Africa Climate Smart Agriculture Summit will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from 15-16 May 2018, addressing the relationship between agriculture and poverty and climate change and agriculture
CSA opens up new funding opportunities for agricultural development, by allowing the sector to tap into climate finance for adaptation and mitigation.
Organised by the Aid & International Development Forum (AIDF), the Congress brings together senior representatives from ministries of agriculture, heads of major Agri-related public institutions, the UN agencies, agricultural firms, NGOs, farm associations, agriculture research and development institutes, investors, donors and the private sector.
African countries are disproportionally affected by the effects of climate change and it is expected that by 2080, due to climate change, 75 per cent of the African population will be at risk of hunger.
“Being the first such summit in Africa, holding it in Kenya portends great resonance. It is a big opportunity to push the CSA and nature-based approaches as a solution narrative considering the great publicity surrounding the governments ‘Big 4’ agenda that seeks to drive socioeconomic objectives,” said Richard Munang, regional climate change coordinator at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
“The summit will resonate very positively with the Kenyan stakeholders, both state and nonstate, and generate momentum for the solutions paradigm to take root across the continent,” Munang added.
The agenda will cover technological innovations, capacity building, innovative financing, partnerships and the use of big data to advance climate-smart agriculture practices across East Africa. The participants will discover how to secure financial investment for CSA initiatives, improve agricultural productivity and scale adoption of technological innovations in agricultural systems. Other prominent topics include ICT for agri and mAgri innovations and supporting farmers through technology, data collection and sharing.
More than 40 speaker panel including Gabriel Rugalema, representative of the FAO Kenya, Noelle Obrien, team leader of the Finance Innovation for Climate Change Fund, Richard Munang, regional climate change coordinator at the UNEP, Berber Kramer, research fellow of the International Food Policy Research Institute, Laban Ogallo, project coordinator at IGAD-UNDP and many more are expected to attend the event.
By offering keynote addresses, panel discussions and interactive roundtable sessions, the Congress enables robust debates on sustainable agricultural transformation and economic opportunities while ensuring sustainability for communities and the environment.
“This summit and its strategic thrust to drive investments and enablers of climate-smart agriculture are very timely especially now as the continent is leveraging on the inclusive wealth creation opportunities that agriculture presents to accelerate socio-economic transformation,” according to Munang.
To learn more about the Climate Smart Agriculture Summit, visit csa-africa.aidforum.org or email Madeleine Giles, marketing executive at
