On March 22, 2023 at the UN Headquarters in New York City, the first global UN conference on water in 46 years will be held. The conference aims to build new commitments, pledges and actions by Governments and all stakeholders towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, and water-related targets across all SDGs, in order to move us collectively towards the Water Action Agenda.
The Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Canadian Minister of International Development & Pacific Economic Development, recently visited MEDA’s Resilience and Inclusion through Investment for Sustainable Agrikultura (RIISA) project in Mindanao, Philippines.
It would be simple for most development organizations, including the UN, to say that biodiversity matters to everyone. This is why most high-income countries, particularly those involved in COP15, provide investment support to tackle biodiversity problems. For lower to middle-income countries such as the Philippines, the question is, does biodiversity matter to political leaders?
Globally, the face of sustainably produced or sourced cocoa tends to be more of an
environmental concern. Historically, cacao production is linked to deforestation,
biodiversity loss, and soil degradation in major cacao-producing countries. However,
taking the fundamental elements of market systems approach, sustainability transcends
environmental considerations. In MEDA’s integrated market systems approach, sustainability does
not only entail environmental aspects, but economic, social, and governance factors as well.
The world was watching Montreal last week for the 15th Conference of Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Early this morning, conference leaders announced a deal to protect 30% of the planet’s biodiversity by 2030 and restore 30% of degraded ecosystems.
To better explain MEDA’s transformational journey towards embracing a North-South equilibrium and developing partnerships that are based on delivering systems-level impacts in agri-food systems, Catherine Sobrevega (Country Director, Philippines) and Geoffrey Juma (Country Director, Kenya) sat down with Jessica Villanueva, Senior Director, Technical Areas of Practice to reflect in their own words how their work addresses current trends in international development and contributes to the goals espoused by MEDA’s Strategic Plan.
Mennonite Economic Development Associates is an international economic development organization that creates business solutions to poverty.
MEDA International is a Canadian non-share capital not-for-profit corporation incorporated under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act.
Mennonite Economic Development Associates is a 501(c)(3) status non-profit organization in the United States: EIN 23-7398678.
Mennonite Economic Development Associates of Canada is a registered charity in Canada: No. 107 691 057 RR0001.
© 2023 Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA). All Rights Reserved.
