AICCRA's contribution to COP27

AICCRA contributed to 20 events across the COP27 program, including UNFCCC official side events, at a variety of pavilions and in the Green Zone. 

Many of these events were hosted in collaboration with AICCRA partners, such as National Agency of Civil Aviation and Meteorology of Senegal (ANACIM) and AGRHYMET Regional Center, a specialized institution of the Permanent Interstates Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS).

We also hosted numerous events with other CGIAR centers and initiatives - including the new Climate Resilience initiative, The Alliance of Bioversity-CIAT, ICARDA, ILRI and the CGIAR Gender Platform. 

The pavilions at which we hosted events included:

• Food & Agriculture (hosted by CGIAR, FAO and The Rockefeller Foundation)
• Food Systems
• La Francophonie
• Senegal
• Kingdom of Morocco

Farmers with whom AICCRA has the privilege of working with in Zambia and Ghana joined us in Sharm El Sheikh, where they spoke at 11 events.

Esther Zulu is a farmer, livestock keeper, and community leader from Nyimba District in Eastern Zambia. You can read her story here. 

Elizabeth Akaba is a produce farmer and Chairperson of the Tuba Women Farmers Association in Greater Accra, Ghana. You can read her story here. 

In addition to the public events, AICCRA was also thrilled to contribute to a high-level dinner that engaged international partners in the African Union Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy and Action Plan. Read more about our contribution to the strategy here. 

AICCRA's message at COP27

Projects led by Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) in its six focus countries—Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia—show that innovation is a necessary but insufficient factor in transforming food systems under climate change.

We must look beyond innovation alone, focusing on how innovations that we know work can be packaged and scaled to take root and thrive in Africa.  

What we have learned through this experience is that in Africa, innovation is a necessary but insufficient factor in making food systems more resilient under climate change.  

We must look beyond innovation, and better understand how innovation takes root in Africa.  

COP27 offers the world a chance to assess progress on climate action.  

It provides opportunities to showcase novel innovation to address the climate challenge.  

But unless development partners understand and respond adequately to the social and institutional ecosystems in which they hope innovation can flourish, the projects they support are destined to be unsustainable and fail.  

For organizations committed to climate action, AICCRA’s experience has twofold implications:  

First, we must embed experts from different fields into inter- and transdisciplinary teams. 

Second, we must broaden the focus of research beyond technological innovations alone, shifting to an approach that engages and involves policymakers and practitioners in a broader constellation of institutions and organizations who enable the needed transformation.  

Over the past year and more, AICCRA has used its experience of scaling climate-smart innovations to draw out broader lessons and strategies for its regional and continental partners, including the African Union and African Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES). 

The African Union Heads of State and Government adopted the African Union Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy and Action Plan (2022-2032) in February of this year.    

It is a significant achievement for the continent, as it has laid the foundation for joint climate action that benefits more than a billion Africans through a common framework for action.   

In the course of the consultation process and drafting of the strategy, AICCRA played a significant technical backstopping role; this included support for design and facilitation of validation meetings and assistance in engaging a wide array of thematic experts across the continent for contributions and subsequent synthesis of technical input in the drafting process. 

With the support of AICCRA, African climate negotiators are finding common ground on the role that food and agriculture can play in climate action, ahead of the forthcoming COP27 climate summit in Egypt later this year. 

AICCRA’s partnership with organizations like the Africa Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES) is a cornerstone of the project's impact.  

An AGNES-AICCRA pre-COP meeting delivered a common African position on the future of Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA) and a draft text for negotiation at 57th session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) of the UNFCCC.   

Through these partnerships, we built networks that are informed and empowered by CGIAR science to move towards common African positions and priorities in the UNFCCC process at COP27.