Objective F1 - Twin Regions
Label Title Description Twin Regions Establish the Twin Regions concept to boost Soil Health (SH) and climate action The concept of "Twin Regions," aiming to unleash the synergistic potential of cooperation between contrasting and complementary regions to combat climate change, restore ecosystems, and improve livelihoods, is adopted. Targets F1 - Twin Regions
Baseline 2020 Target 2030 Target 2050 A pilot project is under evaluation to implement the "Twin Regions" concept in 3 distinct regions in Europe (France, Germany, and Spain) and Africa (Benin, DRC, Mali). The "Twin Regions" concept is adopted by communities in 20 "4 per 1000" partner countries. The "Twin Regions" concept is adopted by communities in all "4 per 1000" partner countries.
Context F1 - Twin Regions
Problem F1 - Twin Regions
| Problem Statement | Description | Consequences |
|---|---|---|
| The lack of global solidarity and collaboration prevents effective and efficient use of available resources to decrease GHG concentrations. The required scale for nature-based carbon draw-down from the atmosphere does not match the national area of the largest emitters. In contrast, the global South cannot realize its sequestration potential due to poverty. | A global approach is required to solve the global crisis. The industrialized countries in the northern hemisphere are responsible for the largest share of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Their size and climatic conditions limit their potential for biological CO2 sequestration. It is often much too low to balance their carbon budget and pay off their carbon debt. In contrast, large countries in the global South are responsible for a tiny fraction of global GHG emissions but have an enormous potential to sequester carbon. In addition, the costs for nature-based solutions are much lower in the global South. Working with countries in the South would allow industrialized countries in the North to increase the return on investments in greenhouse gas sequestration substantially. | The result is the waste of limited financial and natural resources in low-potential areas. Enormous potential for collaborative international climate action and ecosystem restoration remains untapped. Precious time to solve the environmental crisis and prevent the destruction of our planet is being lost. |
Causes F1 - Twin Regions
| N° | Cause | Description |
|---|---|---|
1 | Passivity | Lack of education, the fear of losing their prosperity, and the lack of possibilities to contribute something concrete to the solution of the climate crisis paralyze many citizens. Driven by fear, they lack imagination, creativity, and courage to find alternative ways of living. |
2 | Polluter pays | Lack of financial mechanism to cover the cost draw-down of CO2 and GHG from the atmosphere equivalent to the emitted CO2 and GHG following the polluter-pays principle. |
3 | Global North | Most high GHG emitters are in the global North (OECD), where industrialization has developed predominantly. |
4 | Cultural differences | Projects involving different cultures and geographic conditions are more complex than national ones. Evaluating strengths and weaknesses at one site is already a task. |
5 | Mistrust in developing countries | Industrialized countries believe that money invested nationally is easier to monitor. Simultaneously there is a belief that developing countries lack the transparency, accountability, and stability to implement large-scale projects successfully. (Lack of trust) |
6 | Incapacity of policy and private sector | Citizens must drive the required climate action resulting from radical paradigm shifts and system change because policy and the private sector have failed to achieve the necessary impact. |
7 | Poverty | Poverty and low industrialization maintain GHG emissions in many countries of the southern hemisphere low. Deprivation also leads to less intensive land management. Crop yields are low, and extensive agricultural practices lead to the mining of natural resources and soil degradation. |
8 | Fragmented investments | International investments do not realize the synergistic potential between climate mitigation and SDGs sufficiently. |
9 | Global Impact | Investment in the Global South in nature-based solutions is not sufficiently recognized and supported as a global priority action to effectively address the climate crisis. The focus is on technological solutions that promise financial gains and potentially contribute to economic growth. The risk and costs of these technologies are systematically underestimated. |
10 | Lack of awareness of the problem and how to solve it | There need to be investments in explaining the problem and solution (a simple solution is preferable). |
Implementation strategy F1 - Twin Regions
Activities F1 - Twin Regions
