nexos+1 was reporting from Mendoza (Argentina), on the Encounter+Bwhich was held on September 11, 12 and 13. In this special edition of the nexos+1 news, we bring you the key messages of the 3 days of inspiration, connection and action.

Day 01: September 11

The first plenary was given by Otto Scharmer, Creator of Theory U, Professor at MIT and founder of the Presencing Institute, who shared and reflected on the theory of systemic change that society needs for the emerging future.

To drive social change, we must "begin to make a difference in our own sphere of influence. Thus, "success depends on the internal place from which we operate. This means going in with an open mind, an open heart and an open will."

Otto Scharmer

Regarding the challenges of the future, Juan Garibaldi, Vice President Latam of Danone Waters, explained the work of his company, which revolutionizes the market every day.

"We have a formal commitment to be carbon neutral, to take care of water, to have circular packaging and to apply regenerative agriculture. But we can't do this commitment alone. We are all responsible.

Juan Garibaldi

Guilherme Leal (Co-founder of Natura) and Halla Tómasdóttir (CEO The B Team) discussed the role of business in the face of inequality and the climate crisis.

Leal commented "the climate crisis and the inequality crisis are real, but at the same time we can see a big change today". From his personal experience he stated: "We need more conscious companies and good governments, because without policies we are not going to achieve any change. We have a challenge in front of us, but also a great opportunity".

CLIMATE EMERGENCY

María Paz Cigarán, co-founder and CEO of Libélula, and Gonzalo Muñoz, Champion COP25 and co-founder of Sistema B, shared the challenges of the climate crisis and inequality in the framework of COP25, which will take place in Chile from December 2 to 13 of this year.

In his plenary Gonzalo Muñoz declared a climate emergency on behalf of the B movement, urging and inviting all agents of change and B companies present to join this global initiative. "The B movement declares climate emergency and commits to be carbon neutral by 2030. The power is in our hands."

Day 02: September 12

Marina Silva, Brazilian politician, environmentalist and educator, together with Yolanda Kakabadse, former President of WWF International and member of the B Team, held a dialogue on the role of the State and international organizations in the face of the climate crisis and inequality.

"We have to be guided by values to govern and there are issues that are NOT NEGOTIABLE: care for the environment, democracy, human rights and cultural diversity."

Marina Silva

Ignacio Gómez, Director of Egg Tech, Silvia Flores, Executive Director of La Juanita and Henry Murrain, Executive Director of Corpovisionarios talked about the importance of alliances and spaces with civil society in relation to the thematic axes of the Encuentro+B.

"Climate change summons us...some may deny that it exists but they cannot deny that we have to avoid a mass extinction."

Ignacio Gomez

CALL TO ACTION!

An important moment was the call to action for the Amazon made by members of the B movement to mobilize against the fires that are destroying vital ecosystems for the planet.

Day 03: September 13

Friday began with a learning and transformation circuit in the Divisadero Largo Nature Reserve. In the afternoon, the closing of the Encuentro+B was celebrated together with the fiiS (International Festival of Social Innovation).

La entrada Especial nexos+1 en el Encuentro+B se publicó primero en Nexos+1.

The uncertainty of changes in climate is very large and science is not precise about the magnitude of the expected impacts; however, the current context suggests that we must be prepared to face the unpredictable magnitude impacts of climate change and invest in the development of institutional capacities and ordinary people, to increase the resilience of the population and improve their adaptive capacity. For example, to be prepared for more intense and frequent extreme events such as El Niño, extreme rains and frost that affect the Peruvian population; and that these do not generate serious impacts on the welfare of the community and the national economy.

In general terms, Latin American countries have stated, through their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement on climate change, that adaptation is a concern and a national priority, showing that the agricultural, water resources and health sectors are the highest priorities among the countries of the region.

Why is a Technical Adaptation Meeting (TEM A) held?

During the Latin American and Caribbean Climate Week, which took place from August 19-23, 2019 in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil; a Technical Meeting on Adaptation (TEM - A) was held. Considering the relevance of adaptation to climate change, during the COP 21 in 2015, the Technical Review Process on Adaptation (TEP-A) was established to assess the challenges and opportunities in adaptation issues in relation to the Paris Agreement, with a view to 2020.

