A hundred European and African operators from across the agricultural value chain signed, Monday, January 11, 2021 on the sidelines of the “One Planet Summit 2020″, a charter of commitment to the development of agro-pastoral sectors in Africa, especially in the Sahel.
To do this, they launched the initiative “International Agroecological Movement for Africa” (IAM Africa).
It is a coalition of private and public actors committed to the sanctuarization of biodiversity – a global common good – and to the development of sustainable agricultural sectors.
The signatories of this charter intend to jointly explore and develop value chains that meet African challenges.
As co-development is at the heart of the ethics shared by all signatories, a significant part of the planned activities will be the responsibility of local actors, thus promoting technology transfers and the appropriation of the know-how necessary for the sustainable establishment of agricultural and livestock production chains envisaged by this Charter.
Symbiosis between social development, environment and economy
“The objective of the signatories, through their commitment to deploy this approach in Africa in general, is to participate in the promotion of a strategy combining social, environmental and economic development for prosperity, but also for the preservation of biodiversity and more generally for the stability of the continent,” says the co-founder of the initiative and Deputy Managing Director of the Advens/Geocotton Group, Karim Ait Talb.
What about the Great Green Wall?
The signatory partners of this coalition specifically commit to participate in the achievement of the 2030 objectives of the Great Green Wall. The Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel, commonly known as the Great Green Wall, is the African Union’s flagship initiative to combat the effects of climate change and desertification in Africa.
The Sahelian strip is identified as one of the global “hotspots” of climate change.
In this region, addressing the strain on natural resources is absolutely essential to meet sustainable development objectives and preserve biodiversity.
The structuring of agro-livestock value chains that encourage the deployment of agro-ecological practices and the creation of dignified and sustainable employment will be an important response for the adaptation of the region’s populations and the mitigation of the effects of climate change, particularly with regard to migration flows and security challenges.
“The Presidential Council for Africa has been mobilized since 2018 for the structuring of agricultural value chains in the Sahel, and has carried out several missions to meet with actors on the ground to work on concrete solutions that have an impact on nutrition, the creation of decent jobs, and the inclusion of vulnerable populations.
What about the Presidential Council for Africa?
“IAM Africa is a new path where French, African and international companies are ready to invest in agro-ecological sectors of the future. I invite all companies that share these values to sign the charter available on the CPA website”, says Wilfrid Lauriano Do Rego, partner of the initiative and coordinator of the Presidential Council for Africa (CPA).
Launched in 2017 by French President Emmanuel Macron, the One Planet Summit provides an opportunity for world leaders and international organizations to reflect on biodiversity and raise their level of ambition on nature protection and climate, while responding to new questions raised by the current crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The fourth edition of the Summit, which is being held by videoconference, intends to make a decisive contribution to the preparation of COP 26 scheduled for November 1-11, 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Source (in French): https://www.webmanagercenter.com/2021/01/12/461998/lancement-dune-initiative-multilaterale-dediee-a-lagro-ecologie-en-afrique/