What we have been up to lately...
29 October 2012
New paper: Agriculture, from Problem to Solution
In a new report on the connection between agriculture and climate change, CIDSE says we need to redirect agriculture to serve its social, economic and ecological function in a sustainable way.
The document presents CIDSE’s views on the guiding principles which should govern agricultural and climate policies and it makes detailed recommendations to both the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS, which met 15-20 October in Rome, Italy) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, which will gather at the end of November in Doha, Qatar).
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Biofuels and Right to Food at 2012 EU Dev Days
CIDSE co-organised two high-level panels at this year’s European Development Days (Brussels, 16 and 17 October), which focused on food security, private sector and inclusive growth.
Rahmawati Retno Winarni, partner of CIDSE's German member MISEREOR, shared her experiences with the negative impacts of palm oil production in Indonesia in a high-level panel debate on biofuels; on the same day (17 October) the European Commission presented stricter rules on biofuels.
Justin Kilcullen of CIDSE’s Irish member Trócaire participated in a second panel discussing the Right to Food as foundation of a post-2015 development framework. You can watch the debates and access further information via www.cidse.org/edd12
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More transparency to shed resource curse
On October 10th, a CIDSE delegation discussed the EU Transparency and Accounting Directives with Elmar Brok MEP, Chair of the European Parliament (EP) Foreign Affairs Committee, in light of an upcoming plenary vote (14th of January 2013).
Mgr Alois Jousten, Bishop of Liège, CIDSE Secretary General Bernd Nilles and transparency advocate Brice Mackosso from Congo-Brazzaville discussed with Mr. Brok about the moral imperative to increase the transparency of EU companies operating in developing countries.
Following the example of the US Dodd-Frank Consumer and Protection Act requiring country-by-country and project-by-project reporting by extractive companies, the European Union has been busy developing its own proposals for reporting requirements for oil, gas and mining companies listed on European stock exchanges and large private extractive companies based in the EU. Read more about the issue in this article by Anne Lindsay of CIDSE’s UK member CAFOD (in English) or this analysis by CIDSE’s Stefan Reinhold (in French).
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UPCOMING
OTHER NEWS
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We responded to the EC post 2015 framework consultation. The submission will be available shortly on the EC EuropeAid website (14/09/2012).
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In an article about EU bank reform, Center of Concern's Aldo Caliari argues that the world's poorest will come under additional strain if we fail to adjust how the banking sector works (01/10/2012).
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CIDSE’s Jean Saldanha and François Mercier from Fastenopfer, CIDSE’s Swiss member organisation, spoke at a panel debate on ‘Coherent mobilisation of all sources of financing for development’ during the UN Human Rights Council Social Forum in Geneva (02/10/2012).
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CIDSE met with Klaus Rudischhauser, the new Deputy Director General of EC DG DEVCO to discuss the issues of a post MDG development framework and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (02/10/2012).
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We co-sponsored a workshop on Human Rights Due Diligence for Latin American partners in Lima/Peru as part of the ECCJ/ICAR/CNCA Due Diligence project. UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Olivier De Schutter participated in the meeting (5-6/10/2012).
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A CIDSE delegation attended the 39th session of the UN Committee on World Food Security, organising side-events on the Global Strategic Framework and on agriculture and climate change (15-20/10/2012).
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CIDSE met with members of the Cabinet of EC Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard to discuss EU biofuel policy and the EU's position on climate and agriculture in the climate talks. The day after, CIDSE also discussed with the Commissioner the issues of EU international climate finance and the EU position in the run up to the Doha Conference (17-18/10/2012).
AT THE CIDSE SECRETARIAT
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Geraldine McDonald, Coordinator of the Extractive and Poverty in Latin America (EPLA) project, left the Secretariat on 24 August to work in Scotland.
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At the end of August, Stefan Reinhold replaced Edurne Portillo as Advocacy and Programme Assistant during her maternity leave.
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Giulia Bondi joined the Secretariat on 25 September for a six-month internship on climate justice and online communication.
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