Boosting synergies for sustainable development

The fourth annual IKI Peru Meeting took place virtually in April. The aim of the event, attended by approximately 100 participants, was to learn about IKI priorities; exchange experiences between IKI projects and Peruvian counterparts; and evaluate, identify and promote synergies between the 49 IKI projects under implementation in Peru.

Cooperation between Peru and Germany

The meeting began with welcoming remarks from the Peruvian government by Yamina Silva, Vice Minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources of the Peruvian Ministry of Environment (MINAM) who highlighted on the cooperation and partnership that exists between Peru and Germany to address issues of global importance in climate change and biodiversity. This was reiterated by Stephan Contius, Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda and Head of Division to the United Nations, Developing Countries and Emerging Economies, at the German ministry of Environment (BMUV). Contius pointed out that, “This event is an opportunity to bring together the different IKI projects and turn ideas into results”.

This was followed by Birte Derrix from the International Climate Initiative (IKI) Division of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK), who presented the new structure of the IKI and emphasized that interface projects and their network represent an essential part of IKI’s work in partner countries, as is the case of Peru.

In relation to Peruvian priorities and synergies in climate change and biodiversity, Milagros Sandoval, General Director of Climate Change and Desertification of MINAM, highlighted that Peru’s commitment is to bet on climate action in the short, medium and long term. He added that, in this sense, the Declaration of Climate Emergency is a mandate that leads to an articulated work with different actors. In addition, José Álvarez, General Director of Biological Diversity of MINAM, indicated that the commitments before the post-2020 global framework and the new national environmental policy define Peru’s priorities in agrobiodiversity, forests, wetlands, marine biodiversity and mountains.

Synergies between IKI Peru projects

During the event, pre-recorded videos showing the experiences in the implementation processes during 2021 of some implementing organizations and a review of a selection of synergies identified and implemented last year were shown. This sample was presented by representatives of 6 selected IKI projects:

• Ecosystem-based adaptation measures for integrated coastal and marine zone management
• Climate Capacity Building: Risk Anticipation and Minimization
• Integrated Climate Change Management in Communal Reserves in the Amazon Rainforest
• Green Economy Transformation in Cooperation with the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) – Synergies between Low-carbon Pathways and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
• Scaling up mountain ecosystem-based adaptation: Building evidence, replicating success, and informing policy

A key topic addressed in this block was the identification and promotion of possible synergies between IKI projects for this year 2022. The projects prioritized three priority issues for the implementation of their project, so that other projects could identify common themes and initiate conversations about joining efforts and working together to establish synergies. So far, almost 20 topics that could result in possible synergies have been identified.

Next steps for the IKI in Peru

Georg Schmid, responsible for the IKI Peru interface project, further shared on the current updating of the communication and knowledge management strategy of the IKI Peru interface. For example, virtual regional thematic meetings will be organized with the other 5 IKI interfaces in Latin America and the Caribbean, and thematic meetings just for Peruvian IKI projects. The Peruvian meetings are expected to be face-to-face and they will also be organized to reinforce bilateral dialogues between IKI projects. In addition, an editorial workshop will be organized to improve and expand the content of the IKI Peru website.

The meeting ended with closing remarks by Florian Theus, Head of Section - Development Cooperation at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Lima, who emphasized that “for more than 30 years, Germany and Peru have been jointly facing global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity conservation”. He hopes that the synergies identified for 2022 will come to play in the coming months and that this exchange of knowledge will be fruitful for Peru's progress for a sustainable development.