FAO workshop spurs regional dialogue on multi-stakeholder partnerships to combat climate change

Sustainable food and agriculture partnerships across multiple sectors can play a pivotal role in sharing ideas and successful actions toward mitigating and adapting to climate change. With the goal of facilitating dialogue among this wide array of stakeholders, FAO is organizing an ambitious workshop in Budapest on 24-25 October entitled “Regional dialogue on partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a focus on climate action.”

The event brings together over 40 representatives from the civil society and private sectors, governments, academia from both inside and outside European Union Members, and knowledgeable FAO experts to exchange existing practices and explore how to build upon those experiences.

As a part of the FAO regional initiative for Europe and Central Asia on managing natural resources sustainably under a changing climate, the workshop aims to:

• Compile key success factors, best practices, as well as challenges to build and sustain effective multi-stakeholder partnerships in EU countries; 
• Discuss and identify innovative examples and areas where multi-stakeholder partnerships could contribute to and further strengthen SDG implementation related to climate action in Europe and Central Asia; and
• Based on the concrete examples shared during the dialogue, compile a short brochure with the practical scenarios of the multi-stakeholder partnerships to be disseminated throughout the region.

Action in these areas is at the forefront of the current sustainability agenda with this year’s review of SDG 13 on climate action, the recently held UN Climate Action Summit, as well as taking stock on the progress of Nationally Determined Contributions of the Paris Climate Agreement. In fact, SDG 17 aims to strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize global partnerships for sustainable development.

Many adaptation and mitigation options in the food and agricultural sector hold potential for synergies that can be a catalyst for the large-scale changes central to achieving SDGs, such as through greenhouse gas emission reductions and carbon sequestration. New and innovative approaches are needed to transform the sector in ways that limit its impact on and is resilient to further climate change. This requires integrated approaches and renewed multi-stakeholder partnerships that include private and public actors.

To this end, the workshop covers topics, such as FAO activities in the context of climate action and the 2030 Agenda, and partnership for SDGs in action.

25 October 2019, Budapest, Hungary