Restoring Africa’s Drylands:
Accelerating Action On the Ground
WHEN
2 June 2021
WHERE
Online
SOCIAL
#GLFAfrica

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Restoring Africa’s Drylands: Accelerating Action On the Ground
Africa’s drylands are the birthplace of some of the world’s most extraordinary civilizations and species, from ancient kingdoms to wild elephants to “miracle grains” like millet and sorghum -- but climate change has not been kind to these landscapes.
A new era for Africa’s drylands
On 2 June 2021, GLF will host the first-ever digital conference focused entirely on Africa’s drylands and how integrative restoration practices can see them flourish once again. Join in for inspiring speakers, the latest science, concerts, film screenings, virtual tours, networking, and the unexpected discoveries that always form part of a Global Landscapes Forum event.
GLF Africa: Restoring Africa’s Drylands will be held just before the official launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which runs from 2021 to 2030.
Who should join?
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Meet some of our past speakers
Yvonne Aki Sawyerr
Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone
Her Royal Highness Sylvia Nagginda
The Nnabagereka (Queen), Kingdom of Buganda, Uganda
I See A Different You
Creative Agency / Production House in South Africa
H.E. Fekadu Beyene Aleka
Environment Commissioner, Ethiopia
Elizabeth Mrema
Executive Secretary, UN Convention on Biological Diversity
Jane Goodall
The Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace
Vanessa Nakate
Climate activist and Founder, Rise Up
Gilbert F. Houngbo
President, International Fund for Agricultural Development
Maria Flachsbarth
Parliamentary State Secretary, BMZ
Ada Osakwe
Economist, CEO at Agrolay Ventures
David Nabarro
WHO Special Envoy for COVID-19


Yvonne Aki Sawyerr
Mayor of Freetown , Sierra Leone
Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr OBE was sworn in as Mayor of Freetown in May 2018 with a commitment to transform Freetown using an inclusive, data-driven approach to address challenges in the city. Launched in January 2019, the 3-year Transform Freetown plan details 19 concrete targets across 11 sectors and covers issues ranging from waste management and housing, to improving urban planning, tackling environmental degradation and facilitating the creation of jobs in the tourism sector.A finance professional with over 25 years of private sector experience in strategic planning, risk management consulting and project management, Mayor Aki-Sawyerr’s public sector engagement began with her work as the Director of Planning at the National Ebola Response Centre during the Ebola epidemic of 2014-2015 and her subsequent role as Delivery Team Lead for the President's Recovery Priorities - the second phase of a multi-stakeholder programme to drive socio-economic recovery in Sierra Leone post Ebola. Her advocacy and charity contributions include campaigning against the trade in “blood diamonds” during the Sierra Leone civil war and in 1999, co-founding the Sierra Leone War Trust for Children (SLWT) which continues to support disadvantaged children in Sierra Leone today.Mayor Aki-Sawyerr is a Chartered Accountant and holds an MSc in Politics of the World Economy from the London School of Economics and a BSc Hons in Economics from Fourah Bay College. She is married and has two children.


Her Royal Highness Sylvia Nagginda
The Nnabagereka (Queen), Kingdom of Buganda, Uganda
Her Royal Highness the Nnabagereka of Buganda, who is Queen consort of the King of Buganda, Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, is a traditional leader and an ardent advocate of human development rooted in cultural values. Her Royal Highness is the first Queen in the history of the Kingdom Buganda, which is the largest, to establish an office in the seat of the Kingdom of Buganda called “Bulange” that compliments the ongoing development work of the Kingdom and of the Government of Uganda.Through the Nnabagereka Development Foundation, which she founded in 2000, she has been able to do charitable work for children, the youth, and women in education, health care, community empowerment, and the advancement of good cultural values and practices for sustainable development.She is an icon and a champion who is highly regarded in society for her leadership in mobilizing, sensitizing and empowering children, the youth, women, and children, including children with disabilities, and for advancing “Obuntubulamu” as a strategic approach in all programmes and projects, that empowers individuals reclaim their cultural heritage and encourages the use cultural values as an engine for human development.Her Royal Highness has been recognised for her foundational work and chosen to be a Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Population Fund in Uganda; a Torch Bearer for the Millennium Development Goals (MDG3); an Ambassador for Mama Club (an organisation for mothers living with HIV/AIDS), and a champion in the Campaign to End Paediatric HIV/AIDS in Uganda. She is also a patron of Hospice Africa Uganda, ChildFund International (Uganda), Female Sponsorship Foundation Makerere University Uganda, Special Olympics Uganda, and Programme for Accessible Health Communication and Education, Conservation through Public Health, and the Buganda Tourism Board.She was the founder member of the African Queens and Women Cultural Leaders Network, co-founder and patron of African Royals for Culture and Development, a member of the Board of the African Philanthropy Forum, and a member of the Board of Advisors of the Global Thinkers Forum.HRH collaborates with the Ministry of Health in Uganda, UNAIDS, UNICEF, and WHO as well as other civil society organisations on community health related interventions.


