Dr. Catherine Nakalembe took part in the 36th Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG) meeting, held from August 27th- 30th in Nairobi Kenya. She presented on how Earth Observations (EO) can support and improve agriculture and food security monitoring in a changing climate, and inevitably support adaption planning. She introduced the GEOGLAM Initiative and NASA Harvest to the expert group, giving examples of the impact of EO data being used in Eastern Africa. The IGAD Climate Predictions and Applications Center (ICPAC) in partnership with NASA SERVIR and the Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) is supporting the growth and broadening impact of EO in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and surrounding regions. She also introduced a Framework for Earth Observations’ Based National and Regional Agriculture that can be adapted to individual countries’ contexts and help fill critical data gaps that need to be addressed for better climate adaptation planning.
The LEG workshop preceded the National Adaptation Plans Workshop (NAP). The NAP is the primary instrument for climate adaptation for countries and the LEG is actively working with all Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to ensure that the NAPs are finalized by 2020. This is pursued through the Open NAP initiative which is designed to provide direct support to country NAP teams by mobilizing a broad set of experts and actors, offering a platform for advancing the formulation efforts, and building on the widest experience and expertise on climate adaptation that exists regionally and globally.
The 36th Expert group included representatives from Austria, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Canada, Haiti, Malawi, Nepal, Sudan, Timore Leste, Togo, and from United Nations and international organizations including:
The LEG was established in 2001 and is currently mandated to provide technical guidance and support to the LDCs on the process to formulate and implement national adaptation plans (NAPs), the preparation and implementation of the national adaptation programmes of action (NAPAs), and the implementation of the LDC work programme. The LEG is also mandated to provide technical guidance and advice on accessing funding from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for the process to formulate and implement NAPs, in collaboration with the GCF secretariat. Furthermore, the LEG is mandated to engage a wide range of organizations in implementing its work program.
The LEG meets twice a year to develop and review progress on the implementation of its work program, which includes providing technical guidance to each country as well as developing technical guidelines, technical papers, training activities, workshops, expert meetings, NAP Expos, case studies, capturing and sharing of experiences, best practices and lessons learned. The group also covers NAP Central in addition to progress monitoring, determination of method effectiveness and gaps, collaboration with other organizations, and promotion of coherence and synergy.
As Harvest’s Eatern Africa Lead, Dr. Nakalembe promotes capacity building efforts throughout this region and globally. She continues to provide support to organizations and policy makers looking to apply Earth observation data for increased food security.