Siphiwe Ngwenya, Gauteng Economic Development Agency, South Africa, emphasized the concept of fair trade based on sustainability of production, not only manufacturing, and reduction of carbon emission.

Moderator Hans Nilsagård, Ministry for Rural Affairs, Sweden, introduced the key issue on desertification and degradation, and the relationships and synergy between zero-net target and carbon emissions.

Alexander Mueller, Assistant Director-General, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), discussed the importance of the world’s non-renewable soil resources, referring to FAO`s first State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture Report. He identified the major causes of agricultural systems at risk: loss of biodiversity; land and water scarcity; and deforestation. Calling for an integrated effort, Mueller described the synergies for soils, food security and environmental decision-making processes. He urged for improvement of the soil’s productive capacity by drastically reducing total food waste, post-harvest loss, and addressing the need for increased storage capacity.

Uriel Safriel, Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Israel, spoke about the “vicious” circle of land degradation and climate change leading to: increase in extreme events and soil erosion; reduction in economic value, carbon fixation, and global stock. He demonstrated the continuation of the cycle where these events are magnified every time the cycle repeats. Safriel urged for replacing this with a “virtuous “circle that would ensure the continued existence of natural ecosystems and the provision of its services.

Graham von Maltitz, Council for Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa, focused on the southern African perspective of dry lands´ features: tightly coupled human-environmental systems; land tenure that is often communal and weak and requires special considerations; and communities that exist in integrated landscapes subsisting on dry forests, crop agriculture, pastoralists, and non-timber products.

Jesper Hornberg, Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund, introduced the fund’s strategy of selecting projects based on competitive business ideas. He said key points are: the projects have to be sustainable; adaptation must be addressed; and funds have to be leveraged from investors to match the input.

Elwyn Grainger-Jones, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), identified existing challenges in affecting attitudes rather than in developing policy. He described agronomical best practices that double as methods for emission reductions and climate resilience, legitimizing IFAD´s aim to utilize the energy and finance behind climate change and fuel the scaling up of these techniques.

Michael Kidd, University of KwaZulu-Natal, IUCN, asserted that soil is a biological resource that demands attention on the same level as biodiversity. He reviewed the process of developing draft protocols for the security and sustainable use of soil to contain: guiding principles; key elements of strategies consolidated; guidelines for tools and requirements; linkages between instruments for soil and non-soil conventions; and motivation for domestic uptake motivation. Illustrating the advantages and disadvantages of placing the protocol under various conventions, he concluded the best area for implementation is within UNCCD.

Mpume Ntlokwana, Department of Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries, South Africa, presented the LandCare programme, developed in collaboration with stakeholders, that has created food security, job creation and a better quality of life. She reviewed the guiding principles of the programme to, inter alia: integrate sustainable natural resource management; foster group or community involvement for ownership; support livelihoods; promote capacity building; and plan bottom-up policy.

Noel Oettlé, Environmental Monitoring Group, demonstrated how climate-smart agriculture driven on a local level, versus government or carbon finance, is likely to promote ownership and success. He illustrated the positive impact of climate friendly production to degraded landscapes. He warned that linking funding to mitigation and adaptation could serve government and businesses over poor land-users. He suggested avoiding an obsession with innovation and encouraged design and governance go to the local level. He reflected on the Nairobi Work Programme, to assist parties in developing countries improve understanding of vulnerability and make informed decisions with a framework for stakeholder engagement.

Daniel Ngwenya, Representative of Commercial Farmers Union, South Africa, shared his experience from a community-managed forest. He relayed ways that his community has sustainably managed the forest through sharing experiences with other community-managed forests, such as intercropping of plants to increase income potential. He recounted recent recruitment, emphasizing the voluntary community initiative demonstrating commitment to playing their part.

Olle Björk, Swedish Ministry of the Environment, underlined that the biggest challenge for his country´s plan is to lower emissions from international bunkers and car fleets. Björk concluded that national policies and actions are efficient, combining taxes and emissions trade for a broad and sustained popular support.

Jernej Stritih, Slovenia, pointed to his country´s challenges to lower emissions in the transport sector with an increasing car fleet and new roads. He noted the need to invest in adaptation to increase his country´s resilience. Stritih underlined the keys to success, including: reducing primary energy use; stimulating investments into renewables; and building capacity.

Olivier De Guibert, Ministry of Environment, France, noted French targets for industry, household and transport by 2050. He explained the methodology used by his country to predict emissions and highlighted the dedicated climate-energy tool called SceGES. He noted agriculture is the hardest target to reach.

Georg Maue, BMU, explained the future of energy in Germany towards an age of renewable, and highlighted Germany´s goal of having 60% of renewable energy supply by 2050. He underscored Germany´s moratorium on nuclear power, which will be phased-out completely by 2022.

Ariane Labat, European Commission (EC), outlined the roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy by 2050. She noted that the 2020 policy framework aims to foster sustainable growth and decouple growth from emissions. She underscored the need for the energy sector to decarbonize first, followed by the transport sector.

Phil Wynn Owen, UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), outlined UK climate and energy policies, including: legally- binding carbon budgets; independent committee on climate change to issue recommendations to government; climate levy; and market-based mechanisms.

Kandeh Yumkella, Director-General of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), emphasized the need for information on renewable energy technologies and strategies, suggesting: a suite of policies and strategies to implement; the steps to implement change; the size of investment needed; and the business model can be changed.

Mark Radka, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said the Clean Energy Solutions Center (CESC) aims to serve as a “one-stop-shop” to provide policy information to governments on: clean energy technology transfer; free assistance; and peer-to-peer, targeted and tailored country support.

Langston James “Kimo” Goree VI, Director of International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) Reporting Services, spoke about the IISD reporting team which, as a knowledge-broker and trusted intermediary group, takes large amounts of information and synthesizes it into digestible chunks. He said the partnership with National Renewable Energy Laboratory, through the CESC, will provide a knowledge environment to all people who use this data.

John Mollet, International Copper Association (ICA), said his organization aims to contribute towards improved quality of life worldwide through safe, effective, efficient delivery of gas, energy and water. He noted the value of strategic partnerships with all interested countries.

Helen Bennett, Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, Australia, spoke of her government’s view to: build an enabling environment; price carbon; strengthen multi-lateral partnerships; and create a hub of knowledge on issues such as carbon-capture and storage technologies.