Bonn April 2018

Brighter Green worked together with some of our colleagues on submissions for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). We then attended the Bonn Climate Change Conference from April 30th-May 10th to organize and partner in various events.

We created a submission for the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA), the main outcome of COP23 last year, with Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future and Loyola Marymount University (LA). We also provided input on the Climate Action Network (CAN) International’s submission to KJWA. This submission urges there to be more of a focus on issues related to agriculture and climate change at future COPs.

We’ve also taken part in the Talanoa Dialogue (a traditional word in Fijian that refers to telling a story, or having a conversation), which began earlier this year to take stock of the collective efforts of countries in relation to progress towards the Paris Agreement goals and to inform the preparation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs). This would allow more open and transparent conversations to take place and allow input from different stakeholders. You can read our submission here.

 

 

 

We hosted a successful side event on May 5th with The Nordic Council of Ministers, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, Loyola Marymount University, and Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins. The event was called “Eating for the Climate: Solutions for Climate Action, Public Health & Land Use Optimization” and speakers discussed promising opportunities and practical challenges of implementing demand-side agricultural mitigation policies, including the accounting mechanism, with a focus on incentive-driven approaches that can be replicated elsewhere and exchanges between countries. The speakers were Cristina Tirado, Loyola Marymount University; Caroline Wimberly, Brighter Green; Mia MacDonald, Brighter Green; Marie Persson, Nordic Food Policy Lab; and Erin Biehl, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.

Executive director, Mia MacDonald, also joined Global Forest Coalition (GFC) on their side event at May 7th. The event was called “Addressing the 4 Big Deforestation Drivers” and discussed the policies and measure that are required to address the 4 main drivers of deforestation in a rights-based, socially just, gender sensitive, and climate resilient manner. These drivers are beef, soy, palm oil, and wood consumption and production. The other speakers included, Isis Alvarez, GFC; Miguel Lovera, Iniciativa Amotocodie; Oliver Munnion, Biofuelwatch; and Nathalie Rengifo, Corporate Accountability International.