Andrew Steer – Opening Keynote: Negotiating landscapes for multiple benefits

President of the World Resources Institute, Andrew Steer, speaks at the high-level opening plenary session from the first day of the Global Landscapes Forum 2014, in Lima, Peru, during COP20.

The session explores how integrated approaches support the achievement of multiple benefits in the landscape, by addressing the following points: Which processes and principles can be applied that help in negotiating multiple benefits? What are the main obstacles to achieving combined land use solutions? And what does “good landscape governance” look like?

Saturday, 6 December 2014

Global Landscapes Forum, Lima, Peru

#COP20GLF #ThinkLandscape

Andrew Steer – Opening Keynote- Negotiating landscapes for multiple benefits (Transcript)

AS:                      [0:52] It is a great honor to be a partner with you in this. In many ways, this forum embodies a profound shift in the understanding and the practice of rural development. We believe, don’t we, that we need an integrated approach. Integrated across geographies, so that we just don’t think about forests and agriculture and watershed development any more. Do you remember just two years ago we had an agriculture day and forest day? We now have landscape day. It’s an integrated approach across geographies, but also an integrated approach across objectives. So, social and human rights, food security, poverty reduction, environment and climate change can’t be thought of individually. They need to be integrated.

[1:42] And in this room are some of the leading practitioners, thinking, analysts, researchers and policy makers in this space in the world. And I must say, sitting in some of the breakout sessions this morning, I already get the sense that there is a remarkable sharing of experience that is highly productive. Look, we’re not though just analysts, are we? We actually want to change the world. We want to bring about this revolution. And this needs three things. And I hope we’re going to be able to talk about this on the panel just now. First, we’ve got to make the technical case that this really is true. We’ve got to demonstrate that from an economic, a social, an environmental and climate change story, this actually makes sense. And we’re making a lot of progress there.

[2:37] And even to ministers of finance now, the New Climate Economy report that came out three months ago makes the case extremely strongly for a landscape approach. So we’re making progress. We’re not communicating it very well yet. So first, the technical case. Second, the political case. If we want the whole of government approach that’s going to be necessary, if we want the financing that is essential, we’re going to have to do a lot better in making the political approach. Here, again, we’re making some progress. The Secretary General’s conference in New York two months ago, quite remarkable. The statement on forests, for example. The commitment to 350 million hectares of restoration, for example. Quite remarkable progress, but we’re just beginning, to be brutally frank.

[3:31] But perhaps the most difficult case of all to make is the case for implementation. Isn’t it wonderful how in this room we are all soul mates? Whether we were economists or agriculturalists or whatever, we all believe in this integration. But most of us in this room have spent tens or hundreds or thousands of hours in ministries around the world, or in corporations around the world, or even civil society organizations around the world, where actually it is extremely difficult to act in this integrated way. There aren’t very many ministries of landscapes. So how goes the battle with regard to the implementation? So, these are the three issues that we’re going to sort of tease out now. How are we doing on the technical side? How are we doing on the political side? How are we doing on the implementation side?

[4:25] And first, I’m going to ask Rachel Kyte, who is the Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Change at the World Bank, overseeing all of the World Bank’s work on climate change. And has pioneered in the last few months many things, one of which is this incredible statement on carbon pricing. 1,000 corporations, about 80 countries, have signed up. Rachel, the floor is yours.