Doha, Qatar—From March 4-9, United Nations officials and diplomats, together with Heads of States from U.N.-designated Least Developed Countries (LDCs), civil society organizations, parliamentarians and the private sector will gather in Doha for the 5th U.N. Conference on the Least Developed Countries (U.N. LDC5). The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), with partners from the Philippines, Bangladesh, Haiti and across the continent of Africa, home to majority of the LDCs, will be in Doha to advocate for just agroecological transitions in food systems as a key pathway for LDCs to meet the goals of the U.N. Agenda 2030 (Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs) and achieve food sovereignty.
With stakeholders absent, Part I of the decennial LDC5 conference met in March 2022 and adopted its Doha Programme of Action (DPoA). In this Part II of the conference, it is hoped that, with inputs from all stakeholders, LDC5 will “identify and advance new ideas, raise new pledges of support and spur delivery on agreed commitments through the DPoA” to address LDC-specific challenges. With the midterm review of progress on the SDGs later this year, civil society can build on LDC5 to pursue policy advances in national and regional spaces, as well upcoming U.N. conferences and negotiations.
“There is significant engagement in the conference from CSOs that work on global economic justice agenda: new climate bonds, ending debt, funding the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change promises and more. This conference is an opportunity for building convergence between that work and developing the agroecology agenda in international and national spaces,” said Sophia Murphy, Ph.D., IATP executive director.
“IATP is joining our partners in Doha to tell a story of hope and possibility: the story of agroecology and food systems that protect food security while building resilience and adaptive capacity. The whole world must transition to just and sustainable food systems. Rich countries and LDCs alike need to transform how they do agriculture. Agroecological principles offer a pathway to that transformation,” said Shiney Varghese, IATP senior policy analyst.
On March 6, from 2-5 p.m. AST, IATP will host an in-person plenary co-organized with the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, Food Information Action Network, Groundswell, PLD, RAPDA-Togo, ROPPA, SID, SEARICE, UBINIG and Cultivate! The plenary share stories of agroecology from experiences in Haiti, Gambia, Uganda and Bangladesh. A panel of experts will discuss what is needed for agroecological transformations and provide recommendations to policy makers.
Spokespersons from IATP and our partner organizations will be available on-the-ground in and virtually to provide comment on the LDC conference.
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