I See A Different You
Creative Agency, Production House in South Africa
The I See A Different You creative agency and production house reframes images from their own South African life stories, as well as the stories of others, and brings an alternative view of South Africa to a global audience.


H.E. Fekadu Beyene Aleka
Commissioner, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission of Ethiopia
Professor Fekadu Beyene Aleka holds a PhD in Dairy Technology (Food Sciences and Technology) from Agricultural University of Norway (UMB), Norway (in 1994); MSc in Animal Production (Agriculture) from Alemaya University (in 1987), BSc in Animal Sciences (Agriculture), Addis Ababa University (in 1982). As of October 2018, Professor Fekadu Beyene has been appointed as Commissioner, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission (EFCCC) of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE). He had been Minister of the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries from October 2017 to May 2018, and State Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources of the FDRE from May to October, 2018. He served in different capacities at Hawassa (Debub) University, as Lecturer, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor of Dairy Sciences, and Dean of Students, Academic Vice-Dean, Academic Programs Officer of the same University (1982 to 2008). Furthermore, he was a founding President of Wollega University, 2009- 2016), and also served as President of Ethiopian Civil Service University (2016). He had worked as editor and reviewer of peer reviewed journals, published more than 50 articles in peer reviewed journals. He had served as instructor of dairy Sciences, Food Science and Technology, Nutrition, Research Methods and related courses at under graduate and graduate programs, and supervised several MSc and PhD students, and as internal and external examiner of MSc and PhD Thesis of graduate students of many Universities in Ethiopia.Prof. Fekadu Beyene also served as President of the Consortium of Ethiopian Public Universities (2014 - 2016), and Chairperson of the Consortium of Universities and Colleges in Oromia (CUCO). He was a Visiting Scholar at Langston University, (USA) in 2002/3), and Visiting Scientist at Saskatchewan University (Canada) in 2008). He is a member of professional societies and alumni associations such as ESAP, EBS, UNiStaff, REAL etc. He served as chairperson and member of national steering committees, taskforces, and managing and advisory Boards of Institutes and Universities, and also served as coordinator of national and international bilateral and multilateral projects.


Elizabeth Mrema
Executive Secretary , UN Convention on Biological Diversity
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema was the Director of the Law Division and has worked with UNEP for over two decades. Prior to joining the Law Division in June 2014, she was the Deputy Director of the Ecosystems Division, in charge of coordination, operations and programme delivery from 2012 and for one year, also serviced as Acting Director to the same Division. In 2018, in addition to her role as the Law Division Director, she was also the Acting Director of the Corporate Services Division where she led the management of the human resources, financial operations and management and other administrative functions for the entire Organization.In 2009 she had been appointed as the Executive Secretary of the UNEP/Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), Acting Executive Secretary of the UNEP/ASCOBANS and Interim Executive Secretary of the UNEP/Gorilla Agreement, all based in Bonn, Germany and held that position until 2012 and thereafter she joined the Ecosystems Division in Nairobi, Kenya. In these portfolios, she over saw and ensure effective conservation of migratory animals globally as well as implementation of a number of specific species agreements covering geographical areas where animals or birds or marine species migrate during their lifetime.Elizabeth's work at UNEP has focused on the development, implementation and enforcement environmental laws both at national, regional and international level. She has played different roles in UNEP over the years that have included being a coordinator of capacity building and compliance and enforcement projects related to environmental law and the multilateral environmental conventions. She was a Senior Legal Officer and Chief of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) Support and Cooperation Branch in the then Division of Environmental Conventions (DEC), and later a Principal Legal Officer and Chief of the Biodiversity/Land Law and Governance Branch in the then Division of Environmental Law and Conventions.Before joining UNEP, Elizabeth worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Republic of Tanzania and left as a Counsellor/Senior Legal Counsel. During her time with the ministry, she was also a lecturer in Public International Law and Conference Diplomacy at Tanzania's Centre for Foreign Relations and Diplomacy. She had also served as a pro bono visiting lecturer at the University of Nairobi Law School and in the past at the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), Rome, Italy.A lawyer and career diplomat with LLB (Hons) from the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, LLM from Dalhousie University, Canada and Postgraduate Diploma in International Relations and Diplomacy (Summa Cum Laude) from the Centre of Foreign Relations and Diplomacy in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. She has published several articles related to international environmental law, compliance and enforcement of conventions and developed, among others, a number of multilateral environmental agreements negotiation tools, handbooks and guidelines currently used by UNEP in its capacity-building programmes.