As part of this process, with the support of the Adaptation Committee of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and in collaboration with the UNFCCC Secretariat, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Libélula and the Regional Network for Climate Change and Decision Making, carried out the regional TEM-A, in which the following participated:

Maria Paz Cigaran - CEO of Libélula; Tomasz Chruszczow - High-Level Champion of Poland, Special Envoy; Sergio Margulis - Senior Research Associate at International Institute for Sustainability; Enrique Maurtua Konstantinidis - Regional Coordinator at LatinoAdapta Project; Jordan Harris - LatinoAdapta Researcher (Adapt Chile, Chile); Amal-Lee Amin - Chief Climate Change and Sustainability Division at IDB; Ramiro Salinas - Liaison for Latin America and the Caribbean at CTCN; Pedro Leitão - Project Director, Brazilian Foundation for Sustainable Development.

The objective of this TEM-A was to share experiences and solutions through specific regional, national and local examples that can leverage public and private investments in adaptation and resilience at scale in Latin America and the Caribbean while better informing the formulation and implementation of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) in the countries of the region.

Main challenges and opportunities with respect to adaptation financing

One of the challenges is that there is not enough money in international funds and there is little capacity for access by national and local actors. National governments have a fundamental role to play in catalyzing financing, identifying opportunities to boost public-private investment, since international funds will not be sufficient or adequate to the needs. To this end, they must generate their own instruments and funds, as in the case of Colombia and the creation of the National Disaster Risk Management Fund, created after the 2012 La Niña. This fund started with its own public resources and is now attracting new international funds, which has allowed it to expand its disaster response, prevention, care and post-disaster rehabilitation actions. On the other hand, there is also the opportunity to promote private investment through instruments that exist in the market such as micro-credits, insurance, bonds; as well as to create capacities in the institutions to be able to measure and value the impact of adaptation projects.

Another challenge identified during the session was that the size of local projects does not meet the minimum ticket that multilateral banks can finance, due to the fact that local work is done on a small scale (municipalities) and financial agencies can only process large financing. Faced with this challenge, a strategy that should be replicated and scaled up is the associative experience of the Argentine Network of Municipalities facing Climate Change, which, through vehicles such as trusts, has been able to access resources from multilateral entities. This experience also invites us to reflect on the possibility of generating partnerships between cities, public-private entities, academia, etc. in order to attract financing that is inaccessible on a small scale. In short, the opportunity lies in generating links that can provide adaptation solutions to the real challenges that affect the region in relation to climate change.

Conclusions

The session highlighted the need to be prepared for uncertainty, as we have mentioned before, natural disasters are not under our control, so planning and prevention are necessary. The design of NAPs should include an investment component to prepare for a future that we do not know, but that we know will affect our livelihoods. In addition, both the design and implementation of NAPs should take into consideration that in order to have an impact and scale, a programmatic approach should be followed that allows access to resources in a simpler and more structured way, considering the success stories of the region. The development of enabling conditions to be able to leverage financing is fundamental to be able to really have an impact with adaptation projects, which must also be evidenced in metrics that allow justifying the amounts of investment with vulnerability reduction.

If you missed the event you can watch it here:

Part 1:

Part 2:

For more information on the results of the session, you will soon be able to find the report at: http://tep-a.org/2019-regional-technical-expert-meetings-on-adaptation/

La entrada ¿Cómo catalizar la inversión para el financiamiento en adaptación al cambio climático? se publicó primero en Nexos+1.

La entrada Economía Circular: del desecho al hecho se publicó primero en Nexos+1.

“Our commitment to generate shared value for society mobilizes us to create sustainable programs that involve our employees, committed organizations and society in general. Therefore, we are very pleased that Libélula has joined this initiative for the environment.”

said Miguel Cassinelli, Entel's institutional relations and sustainability manager.

Likewise, Javier Perla, Libélula's Sustainable Business Manager, commented: “Waste electrical and electronic equipment is the fastest growing waste in the world. It is estimated that in the area of computers and cell phones, more than 90,000 tons have been generated in the country. We are proud to do our bit and be part of this great initiative.

In addition to Libélula, organizations such as Hipermercados Tottus, Ransa, Nestlé, Ferreycorp, the Municipality of Miraflores and San Ignacio de Loyola University have joined the Recycle to Transform initiative. In 2017, the program managed to recycle more than 7 tons of electronic devices.

For more information about the program write to sostenibilidad@entel.pe

La entrada Entel y Libélula unidos por el medio ambiente se publicó primero en Nexos+1.