Rio Conventions Pavilion

Inaugurated in Nagoya, Japan at the CBD COP 10 in 2010, the Rio Conventions Pavilion is a collaborative platform that promotes synergies among the Rio conventions at the implementation level and showcases activities that link biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, SLM and efforts to combat desertification, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.   

The Rio Conventions Pavilion at COP15 will focus on addressing the interlinked challenges of land degradation, climate change and biodiversity loss. It will open on 10 May and will operate daily from 08:00-19:00 until 18 May, except for Sunday, 15 May. The Pavilion will feature thematic days as follows

Detailed schedule of events:

10 May – High-level opening session

 

The high-level opening of the Pavilion will bring together the Presidencies and Executive Secretaries of the three Rio Conventions to explore synergies in global efforts to combat land degradation, climate change and biodiversity loss, with specific focus on UNCCD COP15, CBD COP15 and UNFCCC COP27.

 

11 May – Drought Day

 

The international community is developing policy measures and actions to help the people most vulnerable to drought to take early action to avoid loss of life, and the heavy and growing losses of livelihoods and damage to property and ecosystems following droughts. The Drought Day will be an occasion to discuss how to transform political commitments to action on drought resilience, including presentation of the relevant findings of the new report and recommendations of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Drought established at COP14. The Drought Day will also showcase effective drought response policies and projects on the ground from around the world and deliver a call to action to the COP.

09:30 – 11:00  High-level session

11:00 – 12:15 Session 2 

12:15 – 13:30 Launch of new publications

12 May - Food Day

 

Many of the current global challenges are related to the food system, particularly the way that land is used and managed to produce food. Rapid decarbonization of all sectors is needed to achieve the 1.5 degrees Celsius target set in the Paris agreement, yet certain parts of the food system are still not included in climate negotiations and policy. Among the most pressing are the needs to mitigate and adapt to climate change, protect biodiversity, combat desertification and land degradation, and reduce yield gaps. Important to include the new focus on achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN) seeks to spark and grow transformative efforts to avoid, reduce, and reverse land degradation through gender-and socially equitable means.

09:00 – 10:00 High-level opening session: Importance of food systems Transformation to achieve Rio Convention objectives 

10:00 – 11:00 My land, my rights: Legitimate tenure rights for food security, climate resilience and ecosystem restoration

11:30 – 12:30 Healthy Soil for a Healthy Planet: Building resilient food systems for increased food and nutrition security

13:30 – 14:30 Agrobiodiversity: Our past, our future

14:30 – 15:30 Food Systems Transformation – ways to strengthen implementation of the Rio Conventions

16:00 – 17:00 Guardians of our planet: The impact of women and indigenous groups to Food Systems transformation

17:00 – 17:30 Closing session: My diet, our health: Shifting consumption and diets for healthy people  and healthy planet

13 May – Land for Life Day (including the GEF half-day)

The GEF session aims to give the floor to different stakeholders who have been involved in advancing the land degradation neutrality agenda including experiences of mainstreaming gender. Discussion will also involve key cross-cutting project issues that can ultimately affect the success and durability of the LDN targets countries have set.

The Land for LIfe afternoon session aims to raise the awareness of the COP15 participants on how compelling sustainable land management is in addressing global issues such as poverty, food insecurity, water scarcity, climate change and human security. The winner of the Land for Life Award will share their success case.

9:00-12:00  GEF morning session: Land degradation neutrality: listening from experiences

Session 1: Land Degradation Neutrality: Listening to the voices on the ground
Session 2: Gender in LDN and landscape restoration
Session 3: LDN: Where we go from here?

13:15 – 18:00 Land for Life afternoon session

• Opening of Land for Life Day
• Interactive dialogue with Land Ambassadors: Their role in communicating for the SDGs
• Discussion: Youth engagement and role in communications
• Land restoration and the role of stakeholder engagement
• How do we take action: Young voices and women
• Closing session

18:00 – 20:30 Special event: Celebrating 10th anniversary of the Changwon Initiative and the UNCCD Land for Life Award

14 May – Science Day 

Organized by the UNCCD Science-Policy Interface, the Science Day brings together a diverse and highly engaged audience of participants, including scientists, policy-makers, practitioners, students, journalists and representatives of civil society organizations and development agencies. Under the theme of “Science for Action: Land Restoration and Drought,” the Science Day will focus on these two key issues on the COP agenda.

8:00 – 13:00 Session 1: Land restoration

• Opening

• Reaching a desirable future

• What we measure we can manage better

• The next generation of key actors

13:00 – 16:00 Session 2: Drought

• IPCC AR6 – Implications for Drought Risk

• Measuring Progress towards Drought resilience

• Nature-Based Solutions for Drought Risk Reduction

16:00 – 17:15 Closing session

16 May – Sand and Dust Storms Day

The Sand and Dust Storm (SDS) Day will serve as a platform to raise awareness about SDS, providing an opportunity for knowledge sharing and capacity development among stakeholders and partners involved in SDS related issues. They include representatives from affected countries involved in policy and decision making, implementation, science, field practitioners and local communities, as well as Coalition members. The outcomes of discussions will ultimately input to COP deliberations on SDS and other related fora. 

8:00 – 12:30 Sharing knowledge on SDS management

13:00 –15:00 High-level interactive dialogue

15:15 – 18:00 Building resilience: SDS training

17 May – Land Restoration Day

Most countries and communities now recognize the urgent need to transform land governance and restore land-based natural capital to create meaningful jobs, reduce emissions, and restore harmony with nature. Whether in managed or natural ecosystems, these activities can only be sustained by targeted government policies and budget outlays, considerable shifts in consumer demand and corporate investment, and more inclusive and responsible governance – all of which must come together to support regenerative land and water management practices on the ground.

09:00 – 10:30 Land restoration for people and planet

10:45 – 12:15 Local actions for sustainable land management

12:30 – 14:00 Towards coherence of land-based Rio targets

14:15 – 15:45 Cost and benefit data on sustainable land management: Launch of a new GIZ/ELD-UNCCD-WOCAT tool 

16:00 – 17:30 PBL’s assessment of the global potential for land restoration

17:45 – 19:15 Land Degradation Neutrality reporting, target setting and monitoring

18 May – Great Green Wall Day

Long considered only as a tree-planting program, the Great Green Wall Initiative is now perceived as a comprehensive integrated ecosystem management and rural development programme to combat land degradation and desertification, climate change, biodiversity loss, and poverty and food insecurity. A “Great Green Wall accelerator” was launched during the One Planet Summit in January 2021, to boost the implementation of the initiative in the 11 countries by supporting the emergence of multi-stakeholders’ initiatives designed in countries, and to better valorize the local actions already carried out in the field in support of the objectives of the Great Green Wall.

09:00 – 10:30 How to make Great Green Wall a success in 2030?

10:45 – 12:15 Monitoring tree cover and enhancing decision-making tools across Africa’s Great Green Wall

12:30 – 14:00 Inter-regional engagement to inform unified policymaking in sustainable land management and restoration

14:15 – 15:45 Participation of the Green Heart Foundation in the pan-African project for the construction of the Great Green Wall

16:00 ––17:30 Great Green Wall for an Inclusive and climate change-resilient development

17:45 – 19:15 Development and insecurity in the Sahel: from local challenges to international solidarity