Communities in Africa are experiencing the most severe droughts in decades, impacting livestock and crop production. In 2019, the EU presented plans to increase adaptation finance in Africa under the EU Green Deal. But, have the Green Deal and Global Europe, the EU’s instrument for neighbourhood, development and international cooperation, led to increased political and financial support for climate change adaptation in agriculture to the benefit of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa? Or, is the EU repackaging what already existed?

The briefing will be organised for representatives from the European Commission, European Development Finance Institutions, the European Parliament, and EU member states, as well as European and African representatives from civil society and think tanks.

In this briefing, organised in a pre-COP27 context, ECDPM will present its latest piece of research on EU support adaptation in African agriculture as the starting point for a discussion.  With the discussion, the aim is to inform European policy-making on how to best support adaptation in African agriculture.

Speakers

Carl Michiels, is the Director of ECDPM. He has over three decades of experience in the field of international relations and development. Prior to joining ECDPM, he worked in the NGO community, the academic world and government. As former Chairperson of the management committee of the Belgian Development Agency, Carl Michiels played a key role in leading the successful transformation of this large organisation operating in more than 20 countries, mainly in Africa. Among other roles, Carl Michiels was the Advisor to the Minister of Development and Foreign Affairs in the 1990s.

Ambassador Seyni Nafo, Ambassador Seyni Nafo has been the Spokesperson for the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) since 2011 (COP17, Durban). He is also Coordinator of the African Adaptation Initiative (AAI), a continent-wide initiative, launched in 2015 (COP21, Paris) by African Heads of States to strengthen concrete adaptation action on the ground. In addition, he is a Board Member (alternate, African Region) of the Green Climate Fund. Finally, Ambassador Nafo served as the High Representative for Climate Change to the late Malian President, HE Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

Dr Hanne Knaepen specialises in climate change adaptation within the context of Europe-Africa relations, with a strong focus on agri-food systems and climate finance. She joined ECDPM in 2013, where she is the Head of the Climate Action and Green Transition Workstream. She is also a Visiting Lecturer at Nyansapo College of International Relations and Diplomacy, Accra (University of Cape Coast) since 2016, where she teaches courses on climate risks and international development. Before joining ECDPM, she obtained a doctoral degree in Global Environmental Studies at Kyoto University, Japan.