Earth Day Katoomba Meeting Kicks Off In Lima, Peru

Chad Phillips

Today is Earth Day, and Peru, which wil host this year’s climate talks, is marking the occasion by hosting the 20th Katoomba Meeting from Tuesday through Friday. The meeting will focus on the interplay between climate, forests, and water, with speakers including luminaries like Brazil’s Marina Silva and Peru’s Manuel Pulgar-Vidal.

 

22 April 2014 | Global climate talks have consistently yielded disappointment since they launched in 1995, as have talks on biodiversity and desertification. The Peruvian government is making a concerted effort to ensure that this year’s climate talks, which culminate in Lima in December, are different.

Towards that end, they are hosting the 20th Katoomba Meeting from Tuesday through Friday of this week. The meeting is seen by many as a dry run for the December meeting, but its primary aim is to help break down the silos that characterize the global talks, as reflected in the motto “Climate, Forests, Water, and People: A Vision for Alignment in Tropical America“.

The first two days of Katoomba 20 take place in Lima on the same grounds as the year-end talks, and they are open to a broad range of participants. The second two days are by invitation only and take place in San Martin, where experts will participate in a series of workshops designed to turn theory into practice.

You can view the agenda here.

The Speakers

In addition to former Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva and current Peruvian Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, speakers will include leaders from Peru’s ministries of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Water, as well as leaders from the World Bank, WWF, and green corporate giants like Bunge.

For a complete list consult the program, and for biographies of key speakers, click on “Speaker Bios” (right).

FacebooktwitterlinkedinFacebooktwitterlinkedin

Please see our Reprint Guidelines for details on republishing our articles.

About this Series

This is the tenth in an ongoing series of articles developed in support of this year’s two Katoomba Meetings, both of which are taking place in Latin America. The first meeting took place on March 19 and 20 in Brazil, under the banner “Scaling Up Sustainable Commodity Supply Chains”.

The second meeting will take place in Lima, Peru, over four days – from April 22-Earth Day- through the 25th – and its working motto is “Climate, Forests, Water, and People: A Vision for Alignment in Tropical America”.

Part One: Latin American Katoomba Meetings Aim To Turbocharge Climate Talks, provides an overview of the two Katoomba Meetings.

Part Two: Amazon States In Brazil Push For Benefit-Sharing On National REDD+ Strategy, takes a look at how Brazil’s Amazon states are gearing up for REDD.

Part Three: Your Donut Is Killing Our Forests, Here’s How To Make It Stop, examines the role of consumers in driving change in the palm oil sector – a lesson that may be applied to soy across the Amazon.

Part Four: How To Unlock Agricultural Finance To Save Forests And Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions On Farms, explores financing possibilities for sustainable forest-conserving production.

Part Five Commodity Roundtables: Katoomba 19 Sheds Light On Role Of Consumer examines the somewhat limited success of roundtables on growing sustainable crop production, factoring in the consumer’s role in mobilizing change.

Part Six REDD Bonds For Brazil-And The World examines ways of borrowing against pay-for-performance mechanisms to promote climate-safe agriculture in the here and now.

Part Seven Brazil Sees Promise, But Need For New Funding Source For REDD examines efforts to cultivate domestic demand for environmental finance.

Part Eight Biodiversity Boom Bolsters Peruvian Forests (And REDD) examines the interplay between healthy forests, biodiversity, and carbon finance.

Part Nine Peruvian Ecosystem Services Law In Limbo On Eve Of Katoomba 20 In Lima examines a comprehensive piece of legislation awaiting debate before the Peruvian National Congress.

Part Ten Peru Marks Earth Day With Katoomba 20 In Lima offers a late-stage guide to the Katoomba Meeting in Peru and how to access it.

Part Eleven Uniting People And Ecosystem Resilience For Food Security In Latin America examines a survey of more than 100 Latin American landscapes management initiatives.