The 3rd Global Conference on Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security and Climate Change was held from 3 to 5 December 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa and included high-level discussions on a Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance. The Conference was organized by the governments of the Republic of South Africa, the Netherlands, and in collaboration with other partners, including FAO and the World Bank. The 3rd Global Conference in South Africa provided the platform for global leaders; practitioners; scientists; farmers; organized agriculture; civil society; the private sector; and NGOs to discuss and share experiences on successes, and to deliberate the challenges and threats to food and nutrition security under the impact of climate change

The first Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security, and Climate Change was held in The Hague, Oct. 31 – Nov. 5, 2010. The conference, organized by the government of the Netherlands in close cooperation with the governments of Ethiopia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, and Vietnam, the World Bank, and the FAO, was the first global conference of its kind to bring together the agendas of agriculture, food security and climate change. Participants hailed from 80 countries including 60 government ministers, as well as representatives of international and regional organizations, civil society, the private sector, farmers’ organizations and the scientific community. The meeting at The Hague, the Netherlands, was informed by a preparatory meeting focusing on Africa that was organized by the African Union Commission and the government of Ethiopia in September 2010.

The Conference sought to mobilize action for achieving climate-smart agriculture as a means to enhance sustainable productivity and incomes, resilience to climate change and carbon sequestration. The Conference emphasized the need for scaled-up action and called upon partners to implement and further develop the roadmap, individually and collectively within a broad informal set of partnerships between all stakeholders.

In September 2012, the second Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change was held in Viet Nam, where agriculture ministers called for utilization of climate-smart agricultural practices to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and build resilience to environmental pressures while simultaneously assisting farmers adapt to climate change while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The objectives of the conference were to share leadership perspectives, explore challenges, and grasp new opportunities for climate‐smart agriculture. Discussions focused on learning from country strategies, financing climate-smart agriculture, and agriculture within the UN climate negotiations.

The second Global Conference took stock of developments over the previous years, including proposals for implementation. It also set new and more concrete priorities for action while demonstrating early action on climate –smart agriculture as a driver for green growth. The Conference identified what needs to happen for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, related land use, and water management to deliver on increased productivity, reduced emissions, increased sequestration, environmental sustainability, better livelihoods and food security. It also showcased issues and shared knowledge on replicable good practices in climate resilient, low-emissions agriculture, livestock, fisheries, forestry and watershed management and demonstrated the potential for scaling up in a sustainable manner.

Ms. Marlise Bornman, President of SASAE, attended the 3rd Global Conference and would like to share the papers that were delivered with all the Members of SASAE. Please feel free to browse through them.