Jane Goodall
Founder, The Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace
Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE was born on April 3, 1934, in London England. At the young age of 26, she followed her passion for animals and Africa to Gombe, Tanzania, where she began her landmark study of chimpanzees in the wild immersing herself in their habitat as a neighbor rather than a distant observer. Her discovery in 1960 that chimpanzees make and use tools rocked the scientific world and redefined the relationship between humans and animals.In 1977, she established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) to advance her work around the world and for generations to come. JGI continues the field research at Gombe and builds on Dr. Goodall’s innovative approach to conservation, which recognizes the central role that people play in the well-being of animals and the environment. In 1991, she founded Roots & Shoots, a global program that empowers young people in nearly 60 countries and since it’s inception in 1991 has greatly impacted youth in over 100 countries to act as the informed conservation leaders that the world so urgently needs.Today, Dr. Goodall travels the world, speaking about the threats facing chimpanzees, environmental crises and her reasons for hope. In her books and speeches, she emphasizes the interconnectedness of all living things and the collective power of individual action. Dr. Goodall is a UN Messenger of Peace and Dame Commander of the British Empire.For more information, please visit www.janegoodall.org.


Vanessa Nakate
Climate activist and Founder, Rise Up
Vanessa Nakate is a climate activist from Uganda. Vanessa was the first Fridays For Future climate activist in Uganda and founded the Rise Up climate movement to amplify the voices of activists from Africa. Her work includes raising awareness of the danger of climate change, its causes and its impacts. Vanessa has also led the campaign Save Congo Rainforest, defending an area which is facing massive deforestation. This campaign has spread to other countries, from Africa to Europe. She is currently working on a project that involves installation of solar and institutional stoves in schools.


Gilbert F. Houngbo
President, International Fund for Agricultural Development
Gilbert F. Houngbo became the sixth President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on 1 April 2017. This year IFAD aims to increase the incomes of 20 million poor small-scale food producers, 50 per cent of whom are women, by 20 per cent. Houngbo is also Chair of UN-Water, which coordinates the efforts of over 30 UN entities and international organizations working on water and sanitation issues.Houngbo has more than 30 years’ experience in the public, multilateral and private sectors including as Deputy Director-General of the International Labour Organization; Prime Minister of the Togolese Republic, and a number of executive-level positions at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), including Director of Finances, Chief of Staff, and Assistant Secretary-General. He spent a decade in the private sector, including at Price Waterhouse, Canada.Houngbo earned a Maitrîse en gestion des entreprises from the University of Lomé, Togo and a Diplôme d’Etudes Supérieures Spécialisées in Specialised Accounting from the University of Quebec, Canada. He is a member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants.


Maria Flachsbarth
Parliamentary State Secretary, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Maria Flachsbarth is Parliamentary State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). She's been a member of parliament in Germany since 2002, and is particularly active on environmental and gender issues.


Ada Osakwe
Founder and Chief Executive, Agrolay Ventures
Ada Osakwe is the founder and CEO of Agrolay Ventures, an agro-business investment company, and an award-winning entrepreneur. She was employed by the Tony Elumelu Foundation as senior investment adviser to Akinwumi Adesina, Nigeria’s former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, from 2012 to 2015, advising on all agribusiness and food investment-related activities involving private-sector investors. There, she also led the development and launch of the $96 million Fund for Agricultural Financing in Nigeria (FAFIN), an innovative private equity fund focused on small- and medium-sized agribusiness processing companies in Nigeria.Osakwe was also a lead in the launch of the Youth Employment in Agriculture Program (YEAP) and led the campaign team behind Adesina’s election as president of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). Before that, she worked at Kuramo Capital, a New York-based private equity firm, and was a Senior Investment Officer at the AfDB.Osakwe is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and a Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow. In 2018, Forbes Afrique listed her as one of the Top 100 Africans contributing to economic impact on the continent. Osakwe serves on the Governing Board of the One Acre Fund, a non-profit that serves small-holder farmers in Africa. She is a member of the AfDB Presidential Youth Advisory Group and a mentor on the Future Global Leaders Fellowship.Osakwe received her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in Illinois; an MSc in Economics and Finance from University of Warwick, U.K.; and a BSc in Economics (First Class Honours) from the University of Hull, U.K.


David Nabarro
Special Envoy of WHO Director General on COVID-19, World Health Organisation (WHO)
David Nabarro is the Co-Director of the Imperial College Institute of Global Health Innovation at the Imperial College London and supports systems leadership for sustainable development through his Switzerland based social enterprise 4SD. From March 2020, David is appointed Special Envoy of WHO Director General on COVID-19. He secured his medical qualification in 1974 and has worked in over 50 countries – in communities and hospitals, governments, civil society, universities, and in United Nations (UN) programs.David worked for the British government in the 1990s as head of Health and Population and director for Human Development in the UK Department for International Development. From 1999 to 2017 he held leadership roles in the UN system on disease outbreaks and health issues, food insecurity and nutrition, climate change and sustainable development. In October 2018, David received the World Food Prize together with Lawrence Haddad for their leadership in raising the profile and building coalitions for action for better nutrition across the Sustainable Development Goals.
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