCTAD convened the Ad Hoc Expert Meeting on “Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation: A Challenge for Global Ports”, providing a platform for considered discussion of relevant issues.

This is an UNCTAD edited book co-published by the UN with Earthscan (Routledge/Taylor & Francis), one of the leading publishers in the field of environment and sustainability. This book adopts a multidisciplinary approach and provides detailed insight on a range of the potential implications of climate change for this key sector of global trade.  It includes commissioned contributions from experts from academia, international organizations – such as the IMO, the UNFCCC secretariat, OECD, IEA and the World Bank – as well as the shipping and port industries. 

This activity report reflects the outcome of the discussions that took place at the UNCTAD ad Hoc Expert Meeting held in the lead up to the Third International Conference on SIDS (Samoa Conference 2014). The Ad Hoc Expert Meeting provided a platform for expert discussions on transport-related challenges facing SIDS and on how best to address these challenges, in the run-up to the Samoa SIDS Conference. Relevant issues considered include, inter alia, the  transport and trade logistics challenges in SIDS: current state of play; sectoral interlinkages between transport and trade as well as other key economic sectors of relevance to SIDS, in particular, tourism and fisheries; climate change impacts on transport infrastructure in SIDS and adaptation needs: financing as a cross-cutting enabling factor; priority action areas and effective response measures; and, the role of partnerships, relevant partners and collaboration mechanisms.

This policy document highlights some of the key challenges in transport and trade logistics of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and identifies areas of potential action with a view to meeting these challenges and explores potential opportunities. Considerations raised seek to inform deliberations at the meeting and stimulate discussions with a view to shaping the way forward, in particular, in the light of the outcome of the Samoa Conference and the post-2015 development agenda.

This activity report presents the third session of the multi-year expert meeting, which focused on some of the particular transport and trade logistics challenges that the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face in connection with their remoteness and geographical location. The report states that with SIDS being completely dependent on ports and airports, climate change risks such as rising sea levels, increasing temperatures and more frequent and/or intense storms pose serious threats to vital transport infrastructure, services and operations. 

This summary by the chairperson presents the outcome of a joint seminar, co-organized by UNCTAD, in an interdivisional effort and in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat and the International Oceans Institute. The event was held on 10-12 May 2016 in Geneva and focused on SDG 14 as well as on other Sustainable Development Goals and targets and considered, inter alia, a range of interconnected issues related to sustainable transport, ship-source pollution prevention and control and climate change adaptation for ports and other critical transport infrastructure. 

This brief gives an overview of the enteric fermentation, which is a natural part of the digestive process of ruminants where microbes decompose and ferment feed present in the digestive tract to produce energy and protein along with methane.

This guidance document presents evidence on today and tomorrow’s impact of climate change on agriculture and food systems. The document assesses the options to make agriculture and food systems resilient to climate change impacts, while minimizing environmental impacts. It also shows that making agriculture and food systems sustainable is both economically and technically feasible, however, barriers to the adoption of appropriate technologies and management practices will have to be lowered, especially for smallholder farmers and women farmers amongst them. 

This brief presents shows that approaches to reducing deforestation and forest degradation and strengthening forest governance – such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) – can be effective in countering forest loss if they are jointly implemented. Both are incentive-based mechanisms to promote the sustainable management of forests, and both place strong emphasis on forest governance for their success.

This guidance document shows that it is possible to increase agricultural productivity and food security while halting or even reversing deforestation, highlighting the successful efforts of Costa Rica, Chile, the Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Tunisia and Viet Nam. The document states that the integrated land-use planning is the key to balancing land uses, underpinned by the right policy instruments to promote both sustainable forests and agriculture.

This brief introduces the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/ International Atomic Energy Agency (FAO/IAEA) Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, which aims to optimize and strengthen the capacities of member countries in using nuclear and isotopic techniques to improve agricultural resilience and the adaptation to climate change. 

This guidance document presents the application of “Save and Grow” practices and technologies to production of the world’s key food security crops – maize, rice and wheat. With examples drawn from developing countries worldwide, the document shows how eco-friendly farming systems are helping smallholder producers to boost cereal yields, improve their incomes and livelihoods, conserve natural resources, reduce negative impacts on the environment, and build resilience to climate change. 

This guidance document presents a new paradigm of intensive crop production, one that is both highly productive and environmentally sustainable.

This brief introduces pulses into farming systems, which can be a key to increasing resilience to climate change.

This guidance document presents the key messages of FAO on climate change and food security. The document includes a synthesis of the most recent support provided by FAO to countries to face the impacts of climate change. It also brings together the most relevant knowledge on climate change including tools and methodologies. 

This technical document presents the scientific background of the SHARP tool, which is the Self‑evaluation and Holistic Assessment of climate Resilience of farmers and Pastoralists (SHARP) tool. This tool was developed over two years with the participation of over 150 academics, practitioners and civil society and also field tested in Angola, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and Uganda with farmers and pastoralists. 

This guidance document aims at identifying and documenting existing climate-smart agriculture practices in Ethiopia that enable stakeholders to understand the opportunities and constraints to adopting particular climate-smart agriculture technologies or practices.

This brief suggests that strengthening the resilience of smallholders’ livelihoods would help reduce human suffering and the financial costs associated with disasters.