To meet the urgent need to address climate change and achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, UN Secretary-General António Guterres convened a Summit in September 2019.
Climate Week NYC supported the Summit by providing a space for leading organizations around the world to extend action far and wide outside of the UN building and throughout the whole week.
Investing in Climate Change Adaptation Action through the LDCF
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This Ministerial Dialogue on the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), organized in the margins of the UN Secretary General's Climate Action Summit, was co-hosted by the Government of Germany, the LDC Group, and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
Participants highlighted the importance of investing in climate change adaptation action in LDCs, which are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and yet the least able to adapt. The event also kick-started the year of action on adaptation, spearheaded by the Global Commission on Adaptation.
Read the event summary provided by IISD Reporting Services.
Green Walls to Green Wallets: Financing Nature Based Solutions
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This event came just 24 hours after the launch of the Principles of Responsible Banking – where banking CEOs from five continents set business targets that are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement – demonstrating the urgency with which that community is now acting.
The event featured initiatives under way to shift finance flows, and it also showcased two real-life projects that embody the financing of nature-based solutions in very different ways. Firstly, the Great Green Wall an African-led initiative, supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and Connect4Climate - the World Bank Group, which aims to restore degraded landscapes on a staggering scale: 8,000km across the southern edge of the Sahara Desert and has attracted $4 billion in funding. Secondly, The Nature Conservancy’s Cumberland Forest Project deal which represents one of the largest restoration efforts ever undertaken in the eastern United States in the coalfields of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, using a combination of private investment and science to demonstrate the economic and ecological benefits of sustainable forest management.
The evening consisted of:
- Insights on financing nature-based solutions from world-leading experts including Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chair of the GEF; Ibrahim Thiaw of Mauritania, Executive Secretary of UNCCD; Laura Tuck, Vice President for Sustainable Development, World Bank Group; and Charlotte Kaiser, Managing Director of TNC’s NatureVest.
- A chance to see clips from the Great Green Wall documentary, executive produced by the Oscar nominee, Fernando Meirelles (City of God) about Malian singer Inna Modja’s epic journey on the frontline of climate change, which recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
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