| N° | Activity | Description |
|---|---|---|
1 | Assess the potential of regions | Identify net CO2 source and net CO2 sink regions and assess the feasibility and potential for twinning. |
2 | Create guidelines for project development | Establish a committee of stakeholders from net CO2 source and potential net CO2 sink regions that identify the necessary actions and create rules for developing projects, considering cultural and language differences, etc. |
3 | Launch pioneering projects | Initiate start-up activities to raise awareness and support at local, sub-national, national, regional, continental, and global levels. Launch a series of pioneering actions to verify potential and clarify open questions, including the assessment of co-benefits and potential risks. |
4 | Develop a transparent MRV system | Develop a trusted GHG emissions and ecosystem accounting system to encourage stakeholders from net CO2-source regions to take responsibility for their CO2 emissions and invest in carbon restoration and sequestration activities in potential net CO2-sink regions. Ensure that all activities are monitored and reported for evaluation. |
Critical Success Factors (CSFs) F1 - Twin Regions
| N° | Critical Success Factor | Description |
|---|---|---|
1 | Solidarity | The success of environmental protection actions is rapid in a group movement. The solidarity around these actions is favorable to this success. This project is based on solidarity between the North and the South populations to improve their climatic conditions. |
2 | Empowerment and participation | Success requires the massive involvement of citizens. Stakeholders from each twin region need to get engaged and STAY involved. This requires going beyond traditional approaches and applying participatory methodologies that tap into the project's purpose, like Dragon dreaming, U-theory, etc. |
3 | Partners | It is critical to identify partner organizations in developing countries with the know-how, track record, and relationships to lead the effort in their communities. These partners will be vital to building trust in the project and ensuring its success. |
4 | Adaptation | Measures implemented in the twin regions must be adaptable to climate change scenarios. For the actions of the restoration of degraded lands and the conservation of the organic fertility of the soils to be successful, the climatic conditions must be favorable. The rise in temperature, which is an effect of climate change, is a cause of soil drying out. |
5 | Good practices | Sound practices are required to map land use, assess yield gaps through on-farm surveys, and model crops to determine the effect on yields. Sound practices are also necessary for surveys to examine demographic, social, cultural, and economic factors that promote or hinder the successful implementation of carbon sequestration and ecosystem restoration measures. |
6 | Emission reduction | Northern regions should reduce their CO2 emissions following the adoption of green energy sources. |
7 | Funds | Sufficient funds must be available for continuing project development, piloting, and up-scaling. |
8 | Polluter pays | The principle of polluter-pays, based on the willingness of end-consumers to adjust their lifestyle, should be reinforced as a source of funds for project activities. Industrial development in developing countries and especially in SSA should be based on green energy and technology transfer and financing from northern countries. |
9 | Success communication | Getting the word out that the project was successful will be hard work and complicated. The project will need multilingual media teams both on the ground and off. An umbrella team will be required to ensure that the stakeholders and the public get those results. |
Barriers F1 - Twin Regions
| N° | Barrier | Description |
|---|---|---|
1 | Prejudice | Establishing multilingual and multicultural teams that can convey and quantify success with different stakeholders is going to be difficult and costly. |
2 | Missing urgency | People do not reflect on the urgency of climate action in their daily life. Policymakers also underestimate this urgency in their programs. |
3 | Solution awareness | People from northern regions and SSA regions are not aware of the role of agriculture and soils in the solution to the climate crisis. |
4 | Missing nutrients | Soil carbon sequestration is hampered in many regions by nutrient imbalance. Low CEC and other soil properties of SSA soils may prevent the effectiveness of additional P supply; soil science expertise is crucial. |
5 | Bureaucracy | Administrative constraints might slow down or impede project deployment. |
6 | MRV | Standardizing soil monitoring to compare results is going to be complex. |
7 | New mechanism to invent | This solidarity mechanism does not exist and needs to be invented with adequate means. |
