In preparation for the September 23rd Climate Summit organized by the UN Secretary General in New York, the Abu Dhabi Ascent took place on May 4th and 5th 2014.
The meeting was attended by 60 participants from Governments, Regional Organizations, Civil Society, Business, and Intergovernmental Organizations. It fully endorsed the inclusion of food and agriculture in the Secretary-General’s Climate Summit to enable scaled up action on two major challenges that must be addressed to secure a long-term future for humanity – nourishing a growing population and healing a warming planet.
The Group of Friends of the Alliance of which GFAR is part of alongside bilateral donors lead by the Netherlands, partnering countries like South Africa and Vietnam, and international institutions including CGIAR, FAO, IFAD, USAID, USDA, The World Bank, etc. will continue its work in advocating and facilitating the building of the CSA Alliance.
Forthcoming benchmark activities leading to the launch of a CSA Alliance in September 2014, will include different consultations planed by the three Climate Smart Agriculture Action Groups on Knowledge, Enabling environment and Investment including a side event to the International Conference "Family Farming and Research" organized by France in Montpellier, early June 2014 and a regional consultation with global perspective in Hanoi, hosted by the Governments of Vietnam, South Africa, Netherlands, with GFAR, FAO and ADB as co-organizers, between 9 and 11 June 2014, and a Global consultation in The Hague in July 2014.