COP16. (FINANCE DAY)
Explore the pivotal role of finance in addressing land degradation and building drought resilience with two global leaders: Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, GEF CEO and Chairperson and Louise Baker Managing Director of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification Global Mechanism.

Key insights:

🌱 Bridging the financing gap for land restoration goals
💡 Paradigm shifts in funding & action for 2030 targets
🤝 Collaborative engagement across sectors and stakeholders
🏛️ Empowering local governments for sustainable impact

Hola, comparto información de eventos paralelos de FUNDESEM en la próxima COP 16 en Riad.

Hi! Join Fundesem's side events at COP 16.

Únase a nosotros en la COP16 para explorar cómo las innovaciones del ¨CGIAR¨ abordan desafíos críticos como:
-Combatir la desertificación restaurando tierras degradadas y aumentando su capacidad para absorber emisiones de carbono;
-Mejorar la eficiencia del agua para optimizar el uso de los recursos en regiones áridas y semiáridas;
-Apoyar la seguridad alimentaria y la adaptación al clima mediante la intensificación sostenible en las tierras cultivables existentes;

A través de estas sesiones, el CGIAR mostrará el poder de la investigación, la ciencia y las alianzas para construir un futuro resiliente, en particular para las comunidades más vulnerables a los impactos climáticos. Esta es una oportunidad vital para interactuar con líderes de opinión, compartir ideas y explorar soluciones viables que se puedan implementar a nivel mundial.

El enlace de registro es: https://events.cgiar.org/desertificationcop16?crmid=sliu@unccd.int&hem=…
Después de registrarse, puede encontrar el programa detallado.

Join us at COP16 to explore how CGIAR’s innovations address critical challenges such as:

Combatting desertification by restoring degraded land and increasing its capacity to absorb carbon emissions.
Enhancing water efficiency to optimize resource use in arid and semi-arid regions.
Supporting food security and climate adaptation through sustainable intensification on existing arable land.
Through these sessions, CGIAR will showcase the power of research, science, and partnerships to build a resilient future, particularly for the communities most vulnerable to climate impacts. This is a vital opportunity to engage with thought leaders, share insights, and explore actionable solutions that can be implemented globally.

The registration link is: https://events.cgiar.org/desertificationcop16?crmid=sliu@unccd.int&hem=…
It seems that only after registration, you can find the detailed programme.

What value does water have to Tanzania’s economy?

Original source is GWP, web link here: https://www.gwp.org/en/About/more/news/2024/what-value-does-water-have-…

Have you ever wondered about the economic value of water to a country? The Ministry of Water of Tanzania, the Wami Ruvu Basin Water Board and GWP, with support from the SDG 6 IWRM Support Programme, have provided a preliminary answer to that question for Tanzania: 3.31%, in just three sectors.
The results of this detailed analysis were launched at a high-level hybrid event on 31 October 2024, connecting dozens of interested stakeholders in the Ministry of Water, in Dodoma, with many more online participants.

Held upon invitation from the Minister of Water of Tanzania, H.E. Jumaa Hamidu Aweso, and moderated by GWP’s CEO and Executive Secretary, Alan AtKisson, the event brought together panellists from the Ministry of Water, the Development Partners Group on WASH, FAO’s regional office for Africa, the Secretariat of the African Union Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP) and the Valuing Water Initiative, to delve into the findings of the report.

Covering the value of water for three important sectors for Tanzania’s economy, namely agriculture, manufacturing and mining, the publication makes a strong case for why water is undervalued in financial terms compared to the significant economic value it brings to the country. Indeed, Dr George Lugomela, Director for Water Resources at the Ministry of Water, stated that this report is part of Tanzania’s efforts to introduce better water pricing mechanisms that reflect the true value of water, and hoped that the study could ultimately lead to better water financing models.

Shamiso Kumbirai, of GWP Southern Africa, and the Secretariat of the AIP, noted that Tanzania has been a leader in the continent on this topic, which is aligned with the findings of the International High-Level Panel on Water Investments for Africa, which is aiming to raise at least US$30 billion per year by 2030 to reach the water-related SDGs at the continental level. She highlighted that the economic value at risk from not investing in water normally dwarfs the actual budgetary allocation for water, highlighting that the value at risk is often not quantified.

In his closing remarks, Joakim Harlin, representing the United Nations Environment Programme, congratulated Tanzania on its efforts to put an economic value on water, but also encouraged stakeholders to look beyond the economic value of water, considering the different values that water brings to stakeholders, including for freshwater ecosystems, who are a stakeholder often without a voice. He stated the support of UNEP and of the SDG 6 IWRM Support Programme to Tanzania for the next steps in this journey, and to other countries interested in replicating this experience.

Enhancing Urban Climate Action Ambition through Multilevel Governance
12 Nov 2024 | Baku, Azerbaijan

The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), in partnership with the Southern Denmark University, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Italy), the University of Sheffield (UK), and the Ministries of Environment of Sri Lanka and Estonia (Parties to COP), organized an official COP29 side event titled “Enhancing Urban Climate Action Ambition through Multilevel Governance” on 12 November 2024 from 18:30 to 20:00 hours. This event underscored the significance of multilateral governance in accelerating climate actions to mitigate disaster risks and boost urban resilience. Dr. Senaka Basnayake, Chief, Climate Resilience of ADPC emphasized the need for regional drought risk management strategies to support national initiatives. He highlighted the role of such strategies in helping urban authorities promote climate actions like water conservation, WASH improvements, green infrastructure expansion, and risk-informed urban planning. He also announced that ADPC, in partnership with UNCCD, will launch a regional drought risk management strategy for South Asia at the UNCCD COP16 in December in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Full news: https://www.adpc.net/igo/contents/Media/media-news.asp?pid=1981

Societal drought vulnerability and the Syrian climate-conflict nexus are better explained by agriculture than meteorology

This is an interesting research article exploring the relationship between drought and peace/violence based on evidence from Syria.
Full text: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-022-00405-w
Abstract: Droughts are often suspected to increase the risk of violent conflict through agricultural production shocks, and existing studies often explore these links through meteorological proxies. In Syria, an alleged agricultural collapse caused by drought is assumed to have contributed to increased migration and the conflict outbreak in 2011. Here we use satellite derived cropland and climate data to study land use dynamics in relation to drought and conflict in Syria. We show that claims of an agricultural collapse cannot be substantiated as croplands saw a fast recovery after the 2007–2009 drought. Our study highlights the importance of considering land-use dynamics for understanding linkages between meteorological droughts, agricultural impacts, migration and conflict. Furthermore, our results suggest that the influential drought-migration-conflict narrative for Syria needs to be reexamined, with implications for wider discussions of how climate change might alter conflict risk.

Ecuador declares 60-day state of emergency to help battle wildfires

Original source:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/18/ecuador-declares-60-day-state…

Ecuador has declared a 60-day state of emergency as the South American country has been hit by a severe drought and record wildfires that have razed large swaths of territory over the past weeks.

The Ecuadorian Secretariat for Risk Management (SNGR), the country’s emergency management agency, said in a statement on Monday that the state of emergency was declared “due to forest fires, water deficit and drought”.

I personally think that, forest fires, water deficit, and drought, are highly interrelated with each other. This actually calls for a more interdisciplinary and cross-ministry perspective to approach drought related disaster risk reduction.